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We last reviewed BGT about 5 weeks ago. While we still don’t know who is ”The Phantom” or “The Witches”, many more entertaining magic performances have featured in the auditions since.
The live shows have also been running this week and we have the BGT final tonight on ITV. Therefore, this post is another chance to catch up on who auditioned from episode 5 onwards and those who have performed live in the semi-finals since our last BGT review (part 1 here).
Our part 1 review covered the first four audition episodes. The remaining audition episodes featured a further three magicians who were all excellent.
Auditions (episodes 5 to 8)
Junwoo from Korea was interesting in episode 5 with his sleight of hand. An entertaining performance.
Keiichi Iwasaki from Japan was excellent. I really did enjoy this performance and he even gained a Golden buzzer. Quite an original act.
Funny and entertaining.
Ryland Petty featured in episode 7. Already gaining fame in the UK having performed at BMC this year. Also the son of magician Craig Petty.
Ryland was joined by other young magicians from the Magic Circle young magicians club.
The last episode 8 of the auditions did not feature any magicians prior to the week of live shows.
BGT Live Shows
The live shows started from Monday 30-May. A whole week of daily live shows. If you don’t want to know who got through each night, you might want to stop reading now.
Monday 30-May
The Witches and Junwoo
(also Jamie Leahey).
First up we had The Witches. Very atmospheric and quite scary.
Jamie Leahey and Chuck the chicken was up next. Though not magic, you have to have an interest in ventriloquism. A talented young performer.
Junwoo was next up but was not as good as the audition.
While no magicians got through in the top 3, Jamie and Chuck the chicken succeeded to get through to the finals.
Tuesday 31-May
This show featured Rylan Petty and the Magic circle Young magician club. Also escape artist Andrew Basso featured later in the show.
Ryland focused on cube magic which was followed by a larger scale stage magic illusion.
I really enjoyed Andrew Basso and his escape act with a water chamber. I felt that Amanda’s comments were a little unjust. I felt it was quite suspenseful with a small reveal/twist at the end.
On this day, neither of the acts featured in the top 3 and therefore will not feature in the final.
Wednesday 01-Jun
Mid-week featured the one magic act. This time Keiichi Iwasaki. After his first performance, would it be as good?
While entertaining, personally I did not feel it was as good as the audition.
Thursday 02-Jun
The Phantom returned! After no magic acts getting through to the final so far, would The Phantom change things?
Amanda and David were both involved with the act and we still have no idea who is the phantom. My guess is this is actually two magicians with initials CD and TM.
Despite getting into the top 3, “The Phantom“ did not reach the final.
Friday 03-Jun
“The Matricks“ were back and performing stage magic which is what they do best. The last chance for a magician to reach the final.
While I personally always enjoy stage magic and they had obviously worked hard on the act, judges feedback was mixed. Unfortunately they did not get through.
It was good to see many of the magicians who featured in the auditions return and feature in the live shows this week. strangely, none of them got through to the final.
The 10 acts that have reached the final will be joined by one wild card tonight. So perhaps we may see a magic act yet tonight?
Enjoy the BGT final tonight!
Hone that you are having. Good Jubilee weekend.
Martin
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