Las Vegas Weekly

July 30, 2008 · 6:30 AM

Criss Angel has 210 seconds to escape before dynamite explosion

By Robin Leach

Updated at 11:11 a.m.

A major storm is apparently moving into the Clearwater, Fla., area this afternoon. Police have notified  members of the media that they will be moved from a 300-feet safety zone back another 200 feet as an additional precaution from falling debris. The explosion will go ahead as planned despite expected heavy downpours, thunder and lightening -- even though it may cause additional problems for the stunt helicopter pilot waiting above the rooftop for the illusionist.

Meantime Criss has been studying computer animation that Steve Braun of Applied Science International built to simulate the Spyglass resort implosion as Criss attempts his escape.  Here's the YouTube link so you can follow the explosion mechanics along with Criss.

In addition to tonight's live 7 p.m. west coast broadcast on the A&E network,  a special 'feed' will run simultaneously on the official Mindfreak website crissangel.com.

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Originally posted at 6:30 a.m.

It’s now just a matter of a few hours before Mindfreak magician Criss Angel puts his life on the line in the most dangerous and death-defying escape he’s ever tackled. This time, it’s all live and viewers from around the world will watch the horrifying 3-and-½-minute chilling countdown.

“It’s the biggest and the baddest -- and anything can happen. A lot can go wrong,” Criss said. “No one knows what the outcome will be -- even me. I know what I am going to try to achieve but I can only remain cool, calm and collected. I must stay on target; keep my heart rate from racing so I accomplish what I have to do in the time allotted. I will get myself into that zone.

Photo: TVT

Criss Angel

“There are a million uncertainties. The sticks of dynamite could blow prematurely. The weather could cause problems with the helicopter. I could trip. If I don’t make it through the cuffs, the five locks and four doors and I’m one second late, the helicopter flies off without me. Then 466 sticks of dynamite go off and 4,500 tons of cement barrel to earth. My mission is not to be inside it! Failure is not an option.

“I don’t fear death but I don’t want to die. I am totally focused for this mentally, physically and spiritually -- but if God should want me to come tonight to the end of my life so be it.”

Criss, who has broadcast more magic on television than any other previous performer, told Luxe Life in a far-ranging discussion just before he flew to Florida for the stunt he had promised his mother that this will be the last and final dice with death: “I vowed to my mother that I will retire after this. I have performed 1,000 escape illusions and I haven’t killed myself. I don’t need to prove that to anybody anymore. I have proved it to myself. I’ll still be doing television and my Believe show where there are lots of dangerous things, but no more of this. It’ll be more magic and fewer risks.”

Here’s the rundown of what will happen tonight. You can watch on A&E cable television live, 7 p.m. here on the west coast and 10 p.m. live on the east coast, from Clearwater, Fla., at the site of the old beachfront Spyglass resort. Thousands of "loyals" are expected there, and Clearwater police have shut several roads there to accommodate the crowds, who will be kept at a safe distance from the explosion. Some began camping out last night to watch the challenging escape.

There already have been two death defying stunts. One drew 7,000 people to Times Square in New York for his "cement block" escape; in March, another 10,000 watched his "double straitjacket escape" hanging upside-down on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. “Every time I do a demonstration I try to take it up a level or two from what I have done in the past," said Criss. ”I can assure you that this demonstration will blow your mind and be above and beyond anything you have ever seen me attempt."

Handcuffs taken from the Clearwater Police Department will restrain him. Then, he will be loaded into a fire truck bucket, along with Mayor Frank Hibbard and Vice Mayor George Cretekos. Criss’s wristband will be thrown into the crowd and whoever randomly catches it will then check all his restraints. Criss will go to the center balcony on the seventh floor to be chained up in full view of TV cameras and the crowds. The front of the building has already been removed along with all staircases down to the ground.

More than 400 sticks of dynamite will have been inserted into the vertical beams of the first three floors so that on the timed detonator explosion, the building falls slightly forward some 30 feet and collapses on itself. Idaho-based Advanced Explosives Demolition, Inc. has teamed with Tampa-based Cross Construction Services for the implosion of the Spyglass Resort. Criss will pick his way through the handcuffs, the locks and then has to get through a series of four locked doors and race up three flights of stairs to the roof. A 30-foot rope ladder will dangle from a helicopter flown by a stunt-pilot friend. It has to instantly soar 1,000 feet high to avoid the blast.

Photo: A&E Television

Clearwater Beach is abuzz with Criss Angel's latest death-defying attempt.

A&E’s companion Phenomenon show host, Tim Vincent, and an Access Hollywood correspondent in Britain will host tonight’s show for Criss and walk viewers from as far away as New Zealand and Latin America through the escape route and challenges. Once Criss is chained in place, a series of staged mini-cams will show him in close-up during the escape and his race to the roof and freedom as the dynamite explodes.

By 7:56 p.m. our time tonight, we should know if he makes it -- or not.

“It’s a fight between me and the building,” said Criss. “I have to beat it just like a fighter in the ring. I’ll visualize that. I’ve trained for it. I am ready and, God willing, I’ll be successful. This is not an illusion -- this is the most dangerous escape ever attempted. When Evel Knievel did live jumps he didn’t know if he would live or die, and people tuned in to see what would happen. It’s the same with this. It is not a trick this time. It is a real, live escape and we do not know what will happen. As I’ve told you before ‘what you see is what you get’ – and my life is really on the line.”

Although he will hopefully walk away from "great escapes" after tonight’s dice with death, he will still feature a previously filmed escape on his current fourth season of Mindfreak episodes. Master magician Lance Burton will host as Criss performs his homage to the Great Houdini. Determined to go beyond Houdini, Criss devised a plan to top Houdini's 1908 milk can escape by locking himself inside a wine barrel filled with water hanging more than eight stories above the ground, all while being handcuffed. Complications arose with the water temperature, the size of the wine barrel and the amount of time Criss was able to hold his breath under water. You’ll have to tune in to watch what happens to Criss when the barrel plummets to earth as the two-minute timer runs out.

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