Celebrity

Many of us first glimpsed the brilliance of magician/illusionist David Blaine in his first ABC special, 1997’s Street Magic. Everything about the documentary felt unique: his deadpan delivery and approachable demeanor, the cinéma vérité feel of the production, the fly-on-the-wall atmosphere of watching Blaine perform card tricks for both strangers and celebrities. (There was even an on-screen interview cameo from a young Leonardo DiCaprio.)

Since then, of course, Blaine has become one of the biggest names in the illusion game, even as he’s expanded beyond that format to attempt an array of shocking public stunts—like 2020’s "Ascension," in which he live-streamed himself floating into the air above Arizona while holding onto a cluster of helium-filled balloons. At this point, the dude is way beyond "Is this your card?"

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Blaine on a plane

That said, he’s still a master in that arena, as evidenced by a recent viral TikTok clip. User assssshleigh94 (real name Ashleigh DeVivo) posted a plane-filmed video in which she happens to be seated next to Blaine himself during a flight to Cancun, Mexico. The magician takes command of his immediate area, recruiting his neighbors for their assistance in a mind-boggling card trick that left everyone confused and laughing hysterically.

Blaine starts off the clip asking if everyone can see, including the people seated behind him. He has DeVivo hold an ace of diamonds between pinched fingers and, after some logistical sleight of hand, ends by asking the cameraperson their "favorite number up to 10." They respond "7," leading to Blaine’s big reveal: "Because he said 7—did you see what I was doing with my left hand? You couldn’t see from there. You might be able to see it on [the video]. I was pulling the 7s out of the deck. You just called out '7.' When you did that, I pulled the 7s out and I put them [points down to the deck]."

How the magic happened

DeVivo says she "didn't know [Blaine] beforehand," and the whole experience was a charming coincidence. "My fiancé and I were boarding the flight from JFK to Cancun for our friends destination wedding," she says. "Before boarding I lost a game of rock-paper-scissors to Mark, so I was going to be sitting in the dreaded middle seat. He immediately regretted that! I didn’t recognize [Blaine] at all, but Mark had a feeling it was him. When we sat down and got settled, Mark leaned over and asked him, 'Does anyone ever tell you, you look like that magician?' And David Blaine said, 'Yes, every single day of my life.' I asked “Are you him?”, and he replied yes!"

After that, everyone in their vicinity was "starstruck," but no one ever prompted him to do the tricks. "He was so willing and excited to do them for us and give us an amazing experience!" she adds. "He signed a few cards for people (including myself) from his own personal deck, which was awesome! People were definitely blown away by his magic tricks and just his presence! He shared stories with Mark and I about how he got into magic, what it’s like traveling a lot for work, and his family! He was asking us questions too, getting to know us, which was so kind.The way this TikTok blew up was amazing, I haven’t heard from Blaine since, but I hope he had fun at his friend's brothers wedding that night!"

Internet comments are their own kind of magic

How did Blaine do this illusion? I have no answers, but it feels like some kind of Jedi mind trick.

Someone in the TikTok comments wrote, "[T]he trick is called Double Lift, google it," but several other people said they wouldn’t dare. "Why would I do that[?]" someone responded. "I don’t wanna know how magic works."

Agreed. I don’t want to ruin the fun for myself by thinking too hard about it. Instead of analyzing the video frame by frame, we can just enjoy more of the comments, which are also quite entertaining. Here are some highlights:

"(As they’re getting off the plane) 'you all thought we were going to Hawaii? Would you be impressed if we were in Texas?'”

"David Blaine slowly morphing into Jeff Goldblum"

"This is probably the safest flight one can be on"

"Blaine: how many wings does a plane have? Look out the window.. 😳"

"David Plaine"

"I’ve never been offered this seat upgrade option"

"I love how he IMMEDIATELY goes to perform another trick to another passenger before they are even done reacting! Haha"

Amazingly, according to DeVivo, this wasn’t Blaine’s only card trick of the day. Responding to the last comment above, she wrote, "Seriously the entire flight! We never once asked for tricks. [H]e was so excited to share them with us!!"

What a gift it is to be able to blow people’s minds everywhere you travel. David Blaine, never change.

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