14 DAY TRIAL // Uri Geller, self-proclaimed psychic, or “mystifier,” as he likes to be called, is looking for someone to replace him on the television show. As such, he is holding a competition where aspiring illusionists race neck and neck for the position. Yesterday, one of these competitors almost drowned on live TV, as she was trying to perform a trick, the British media is reporting.
The contender, known only as Amila, was supposed to guess a four-digit code that would, in turn, open the lock of the tank that was slowly filling with water. Confident, the blonde illusionist got into the tank, but failed twice to guess the right code. However, things started to go wrong only when the water reached the level of her mouth, as she could be seen clearly distressed for not being able to come up with more than two digits for the code.
When Amila was completely submersed in water, one of Uri’s female assistants tried to open the lock to the tank, and came to realize that something was not working right. Amidst her cries, and those of another woman present on stage, a stagehand came and broke the lock with bolt cutters, breaking Amila free. The now-panicking illusionist spent around 25 second completely in the water, the media has it, all the while “thrashing around,” looking for some way out from the inside.
Neither the aspiring illusionist nor a spokesperson for the show commented on the incident. Surprisingly, Amila still made through to the next round, the public voting for her despite her obvious inability of performing the trick, in a move that the media dubbed a “pity win.”
62-year-old Uri Geller rose to fame after a series of televised appearances in which he demonstrated abilities of psychokinesis, dowsing, and telepathy. He boasts of being able to “bend spoons with the power of his mind,” and is now host of the ProSieben show “The Next Uri Geller,” meant to find an appropriate successor for him. Throughout the years, critics have repeatedly rebuked his “powers,” showing that all his acts can actually be replicated using simple stage tricks.
Below is the video of the Amila incident. Skip to the 4-minute mark for the malfunction.