One of the cups covers a 4″ sharp metal spike pointing up.

TED just posted the video on fB, with me for the finale at minute 15. I still don’t know how he did it (I think I know how he could know where the metal spike lies, but how did he guide my participation?)

He brought people on stage for various tricks, but interestingly, he asked for a male volunteer before starting this one. So, I wonder if women are less likely to go along with his trick to the end, or if the audience’s emotional response would be different (for me, the audience just cheered him on)

4 responses to “Keith Barry the Impaler”

  1. !fatima Avatar
    !fatima

    Am sure the suspense was hard. Love your expression in the 2nd shot.:)

    Reply
  2. Chucil Avatar
    Chucil

    Cool!

    Reply
  3. m.p.moody Avatar
    m.p.moody

    The various expressions on your face are priceless.

    Reply
  4. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    heh… and I was not an accomplice in any way, and I had no prep for what to expect on stage. I wonder if he had a script for any contingency of what I might say, and maybe we got lucky with my choices. I suspected he was guiding my hand for the first two cups, and for the final one, where I had to choose left or right, perhaps he had a slightly higher pressure or tighter grip on one of my hands and perhaps that subconsciously leads the victim to pick one hand over the other with some regularity. I assume he knows where the spike is with a sensor in his sleeve that can detect a magnetized spike, and give him a vibration as to the strength of the field. He might have also had an ear piece to get guidance from an observer that can see where it went. But I think the sensor would be safer in case he was offset a bit in where the cups lay. Reposting the hidden photo sequence: The buildup…Screen Shot 2014-05-31 at 9.19.59 PM Screen Shot 2014-05-31 at 9.21.00 PM TED Magic Show Screen Shot 2014-05-31 at 9.22.46 PM

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *