‘AGT’ Magician Smashes Buzzer During Card Trick — How Did He Do It?
NBC Reading Time: 2 minutes
The magicians who show off their talents on America’s Got Talent will never cease to amaze us. While it might be hard for most viewers to work out how these illusionists pull off their tricks, there’s always an explanation.
Take, for example, Eric Jones, a magician on Season 12 of the show, who performed a card trick that involved smashing a red buzzer to reveal a signed card. How did he do it? Read on to find out?
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Eric Jones Shocks ‘AGT’ Judges With Card Magic
During the Judge Cuts, Eric approached the AGT judges’ table with a pack of playing cards. He chose one of the cards and had guest judge Chris Hardwick sign his name on it. After a little color-changing magic, Eric folded the card up and pulled out a hammer.
The magician made the folded-up card disappear from his hand, and then he asked the judges to move away for their safety. That’s when he hit Simon Cowell’s red buzzer with the hammer, breaking it and revealing a folded-up card.
Eric showed the card to Chris, who confirmed that it had his signature on it. Simon shook Eric’s hand and said he took back his previous negative comments in the magician’s audition for the show.
Backstage, fellow contestant Sara Carson of Sara and Hero said of the act, “I have no idea how he did it.” Well, there might be an answer.
How Did Eric’s Card Trick Work?
As YouTube channel Brain Time explains in a video, the key to Eric’s card trick is some sneaky sleight of hand. In this case, Eric may have used his clothing to his advantage by switching out the cards in his pocket.
When Eric smashes the buzzer (which is almost certainly not the usual buzzer, so as not to damage the show’s set), the card that gets revealed is not the card Chris signed. It’s a duplicate card, which Eric smoothly switches with the signed card without the judges noticing.
Brain Time seems to think that Eric hid the real card in his pocket, while YouTube magician CardShuffler99 posits that he simply hid it in his hand while he was holding the hammer. In fact, Eric picks up the duplicate card with his right hand, but he hands it to Chris with his left hand.
There may be multiple theories about how Eric pulled off the trick, but it clearly took planning and some clever sleight of hand. As much as we may want magic to be real, the truth can sometimes be even more impressive.
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