Well-known illusionist and mentalist Criss Angel has great faith in NBC's new reality competition, Phenomenon, saying that aside from being a “very provocative and engaging show,” it allows numerous people who are aspiring to become the next great mentalist the chance to show the world what they can do.
"I just thought a show like this would give people a legitimate opportunity,” Angel, who will co-host the show with Uri Geller, told reporters during a conference call. “And to participate in it live is really a selling point for me because I'm going to experience as you and all the home viewers are for the very first time when they're performing it.”
Phenomenon, set to debut on Wednesday, October 24, will have ten contestants from around the country competing against one another. Aside from being recognized as the next great mentalist, the winner will also receive a $250,000 cash prize.
The show will run on NBC for five weeks, with all of its' hour-long episodes airing live. The broadcast network will also implore viewers to attempt to debunk the tricks performed by the contestants.
"It's going to be interesting because one of the things that I've requested is I don't want to be in the loop so much. I want to be experiencing the performer for the first moment just as the audience is as they begin their performance," Angel explained. "So I want to kind of not be tainted by knowing who is doing what or anything like that. I'm going in there just like the audience. So you're going to see my reaction for the first time because it's the first time I'm seeing it.”
Like other reality competitions on air, the winner of Phenomenon will be determined by the number of votes sent in by home viewers. This doesn't bother Angel, not only because he's confident in the home viewers' eventual decision, but also because he has never been one to care about what other people's judgments.
"It doesn't matter what I really think," he said. "If I'm there and I say somebody sucks and yet the American public says they're great, they're the ones who are looking at it through virgin eyes. And they know better than me what the public wants because I'm tainted. So I trust the American public to pick truly who's the most entertaining because they're going to know who is the most entertaining because, you know, their eyes and their ears are in a way virgin to this subject."
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: realitytvworld.com
