Britain’s Got Talent fans have flooded social media with claims to have spotted a major error in a magic act that roped in Geordie hosting duo Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.
Saturday night’s edition of the legendary ITV talent show saw the magician Alexandria Burgio take the stage for the weekend’s semi-final but left the audience divided over her act.
Beginning her performance, Burgio invited hosts Ant and Dec to participate. She sat the pair down on stools facing each other while complimenting them for “cleaning up nice” in suits.
“Ant, during my audition round, you had said that if I duct tape all the judges’ mouths shut, it would just make your day,” the magician said as she strutted between the pair.
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He cheekily confirmed: “It absolutely would!”
“Well tonight we’re going to make mine,” she shot back while tightly wrapping the hosts mouth shut with the tape and covering Dec’s face with a fencing mask.
After prancing around the stage with a fencing sword, she asked Ant to select a random card from a deck she proffered – a moment which immediately had fans jumping to social media to point out an error, claiming the choice wasn’t random at all.
“I think Alexandra slipped up there – she looked at Ant’s card before he put it back in the pack. #BGT,” one observed on X.
“Any time there’s a card trick it’s almost always an invisible deck. Not only could you hear her rip the stuck card from the deck (to force the 3h) but the print had peeled from the pips. The stabbed card had intact pips so was diff card. Everything else came from the force,” another analysed.
Outside of the apparent error, others were less than impressed with Burgio’s later flourishes with the card that Ant had picked, a three of hearts, including skewering it with her sword, revealing three kisses on Dec’s face under the mask and showering the judges with copies of the card.
“The stabbing a card trick is literally hundreds of years old #bgt #britainsgottalent,” one wrote while another slammed: “#BGT That’s an easy, cheap trick. She’s out of her depth here.”
A third savaged: “I could have done this trick. It’s a forced card, she put the heart of 3 in Ant’s hand, and you can understand how easy it was the rest. She didn’t catch the card neither, you can play it slow, we have seen all the tricks before.”
Even still, some gave Burgio credit for her presentation style, with one conceding: “As a magician myself, this was an unoriginal trick but it was presented in a very original way.”
“The judges liked her delivery and theatrics, which were good. But in terms of skill level, the other magicians were higher. I’m no pro but have a good idea how her tricks were done,” a second analysed.
A third summarised: “It’s not really her magic that makes her impressive it’s her stage presence and confidence.”
Regardless of the viewer’s claims, the magician received glowing praise from the judges, with Alesha Dixon praising: “I thought you were incredible the first time but I think you upped it and the whole thing was just brilliant.
“You are a showman, the way you move seductively around the stage. It’s enticing and hypnotising.”