The simplest explanation is that the five judges were in on it. Perhaps he had the judges agree ahead of time to put their hand down when he points at you. They’re in the business of show business, so why not put on a really great show?
Other than that, I have no idea how he did it.
That may be simplest in your mind, but it’s rather stupid. The judges are picking who goes through, and one of the most important factors for magic is wowing them, especially if they aren’t magicians or magic enthusiasts. You can’t wow them by including them in the trick. And they seemed pretty wowed at the time.
Notice how he fanned the deck from the edge of the stage instead of up close? That’s so no one can get a close look at the cards. The Ace on bottom is a cover, they’ll never select it because they’re riffling through the deck.
The easiest answer is he had a deck made up of multiple copies of those 5 cards. No matter where they stop, it will be one of the five. That’s why he didn’t identify who got which card, just called out the five cards as quickly as possible, to mask if two of them had the same card.
I suppose a svengali deck would work, too, but nobody gets a close look at the deck to see how much variety it has. Easier to use only those five. The snaps just keep them moving fast. Plus, stagecraft.
That was my first thought. Two judges could have ended up selecting the same card, but the same could happen with the Svengali deck. However the judges could have noticed that a lot of the cards were the same. I think he rubber-banded the deck to make it more difficult to see the cards as they are flipping.
Although acting amazed, they didn’t pass him on, and maybe it’s because they did detect something about how it was done.
Yeah, perhaps they compared notes and realized that some of them had picked the same card. For those of you who missed it, here’s the trick on Youtube. One youtuber posted:
In any case, I thought it was a really well done illusion. Can’t believe that he lost out to a puppet act.
Something the judges have stressed in the past: they want acts that ‘fill up the stage’, that have spectacle and engage the audience and so forth.
A guy just tossing out a deck of cards is pretty much the opposite of that
Yeah, but a lot if dumbass youtube comments.
To be fair, it’s a good puppet act.
Yes, thus the tossing the deck to give a b excuse to rubberband and not be up close. He didn’t actually say riffle through the deck, he said open to one card. Less chance to see they’re the same.
Possibly.
Good episode last night; however, SiroA was out of this world amazing. At this point, I’m hoping they win. For anybody who doesn’t want watch the entire show here is their act. I’ve watched it a couple of times today already. It is just so much fun to watch. If they did a tour and came to my home city I would go see them for sure.
[quote=“BeepKillBeep, post:48, topic:720877”]
Good episode last night; however, SiroA was out of this world amazing. At this point, I’m hoping they win. For anybody who doesn’t want watch the entire show here is their act. I’ve watched it a couple of times today already. It is just so much fun to watch. If they did a tour and came to my home city I would go see them for sure.
[/QUOTE]I agree. I think they need to stop the show now and tell them they won.
I don’t know if they are my favorite multi-media dance troop really. Don’t like how half the time I don’t which is a dancer and which is projection.
Personally, I could watch last week’s Vita Radionova all day long, but I doubt she’ll win.
They were the only one this week I watched a second time.
But there are some great acts from other weeks, even mixed media/dance.
I think that’s part of their appeal.
Agreed.
I’m so happy they opened with SiroA. I think they’re the act to beat, but I expect to be amazed the rest of the evening, too.
The judges are more excited than I’ve seen them in a while.
After watching Siro-A I think they should stop the show and just give them the win. 
Sorry guys, Samantha Johnson knocked it out the park tonight.
I just got off from raiding in WoW so I’m watching this now. Just finished watching Siro-A. Or is that Siro-A+?
They only way they don’t go through is:
1 - Everybody thinks somebody else will vote for them.
-or-
2 - Everybody thinks they’ll be successful even without AGT.
I’m kidding of course. On the results show, if it is Siro-A and two other acts, I feel really bad for whoever the other acts are because they are going home.
I’m glad that Alondra Santos is back in the competition, but I wonder who dropped out for her to get the spot.
My favorite acts, from most favorite to least favorite:
Siro-A
Samantha Johnson
Paul Zerdin
Benton Blunt
I usually love Alondra, but tonight her act felt slightly cheesy to me (but I gave her 9 out of 10 votes anyway).
I was pleased to see Alondra Santos back in, but also wonder who is out. I looked at the website list, but don’t remember who isn’t there.
Here are my picks, roughly in order.
Samantha Johnson: amazing. She nailed it.
Drew Lynch: hilarious. I find it a bit much he’s laughing at his own jokes so much, but that’s the way I am, too. He’s got great material, and I loved the bit tying in to Piff and the Chihuahua in a box.
Paul Zerdin: very good. I thought the fight and putting him in the bag was a bit repetitive of what he’s done before, but leaving the puppet alone was pretty funny. But Heidi does have a point, the art of ventriloquism is about being seen not moving your lips, otherwise it’s just puppetry like the act Ira and his mom.
Siro-A: while they did good, I wasn’t quite as sold on them last night as everyone else. To me it didn’t quite match the two prior performances. I didn’t get the words at the end. But it was high energy and very dynamic, and I don’t doubt they’ll go through.
Benton Blount: nice reworking of the song to fit his style. He could do with holding a few of the notes instead of letting them go, probably what Mel was talking about with his nerves. Still, very strong.
Craig and Micheline: very good, lots of strength and artistry.
Alondra Santos: great she got invited in on someone else dropping. This was a great performance for her. She got to be really elegant, and hip and young. She got to show off her ability a capella and play it up with dancers. But there are a lot of tough singers, like Benton and Samantha.
Vita Radionova: While she is elegant to watch, I don’t think she’ll hold the audience through. Just in strength and agility combo, she’s up against Craig and Micheline last night.
Piff the Magic Dragon: His style is very deadpan and dry, and I don’t think it worked for him last night. While danger acts can be exciting, it’s a risky putting a cute animal in the hot seat. Note, Mr. Piffles was never in any danger.
I think he was hidden in the chair. Then smuggled into the box during the opening.
I doubt it was even a real wood chipper - drop the box in the top, fire confetti out the chute. Anyway, he went big on stage set to fill the stage with the box drop, but it still felt lacking in something.
Showproject: entertaining, but as commented, there were a lot of elements not in synch, even places where the main part was the lead ins weren’t. I did enjoy swapping bars and such, but there are stronger acts.
The Gentlemen: They’re good dancers, but it is a bit repetitive, and there are a lot of great dance acts to compete against, nevermind the other acts. Not going forward.
Triple Threat: Um, yeah, that was kinda bad. I mean, not just choosing hip hop, but the singing tones and harmonies. I note that Howard hit it on the rap, and Howie was right behind. It looked like Mel hit it for their “dancing”. Triple gone.
I thought that using the remote controlled dummy was kind of a fresh take on a very old classic. I think it’s a great thing (if used sparingly).
I agree this performance wasn’t as good as previous ones, but they’re so good I still thought they were one of the top two performers, along with Samantha.
Unfortunately I didn’t care for his act. It’s just a variation on magicians slamming their hand down on boxes to see if a spike is in them or not.
No real surprises last night and I think the right 7 acts went through. I do agree Piff was a little weak last night, but I really like him so I hope we redeems himself.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Siro-A has to go up against the other multimedia dance troupes this season, assuming any other survive this round, which I think is likely.
Mat Franco on the results show was stellar! No wonder he won!
I can’t believe Samantha Johnson was in danger of being cut. Zerdin was great as a puppeteer, he should never pretend to be a ventriloquist again. Piff was lucky to get through, his last act was slow, not that funny, but he can do much better. For those who don’t know how it was done, there was a dog in every box (just kidding :))