Dynamo
Shard Levitation
Revealed
The grand finale of Dynamo's 4th season, and therefore the grand finale of his career as a TV magician, was his Shard Levitation illusion. In this trick, Dynamo is seen levitating on the Shard in London.
There was a twist to this trick. Even before the illusion was first played on TV, there were some pictures circling around the internet, showing Dynamo 'levitating' on the Shard. However, there were clearly visible wires on the photos! Many fans were outraged, and became convinced Dynamo is a fake con artist and not a real magician. What a terrible fail! The trick was revealed before the show even aired. However, Dynamo remained mysterious and claimed everything was going according to the plan. And when the show aired, it was implied that the wires were actually photo-shopped on the photos by Dynamo himself!
See the final recording of the show and then we will reveal how the trick is really done and explain every detail of it:
Explanation:
So, Dynamo wants us to believe that the photos with the wires were just another trick, and were planned in advance –by him! Should we believe him?
We probably should. While there is a tiny possibility that he was actually caught red-handed and then planned this story afterwards, this theory seems improbable. Obviously, this trick couldn't work with the wires, since he levitated above the building and nothing could hold the wires there.
So how did he levitate above the Shard? As usually with magic tricks, the answer is – he didn't. Take a look at the video again. Do we ever really see Dynamo levitating above the Shard? No, we only see Dynamo when he is still below the top of the Shard, where he could still be carried by wires. But whatever goes above the Shard is not Dynamo. We just see something that looks like a human levitating in the air, but it cannot be clearly seen what it is. The main point is – that is most definitely not Dynamo.
What is it then? It is impossible to be really sure since there are many different possibilities. Probably the most likely is a person-shaped helium balloon. It could also be very light dummy doll lifted on a really thin, transparent pole.
It doesn't really matter which of this is correct (and we will never know for sure, unless Dynamo patents this trick like David Copperfield patented his levitation technique). The point is that they only needed to get one good shot of something resembling a human body levitating above the Shard, and the rest of the trick can be done with wires.
So the photos of Dynamo on wires might really be released on purpose by Dynamo himself, but his Shard levitation is still just a magic trick. If there is one thing we know here at Magic Secrets Explained, it is that real levitation is impossible. Dynamo is a great magician, but he is just that – a magician, nothing more. And this magic trick was a great way to end his television series in style. His fans shouldn't be upset that he can't really fly. They should instead be thankful for all the magical hours of great entertainment Dynamo has provided them with.