Well, the first episode stunk, and the second episode was great, so I don’t quite know what to expect tonight.

Right off the bat they recap the confrontation Criss Angel had with Jim Callahan, the guy who did automatic writing using the spirit of a dead professor. Jim claims that Criss is an “ideological bigot” and Criss thinks that Jim is a fraud who can’t act. Criss and Uri are sitting side-by-side, but it is not clear if there is any lingering animosity. Criss more or less called out Uri when he called Jim out.

First, the eliminations. Mike is safe, but Jan is going home (he actually was pretty good). Wayne (jug ears) is out, but Angela (who could use a nose job, or at least should get botox so she doesn’t crinkle her nose) is in. Next, Guy (the heart-stopper) is safe, and fraud Jim is out. Jim is still whining about last week, but Jan and Wayne make gracious exits. Now only five competitors remain for the $250,000.00 prize. The helpers this week are the Girls Next Door, stars of what actually is a fairly decent reality show.

First up is Mike Super with the assistance of bimbo Bridgette. His presentation is totally cheesy–even worse than last week. Mike is going to do a trick with a voodoo doll with bunny ears on it. He “cleanses the aura” so there are no lingering voodoo effects. Yet another trick involving “remote touching.” Enough already with this trick. It is boring and stupid. Uri, of course, loved it. Criss thought it was entertaining, though the trick itself (I’m reading between the lines) was pedestrian.

Next up is Eran Raven who is doing something with “venomous” snakes. There are four vases, one of which contains an item brought from bimbo Holly’s house and the other three contain “dangerous” snakes. Since this is live, hilarity ensues! The idiot puts his hand in a vase with one of the snakes! Bwwwahahaahaha. Unfortunately it wasn’t one of the most venomous ones. His mother, who is in the audience, is tellingly unconcerned. He continues, and finds the item. I was SO HOPING that he would get bit again. I guess if you are going to rely on “tells” given by your helper, you better not use a totally vacuous airhead like Holly. She didn’t seem concerned for a moment during the whole trick. Uri’s “mind was blown”, but he thought it was too similar to the nail gun trick. Criss liked it, but also wants to see something different. Eran looks like he’s about to cry, he is in so much pain. This is classic youtube fodder, so run out and find it to give it a look. I would have given it a C if it worked, but I have to give it an A for pure entertainment!

Next up is the lovely Angela Funovitz (who gets demerits again this week for her stupid stage name). She is doing something with “spirits.” She magically lights a candle (which looks like a $5.00 trick you could buy at the local magic shop). Deliciously stupid Kendra is the helper. Angela asks Kendra to think of someone important to her, and it looked like Kendra had a lot of difficulty thinking of someone (another tabula rasa). Kendra writes the name on paper, and is told to think about the person. She does a decent cold read, figuring out the person was a failed past relationship of some sort. Kendra is emotional about it, which is strange–you would think she would be smart enough to pick someone she didn’t mind thinking about. Angela burns the paper with the name on it in a torch. Then she hikes up her skirt a few inches (which the audience appreciates) and waves the fire by her thigh leg, which burns the name into her skin. It was an interesting take on an old trick. I give it a B+ (her right leg gets an A+). Uri and Criss both like it. Very entertaining, but I think she relied a little to heavily on her sex appeal in this trick.

Next is Jerry McAmbridge who is doing a paintball gun trick. There are three guns that each shoot different colors. A “security guard” is holding a box with a poster in it off to the side. He goes up against the wall, and Kendra uses the laser pointer to nail him in the family jewels! The guy doubles over and I’m laughing my @$$ off! The other girls also try to hit him there. Ultimately he predicted where the paint would hit him. The trick was a total disaster, which I found highly entertaining. Another classic youtube clip for you to search out!

The final performer is Guy Bartly doing a hydrochloric acid trick. There are ten beakers, one of which contains water–he calls it “The Cup of Life”. Holly, with the assistance of a chemist because the “HCL” is too dangerous for her to handle. The chemist then hands him a different cup of acid (why not just pick one of the 9 of 10 to demonstrate?) which he uses to melt a plastic cup. Oooooh. I hope this guy learned from Eran that Holly doesn’t give off clues, so I hope he has some other means of telling which cup she put water in. He narrows it down to three, and I can only assume that they are all water. He tells Holly to look away while he shifts the beakers, and she stupidly just continues staring at the cups. His trick goes awry when the “foil” he put in one of the beakers didn’t react (obviously it was something in the foil reacting to water)–oddly, it DID react when he put a second piece of “foil” in it. LAME. He didn’t even chug the beaker he thought was water–he took it tentatively like he was ready to spit it out if necessary–he was not entertaining and a coward. Uri liked. Criss liked the concept, but thought the execution was shoddy (as it was). Another trick raised a level by the mistakes of the magician. I give it a B.

Overall, it was a good episode. Most of the tricks got screwed up, which added greatly to the entertainment value. I predict I will be back next week for more.

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