BGT viewers praise Ant McPartlin for hiding fake thumb after accidentally exposing magician’s trick

Ant McPartlin has been praised for his quick thinking during Cillian O’Connor’s magic trick on Britain’s Got Talent. Ant, 47, nearly exposed the secret behind the young magician’s trick but managed to conceal it at the last minute.

The performance began with Cillian performing a card trick, revealing later that he had “predicted” what Simon Cowell was going to choose from the deck. Cillian said: “Now Simon, a few days ago you gave me a magic word and that word was dog. D stands for ‘don’t give up on your dreams’. O stands for ‘only you can create your story’ and G stands for ‘go the distance.”

He then asked Simon to write a “magic word” onto a handkerchief, and Simon chose the word ‘dog’. Cillian brought Ant to the centre of the stage and said: “Ant, can you confirm that you have no idea what is about to happen to Simon’s hankie that he just wrote on?”

Ant confirmed he had “no idea.” He then pulled the exact same handkerchief out his top pocket, with Simon’s handwriting on it.

However, alongside revealing the handkerchief Ant also pulled out a fake thumb that was part of the trick before hastily concealing it in his right fist. Cillian then carried on with his performance making Ant disappear  on stage and leaving a bewildered Simon open-mouthed. Amanda was the first to get to her feet to compliment the magician and then the rest of the judges joined her in a standing ovation.

Simon said: “I am running out of adjectives. You’ve obviously got magic powers but you also have charming magic powers. One of the things that I love most about your performance is how surprised you are at the end and how happy you are that it has gone so well.”Bruno added: “You are the embodiment of magic. It’s your delivery, your demeanour and the way you control the stage.”

Viewers at home were quick to praise Ant for his quick thinking despite the blunder.

One said: “So lovely of Ant to hide the fake thumb so that it didn’t embarrass him.”

Another added: “Fake thumb, who cares. We all know there’s no such thing as magic so give the kid a break. He did a great job.”

Despite his success, Cillian did not manage to win the talent contest. Norwegian comedian Viggo Venn was crowned the winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2023. The comedian scooped the £250,000 prize money and bagged himself a spot on the roster at the Royal Variety Performance.