Why was the competition so hard?

I have performed on stage at The Royal Albert Hall in front of 5,000 people, live on television in front of 5 million, and had previously hosted my virtual magic show for audiences in the thousands. However, none of those experiences prepared me for the task of proving myself in front of fellow magicians, the global public, as well as to my friends and family. I think there are a few reasons why this amounted to such a difficult challenge.

Self-imposed expectation

Firstly, I am hugely competitive. Since I was 7, competing in sports has been my life. I played hockey for South England, qualified as a tennis coach when I was 18, and competed in county track and athletics throughout my teens. Competing is in my blood, and consequently, I have huge expectations of what I must deliver. 

Performing in front of peers

Secondly, as I’ve mentioned, performing in front of the public is one thing, however, performing in front of your peers is an entirely different kettle of fish. Many of those judging in the audience were magicians that I had looked up to for most of my life. Magic is a small community, and how you perform in a competition like this will be talked about for years to come.

Identity

Finally, I think that I had allowed my identity to become heavily steeped in the success of my virtual magic shows. My story was covered for years by multiple media outlets such as the BBC and Red Bull. As well as this, friends and colleagues had a perception of me as the virtual magician gaining international success. All lovely things, but at the same time, things that made the very real possibility of not winning the competition a sickening one.

I think it’s important to address I am well aware I put an unhealthy amount of pressure on myself. Equally, I’m aware my obsessive and competitive nature is one I should work on…so I can become the best me and be crowned winner of being Fergus!

With multiple continents and countries competing, there was a wealth of well-known names in the mix – many of them had had sell-out virtual shows in their own country.

I cannot describe the pressure I felt in the build-up to competing. It was wild. Sleepless nights, perpetual nerves and a complete loss of appetite. I couldn’t even talk to my girlfriend – I literally vanished for 2 weeks. It was unhealthy and exhausting. Would I do it all again? Yes.

I eventually performed in the last heat of the competition, on March 6th 2023. Even as I type now, I can feel the surge of adrenalin as well as an uneasy restlessness wash over me…

What were the rules of the competition?

The rules of the competition were as follows. Each performer had 10 minutes to present their act. They would be judged on the originality of their magic, script, and ability/originality to incorporate tech via Zoom. In order to place, votes were collected from both audience members as well as from senior Magic Circle members. The audience members counted for 60%, with The Magic Circle panel making up the remaining 40%. Among others, my heat consisted of Darren D – a great friend of mine, as well as an extremely established virtual performer called Vlad…who would later finish 2nd in the comp.

The heat

I decided the best way to approach the competition was to present a very competent heat, but by no means give my best performance. A risky strategy. However, it meant if I got through, I had my routine for the final ready to go (or so I thought!). (I was making no assumption I’d get through).

My performance in the heat consisted of a routine I’d devised called “Vegas Aces”. It was a routine I am pretty proud of. As well as demonstrating good sleight of hand, it showed a clear grasp of what could be achieved virtually. Furthermore, the routine is based on a classic card principle, which I knew magicians would enjoy seeing performed in a comical way.

For an audience of muggles, the magic was impressive (hopefully), but for magicians, there was nothing particularly fooling. After an excellent performance from Vlad (who had an incredible twist in his act), I managed to scrape 1st place, and both Vlad (2nd) and I went through.

The next step

It was now a week till the final. I knew the rough outline of what I was going to perform, however on the morning of March 7th I had an insane idea for a finish that I quickly obsessed over. If you wish to watch the final without any spoilers, it is available to do so on a private link here. However, if you’d rather me tell you, hang around…

The final

My plan was to begin with an “observation test”. I would get my ring and watch back on, solve a Rubik’s cube, and change the colour of my t-shirt, all without the audience noticing. Followed by a routine where I smash a Rubik’s cube into a bottle. Finally, I’d wrap things up by having random members of the audience predict the outcome of the national lottery. That alone was all fairly ambitious. However, after a brief call with my friend Noel, I decided, that was not enough.

As a final kicker, I wanted to pull the set apart. In order to do this, I would use perspective as my method. It’s a little complicated to describe so I recommend taking a look at the above video but essentially the entire set you had been staring at on your screen was all an illusion. The poster on the wall behind me was plucked off the camera lens, the table I was sat at was picked up and removed, for you to then realise I had been squatting, not sat in chair.

I’ll be honest, preparing that in a week was a ludicrous amount of stress and hard work but I was delighted with the result. Fortunately, the performance went very well and everything worked as it should. Now I just had to wait for the remaining acts to finish and the votes to be counted. 

The Virtual Magician Results

The worst part. Even after I had finished I could not sit and see the competition out. I left my flat and began walking the streets outside, with my friend Neb alerting me to when things were finished. Once the final act was done, I raced upstairs and kept my eyes on the public poll. After a close first heat, I was anxious to see how things started. Fortunately, it quickly emerged the public vote was a decisive one. After which, I went on to win votes from the The Magic Circle judges.

Winning The Virtual Magician Of The Year was an incredible experience. It is arguably the proudest moment of my career. However, my unhealthy obsession with winning probably warrants more self-reflection than anything else. In many ways, I think not winning the competition may have been more valuable. I’d probably have had to face some demons and come out the other side a stronger person. Until I find a decent therapist though, I’ll very proudly continue to shout that I’m The Virtual Magician Of The Year.