Today I am taking the risk of penetrating Steve Wyrick through jet turbine illusion secret and emerge with the reveal to share with you.
This Steve Wyrick walking through the spinning blades of a jet turbine engine is taken from the 1999 “The World’s Most Dangerous Magic II” TV show.
This American television specials showcasing stage illusions and escapology acts, which were made for the NBC network.
Welcome to another posts from the Info Ruckus Magic Trick Secrets Revealed series.
Where I answer the popular question: how are magic tricks done?
How magic tricks work, or what is the secret behind magic tricks?
The magicians refer to it as the method; the secret technique uses to create the illusion of a magical effect.
After viewing Steve Wyrick walking through the sharp spinning blades illusion video clip, I know precisely how the penetration effect is done.
No doubt the massive moving turbine engine prop appears daunting and dangerous, but the trick behind this illusion is simple enough.
The Effect:
A giant spinning jet turbine engine-like prop.
Using a black spandex to block half of the view of the whirling blades.
Illusionist Steve Wyrick steps behind the prop.
Miraculously, he manages to seemingly pass through the rotating blades and comes out from the slit of the spandex.
I am sure the audience is blown away by this whirring jet engine turbine illusion.
This is the video of Steve Wyrick walking through the revolving blades illusion:
Just like all my other magic secret reveals, I would show supporting visual proofs taken from the video clip.
Actually this Steve Wyrick through jet turbine illusion secret exposé should be is as brief as the magic effect itself.
That whole magic act is just Steve Wyrick apparently passing through the jet engine turbine rotating blades.
It is like many of the other big stage illusion performances; full of smoke and mirrors, so to speak.
They always employ the same usual stuff:
Female assistants prancing and gyrating around, the redundant stage designs, fake props and the ever distracting flashing stage lighting.
Well…
Dismantle the metal structures, remove the fake switch & cables, call off the female performers, switch off the additional stage lighting and no stage pyrotechnics.
You have just Steve Wyrick going through the big moving fan and out through the black spandex.
READ ALSO: Check out the other popular Jet Turbine Engine illusion secret, where the performer seems to be stuck and sucked into the big spinning propeller.
Steve Wyrick Through Jet Turbine Illusion Secret
Let’s direct our attention on Steve Wyrick through jet turbine illusion secret of how he manages to penetrate the spinning blades.
Yes, when he performs the trick, the blades are still right there busy revolving away all right.
The big fan is NOT gimmicked.
There is no mirror trick, like Jim Steinmeyer’s Windshear illusion which I have explained before.
Neither do they project the blurry whirling blades image onto the static fan.
How To Slip Through Spinning Blades
From my observation, illusionist Steve Wyrick does not comes out straight through the swirling metal blades.
Watch his body position when he first slips out through the gap of the overlapping black spandex in the picture below:
From this stiil-shot, you can clearly see Steve Wyrick comes out SIDEWAY.
He pushes his right hand out, grabs the handle for support, simultaneously steeping out with his right leg out, then followed by his left leg onto the box.
Once he is completely out from the spandex slit, he turns his body straight to face the viewers.
To give the impression he walks through directly through the big spinning fan.
Furthermore, there are glaring pyrotechnics explosions to distract your visual perception.
From this angle, when Wyrick steps out, you can see there is no moving blades in the gap of the spandex in the video at 3:33.
NOTE: To see it clearly, reduce the YouTube playback speed to 0.25.
The long blades are still in motion, it is just you cannot see them from this side view.
It is because the blades have been shifted inside slightly, away from the circular casing around it.
I will elaborate in more details very soon.
This is where and/or how Wyrick apparently walks through the blades.
What I am saying is Steve Wyrick comes out by the side of rotating blades.
As usual, I would scrutinize the prop design and then the magician’s movements.
Look at the lower side of the prop where he enters and exits through the black spandex (stage left).
There is this triangle-shaped piece painted in yellow and black stripes (with the Danger & High Voltage signage).
It is not a design feature, but to block Steve Wyrick when he comes out by that side of the turbine.
How does he manage to squeeze between the blade edges and the circular casing?
Turbine Nose Cone
Here is the big clue:
It is right in the middle of the action, so to speak.
The nose cone or dome shaped piece on the center of the rotating blades.
Look at the position of the nose cone at the center of the blades at the beginning of the act, before he performs the trick.
You can see that the protruding nose cone is CLOSE to the set of blades (indicated by arrows).
When Steve Wyrick is doing the penetration illusion, the nose cone is A DISTANT AWAY from the rotating blades (indicated by arrows), as seen from the visual below:
Position Of The Blades
In other words, the secret of this illusion is they MOVED IN the set of spinning blades.
Thus providing a space wide enough for Steve Wyrick to sneak through between the edges of the blades and the circular casing.
We cannot see the space between the blade edges and the circular casing is because the semi-circle black spandex blocks it.
I think a section of the circular casing has a cutout to allow more room for Wyrick’s safety when he sneaks in to make the exit.
Anyway, most of us are focusing on the big noisy whirring blades.
Misdirection & Assumption
Magicians know how to control what you focus on.
They mislead you to look at certain things, and to overlook others.
By nature, we all take things or reality for granted.
Assumptions is another one of the cognitive psychological principles which is exploited by magicians.
Secondly, it is because of the phenomenon of visual perception called change blindness.
Many a times, we all fail to see small or even large changes to a scene.
The problem is our brains don’t process everything our eyes see, and we don’t even realize it.
Thirdly, you would not notice the position of the set of blades because of the wide circular casing around the fan.
And not forgetting, the distraction caused by the sparkling stage pyrotechnics.
Yes, this stage illusion is similar to what the Masked Magician (Val Valentino) has exposed on this video.
By the way, you can also find this same magic trick idea called “Turbo” by Andrew Mayne in his booklet “Solo X”.
Click on this link to get this free book “Solo-X” and other Andrew Mayne illusion books.
At the end of the show, you would notice the nose cone is back to its original position (closed to the blades) just like in the beginning.
By the way, I noticed there is a small black color lever-like device at the circular casing, next to the big hinge from the video at 2:44.
Frankly, I am not too sure what it is used for.
Probably it is an emergency stop switch.
Anyway, this is Steve Wyrick through jet turbine illusion secret I am talking about.
By just shifting the rotating blades slightly inside, so there is a space between the blades and the big round casing, where he can slip out unscathed.
And with the help of the black spandex. it appears as if Steve Wyrick penetrates the sharp spinning blades of the giant turbine.
Eric Olsen EDF Fan Illusion
This is another video clip by EDF (Entertainment Design & Fabrication) featuring the same penetration illusion, but with a differently built prop.
From this demo video, you can still notice the change of the propeller positioning, but not by the nose cone.
With this front locked-down shot video, you can still clearly see the shifting position of the propellers.
Look at the the distance of the fan blade tips and the big circular casing.
This is what you see before and after the penetration act.
The distance of the fan blade tips is close to the circular casing.
Now look at the distance of the fan blade tips and the casing during the act.
The distance of the fan blade tips is now further away from the big round casing.
It is simply because the whole set of propeller has shifted or moved slightly inward.
At 0:29 when the performer covers half the propeller with the black spandex, you can see him using his right hand manning the switch.
It is to move in the propeller, to get ready for his penetration act.
Again after he has just apparently gone through the spinning fan blades, at 1:02 he fiddles another switch to get the fan blades back to its original position.
If I am not mistaken, you can hear the loud clicking sound when he meddles the switches at both times.