Were you watching Phenomenon tonight?
What drama. This show is kind of like the American Idol for magicians. A few of them are pretty good too. One of the judges is Criss Angel who also happens to have his own show, Mindfreak, on A & E. The other judge is Uri Geller.
On tonight's show some guy, Jim Callahan, who claims to be able to speak with the dead, as if there were a seance going on, performs his act. Supposedly he talks to the the spirit of some dead author who is able to allow the magician to write a description of an object that a volunteer puts into a box without the magician's knowledge.
After the act, Uri and Criss critique the performance. That's where the drama comes in . . . In no uncertain terms Criss calls the guy out. Criss pulls an envelope out of his pocket and says he will pay the guy one million dollars if he can tell Criss what is in the envelope. For all intents and purposes Criss calls the guy a fake, a loser, a hack. NBC even has to bleep Criss' comments out at a point. However, I could make out that Criss basically called the guy's act "bullshit." That's where the two of them almost came to blows. It was like some episode of Riki Lake or something.
Seriously, the host had to get into the mix and pull the guy back from trying to attack Criss. It was hard to tell if it was staged, but I did get the impression it wasn't. Regardless, it was entertaining.
I found Criss Angel to be extremely rude. He thinks that he's the best at everything and doesn't give anyone else a chance. He started out with nothing and even got his mother in long island to refinance her house for a cash loan. NBC had better calm him down....
Hey Chris - thanks for stopping by.
I agree, he is a bit snobbish in the way he's critiquing some of the people on the show. But, on the other hand, I guess he's just telling it how it is. He's looking for really, really great performers.
Personally, I thought it was kind of cool that he called out that guy who wanted to try and pull off some kind of half-assed, supernatural hack.
If his mom loaned him the money to get started, hey . . . more power to her if she had that much faith in the guy. You gotta admit Criss is quite a performer. I'm sure he's payed her back the money and then some.