Magician David Copperfield was forced to reveal the secret behind one of his most famous tricks in court this week.
The 61-year-old illusionist is being sued for negligence by a British man who claims to have been injured while taking part in one of his shows at the MGM Grand Hotel in 2013.
His executive producer, Chris Kenner, took the stand Tuesday in Las Vegas and disclosed how the trick in question — dubbed “Lucky #13” — is done.
Revealing it from start to finish, he described how Copperfield chooses 13 audience members at random and then brings them on stage to sit on a platform.
“We’re going to send you all to hell,” he tells the participants. “This is like going on vacation, only hotter, with more familiar faces.”
Copperfield then covers them with curtains, banters with the crowd and eventually makes the group disappear. Moments later, he points to the back of the room and tells the audience to turn around — revealing the 13 people who took part in the illusion.
The vanishing act is simple and is performed with help from stagehands, who guide the audience members off the stage and through hidden passageways once the curtains go up, concealing them from view.
The participants are then led through MGM’s secret tunnels with the help of flashlights and eventually brought back into the theater through the back.
The man who was injured, Gavin Cox, claims he fell while being guided through the passageways and suffered brain and body injuries. He alleges that the hallways were filled with construction dust and other debris, which made them difficult to navigate.
Cox, a former chef for the British Royal Family, claims his medical bills totaled more than $400,000 — and that his injuries will likely plague him for the rest of his life.
“There was a duty by the defendants to provide a safe environment to the audience participants,” his attorney, Benedict Morelli, said in opening statements last week.
The lawyer grilled Copperfield about the trick in court, and at one point asked if he felt the MGM passageways were safe.
“Do you agree that certain things during the route can be dangerous?” Morelli said.
“I don’t agree with that,” Copperfield replied.
“If somebody participated in the 13 illusion, and they were injured, it’s their fault, not yours, yes or no?” Morelli shot back.
“I can’t answer that as a yes-or-no question. It would depend on what happened,” Copperfield said. “If I did something wrong, it would be my fault.”
Asked whether construction dust could cause an injury, the magician said: “I would agree with you, but there wasn’t construction dust in the way.”
Copperfield’ is expected to take the stand again next week as his civil trial continues.
With Post wires