What surprised me was this Super character won the Phenomenon contest performing an easily understood trick. If you want to know how he knew the serial number on the note read on...
[spoiler:3ttq0y3g]Mike Puts the $1 note into a yellow envelope which is seemingly empty. But it is a gimmick envelope which has two openings (one at either end); and a third layer of paper separating the front and back openings. Imagine taking two envelopes and super-gluing them together so that the two openings are at opposite ends - this is how his envelope works. He has his $1 note in there ready to take out already, and puts the chosen note in the other compartment. Then he cuts the end that will reveal his dollar bill, and not the one chosen by the celebrity. You'll notice he lets her keep the note, but not the envelope.
You may be wondering how he got the cards on the table - well I would believe that while everyone is distracted with the wind tunnel, he has an electronic motor roll the felt on that half of the table under the other half of the table revealing the cards he previously placed. You will notice that he had her deal the cards prior to going to the wind tunnel, rather than immediately before opening the envelope.
His previous week's trick is (in part) easy for me to figure out. The numbers were a maths problem he wrote down himself, he simply discards the ones the audience gave him as they never see them (or hear them read) again.[/spoiler:3ttq0y3g]
The rest of the trick, I can't explain off-hand. I can however explain how the flag trick was done at the beginning of the finale (it's actually pretty simple and doesn't require any prior knowledge to perform).
You'll also notice in Angela's trick she asks an audience member to choose between two booths... both of which are empty anyway (and so their choice didn't make a difference).
While we're at it - Gerry's paintball trick in episode three was also very easy to work out, because when you know what he actually has control of it's not so magical. It was so easy to work out, in fact, that I thought both Criss and Uri would tell him his magic was too simple for the show - they didn't because his performance was (understandably) much better than his first trick. In episode two he does a simple trick with a blonde woman in the audience and a bit of paper, if you watch you'll see he touches her shoulder just slightly as he's talking - and hence influencing her decision by it, before his main trick later, and his performance is rather dull. However, I think his third trick was mind-blowing, and he deserved a place in the finals for it. His audience members were probably stooges, but the main trick achieved with the celebrities was remarkable, and his performance was outstanding - not the dull clinical performance of his first trick.
But it wasn't as bad as Guy's trick. His trick was so simple I can't imagine how it fooled anyone.
[spoiler:3ttq0y3g]He doesn't have any acid - they're all filled with water, and he just puts bits of sodium in them.[/spoiler:3ttq0y3g]
[spoiler:3ttq0y3g]Mike Puts the $1 note into a yellow envelope which is seemingly empty. But it is a gimmick envelope which has two openings (one at either end); and a third layer of paper separating the front and back openings. Imagine taking two envelopes and super-gluing them together so that the two openings are at opposite ends - this is how his envelope works. He has his $1 note in there ready to take out already, and puts the chosen note in the other compartment. Then he cuts the end that will reveal his dollar bill, and not the one chosen by the celebrity. You'll notice he lets her keep the note, but not the envelope.
You may be wondering how he got the cards on the table - well I would believe that while everyone is distracted with the wind tunnel, he has an electronic motor roll the felt on that half of the table under the other half of the table revealing the cards he previously placed. You will notice that he had her deal the cards prior to going to the wind tunnel, rather than immediately before opening the envelope.
His previous week's trick is (in part) easy for me to figure out. The numbers were a maths problem he wrote down himself, he simply discards the ones the audience gave him as they never see them (or hear them read) again.[/spoiler:3ttq0y3g]
The rest of the trick, I can't explain off-hand. I can however explain how the flag trick was done at the beginning of the finale (it's actually pretty simple and doesn't require any prior knowledge to perform).
You'll also notice in Angela's trick she asks an audience member to choose between two booths... both of which are empty anyway (and so their choice didn't make a difference).
While we're at it - Gerry's paintball trick in episode three was also very easy to work out, because when you know what he actually has control of it's not so magical. It was so easy to work out, in fact, that I thought both Criss and Uri would tell him his magic was too simple for the show - they didn't because his performance was (understandably) much better than his first trick. In episode two he does a simple trick with a blonde woman in the audience and a bit of paper, if you watch you'll see he touches her shoulder just slightly as he's talking - and hence influencing her decision by it, before his main trick later, and his performance is rather dull. However, I think his third trick was mind-blowing, and he deserved a place in the finals for it. His audience members were probably stooges, but the main trick achieved with the celebrities was remarkable, and his performance was outstanding - not the dull clinical performance of his first trick.
But it wasn't as bad as Guy's trick. His trick was so simple I can't imagine how it fooled anyone.
[spoiler:3ttq0y3g]He doesn't have any acid - they're all filled with water, and he just puts bits of sodium in them.[/spoiler:3ttq0y3g]