The article discusses the secrets behind seven of David Blaine's most famous magic tricks. Here's a concise summary of each trick:
1. Biting a Coin in Half: Blaine uses a gimmick coin that can be folded to make it appear as if he's bitten into it.
2. The Insane Card Trick: Blaine uses misdirection to secretly place a card under the wristwatch of a participant.
3. Turning Coffee into Coins: Blaine uses a hidden cup with a sponge and a small hole to make it appear as if coins are rising from the coffee.
4. Mind-Reading Trick: Blaine uses a technique called "multiple outs" to prepare for any possible card choice by the participant.
5. Cigarette through a Coin: Blaine uses a gimmick coin with a hole in the center to pass a cigarette through it.
6. 360-Degree Arm Twist: Blaine positions his arm in a way that makes it appear as if he's rotating it 360 degrees.
7. Vomiting Live Frogs: Blaine practices controlling his stomach muscles to swallow and regurgitate live frogs.
Overall, the article reveals that many of Blaine's tricks rely on clever misdirection, gimmicks, and practice to create the illusion of impossible feats.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. David Blaine is a magician known for his high-profile feats and world records.
2. He has performed a trick where he bites a coin in half and then restores it to its original state.
3. The coin used in this trick is a gimmick coin made up of two parts held together by elastic bands.
4. The gimmick coin has a mechanism to be folded, making it appear as if one half of the coin has disappeared.
5. David Blaine has performed a card trick on Ellen's show where he made a card appear under Ellen's wristwatch.
6. In this trick, David secretly placed the card under Ellen's wristwatch while pretending to perform a different action.
7. David Blaine has performed a trick where he turned a homeless man's cup of coffee into a cup full of gold coins.
8. The secret to this trick is a small cup with a sponge at the bottom, hidden inside the main coffee cup.
9. The small cup is filled with coins and is pushed up through the hole at the bottom of the main cup, making it appear as if the coffee has turned into coins.
10. David Blaine has performed a mind-reading trick with physicist Stephen Hawking, where he correctly guessed the card Hawking was thinking of.
11. The secret to this trick is a technique called "multiple outs," where the magician has several different possible outcomes prepared.
12. David Blaine has performed a trick where he passed a cigarette through a coin.
13. The coin used in this trick is a gimmick coin with a hole at its center, through which the cigarette is passed.
14. David Blaine has performed a trick where he rotated his arm 360 degrees.
15. The secret to this trick is that David positions his arm on the ground in a different way, flipping his hand 180 degrees before placing it on the floor.
16. David Blaine has performed a trick where he appears to vomit live frogs out of his mouth.
17. The secret to this trick is that David had swallowed the frogs before performing the trick and then released them from his stomach.
18. David Blaine practiced mastering his stomach muscles for six months before performing this trick.