12-16-2007
Mindfreak magician Criss Angel was successful in his second attempt to duplicate a highly dangerous Houdini-styled underwater escape. It took him just 90-seconds to slip out of handcuffs, foot restraints and a steel chain around his back while trapped in a locked and barred cage underwater in the shark and stingray 117,000 gallon aquarium at the Silverton Casino Lodge.
Hundreds of his fans, "The Loyals," were able to watch the death-defying stunt close-up and symbolically held their breath while Criss was trapped underwater!
"Wow-we did it. I'm the luckiest guy alive. Somebody up there was looking out for me and helped me with getting free. I surprised myself at how smooth it went this time," he told me seconds after floating to the surface and getting out of the tank. I learned that Cirque du Soleil officials who are presenting his new $100-million- magic show at the Luxor had asked Criss, fearing for his life, not to go ahead with it!
In March this year, when he attempted the insane stunt for the first time, a preliminary test dive went horribly wrong and he wound up badly cut from the rocks inside the tank.
"I've still got the scars for life to prove that," said Criss after medics and insurance executives stopped it. "I was determined though to do it. I'd promised it to my fans and I couldn't let them down again."
Ironically, three-days before the hazardous horror-act he feared he'd have to cancel it again: "I woke up sick, with a fever. That went away, then my nose started running. I was congested, I was frightened I'd be stopped again-I was worried that all the loyals who would turn out to watch would think I was off my rocker if I cancelled again. All those things were going through my mind that could have played against me. I had some weird sick going on in my mind when I got here tonight, but then I found the confidence to overcome the fears!"
Criss took on a series of deep breathing exercise-training routines to build up his ability to hold his breath underwater. Last night before the submersion he built up his stamina to an amazing 6 minutes 18 seconds breath-hold. His trainer, Grant Graves, president of the US Apnea Diving Team told me: "After 40-years in the water even I wouldn't have done what he did. Criss though is a very focused individual and he was able to increase his breath-holding techniques remarkably in just four sessions. I taught him to use his body no differently than a dolphin or a whale would. He went from three minutes up to six minutes of holding his breath.
"But he had to overcome so many fears here. The most primordial fear of all is not being able to breathe. Then there is the fear of being trapped underwater. Add to that the fact that he was shackled inside a highly confined space and every move of his body would burn oxygen. On top of that, remember the first time he tried this it was a very bad experience where he not only came close to losing his life but also wound-up badly battered, bruised and bloodied."
Criss had his mom and brothers on hand at the top of the tank as he donned a wetsuit and goggles. Then he was shoved feet first into the cramped cage. Three spectators were randomly picked from the crowds watching and escorted upstairs to validate everything-complete with their own video cameras so their shots could be edited into the Mindfreak TV series. His feet were locked into restraints with a chain bolted through them, through his waist belt and then he was finally handcuffed. The cage, no larger than an airline dog-kennel, was loaded up with lead weights and then winched out over the water. A lipstick-sized camera on an outside arm was able to record everything Criss did while locked inside.
He asked to hold the start of the stunt for two minutes of silence so he could focus on his breath training and "get into the zone." Then he signaled his dive captain who yelled, "let's go," and Criss was lowered 35 feet right down onto the tank's sandy floor, inches from where fans were watching through the acrylic wall. The dive captain yelled "30-seconds" to those of us monitoring from up top. Then "60-seconds." The tension was incredible. The silence was surreal and eerily awesome. Everything seemed to stop like frozen motion-it was as if we were all holding our breath too-and then suddenly on the monitors we saw Criss reach out to turn the combination lock, break free and slowly float up to the surface to avoid damaging his ear-drums with a too-rapid ascent. It was exactly 90-seconds as he broke water and floated on his back for 10-more seconds before moving! Cheers and applause erupted both from the crowd below and from the technicians and crew up top.
He hugged and kissed his mother and brothers while still in his wet suit and thanked and congratulated his entire team for the successful escape.
After changing, it was time to celebrate with an advance magic-themed birthday cake-his big day is on Wednesday with an official party at the new Cathouse loungerie and LAX nightclub in the Luxor. He cut into the cake, had the first slice and then insisted every one of his fans also got a piece!
Then it was time for our interview, which will be part of the TV escape show. I can't give you all of that here because it must remain for the final Mindfreak episode when broadcast this coming Spring on A&E: "This was the most dangerous thing I've ever attempted. I can't even begin to think of what I could even do that's bigger than this, but obviously I have to keep pushing the envelope because the fans demand it. So many things could have gone wrong here, but somebody up there, maybe my father, watched and helped. It went so smooth it even surprised me. I've been escaping from handcuffs for a longtime now, so that was fast and easy-I think Dad was helping me-but I had problem with the feet. You don't want to move and waste air, so that was the closest I came to being frightened or panicked. But I 'd been taught how to overcome that fear and I went to a place in my mind where I played as a child with my little dog-and in relaxing instead of fighting it I got loose. I honestly could have stayed down there another four minutes holding my breath before we'd have gotten into serious trouble.
"When Houdini did this it was a trick. You couldn't see inside his wooden crate, and he went into a murky river. I wanted everybody to actually watch me while I was getting free so they all knew it was not an illusion but a real escape. We succeeded and that feels really good. Wow! I even amazed myself. It turned out that I didn't need all the training. But it gave me the confidence and you know last March when we tried to do this we failed with it. Then I had the failure when Dog threw me into the pool while I was roped to a chair, so I needed the confidence level to go longer-and have it in my arsenal. I felt like everything went beautifully. It was amazing. Sometimes you hit a snag, but this went right from the start. I couldn't have done it any better. I wanted to do it in four minutes but I did it in less than half the time. Honestly this was the challenge I was most concerned and worried about this season-I know how close I came last try and I know everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I said if I did it again I had to have the best guy to teach me to hold my breath as long as I could. The team did an amazing job-safety was first. I had to overcome this challenge, this fear and it turned out a faster time than I ever dreamed of. I was actually startled and stunned I'd escaped so quickly. Sometimes there's a snag but today none. It was huge. It could have been very bad but it turned out so well. The fans saw it happen right in front of their eyes. I couldn't have done it any better. "
I even tried to get Criss to let us in on the big secret of his new Cirque show.
"I can't reveal the show's name yet-but can tell you we have settled on it. The only thing I can tell you is that its something I've said often on my TV show while doing magic. We open July 29th in previews with a big premiere in September. We start rehearsals on April 15 once the new theater is finished with the new construction. It will be the most sensational show ever seen on the Strip and anywhere else in the world."
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