Phenomenon (TV series)
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| Phenomenon | |
|---|---|
| Image:Phenomenon.png | |
| Format | Talent, Reality, competition |
| Created by | Keshet Broadcasting Limited Kuperman Productions Limited Explorologist Limited |
| Directed by | Alan Carter |
| Presented by | Tim Vincent |
| Judges | Criss Angel Uri Geller |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 5 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Suzy Lamb Michael Agbabian Dwight Smith |
| Location(s) | Tribune Studios, Hollywood, California |
| Running time | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | October 24, 2007 – November 21, 2007 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Phenomenon is a competition show judged by Uri Geller and Criss Angel (Mindfreak) and hosted by Tim Vincent which debuted live on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 on NBC. The show featured ten contestants competing to become the next great mentalist, to be determined by viewers voting by phone and online. The contestants performed their tricks on celebrity guests each week. The winner of Phenomenon would win $250,000.[1]
On October 30, 2007, during an interview with Larry King about the show, Angel said "No one has the ability, that I'm aware of, to do anything supernatural, psychic, talk to the dead. And that was what I said I was going to do with Phenomenon. If somebody goes on that show and claims to have supernatural psychic ability, I'm going to bust them live and on television."[2]
This program was based on an Israeli television series, The Successor ("היורש"), which was hosted earlier in 2007 by Geller.
The winner of the first season was Mike Super.
Contents |
[edit] Episodes
[edit] One
In episode one, on October 24, 2007, the first four contestants performed, with Angel and Geller reviewing their performances. Geller performed his Mental Challenge with a "choose-an-ESP-card" trick, a trick Geller routinely performs, which James Randi had commented tends to select the card "that audiences will tend to choose."[3] The Celebrity guests were Carmen Electra, supermodel Rachel Hunter, and Ross Mathews, known as "Ross the Intern" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
[edit] Two
In episode two, on October 31, 2007, the remaining six performed and two of the four performers in the first episode were eliminated. Uri Geller performed his Mental Challenge with a "land-on-one-of-the-nine-planets" trick where home viewers are to land on one of the nine planets by spelling the name of any planet. One of the more notable events during the show was an argument that broke out when Criss Angel reviewed contestant Jim Callahan, who claimed to contact the dead to identify an object inside a closed case. Angel called the act "comical," and asked the contestant to tell him what was in an envelope he drew from his pocket for one million dollars of his own money.[4] Addressing both Callahan and Geller, Angel said: "I will give you a million dollars of my personal money right now if either one of you can tell me specific details of what’s in here right now."[4] and "Blah, Blah, Blah, keep talking, I'm not caring, just tell me what's in the damn envelope, Jim, are you for real, or not, bro? Blah, blah, blah..."[5] As both continued to talk over and interrupt each other, Callahan walked toward Angel and called him an "ideological bigot",[4] while the host tried to restrain Callahan, despite Callahan's prior statement that "everyone has a right to their beliefs." They fought verbally with constant audio interruptions from NBC for about 15 seconds before going to commercial. After the following act, Criss made a reference to Callahan's performance, saying this final act was "a hell of a lot more entertaining than the previous act." Only Ross Mathews from episode one returned for episode two.
[edit] Three
In episode three, on November 07, 2007, three of the contestants from episode two were eliminated including Jim Callahan who participated in the renowned dispute with Criss Angel. The remaining five contestants continued to perform, all including at least one of the celebrity guests from Girls Next Door into their act. There was no Uri Geller's Mental Challenge in episode three. Eran Raven was apparently bitten by a snake during his performance.
[edit] Four
In episode four, on November 14, 2007, Gerry McCambridge and Guy Bavli both recived the lowest number of votes out of the remaining five contestants. Criss Angel and Uri Geller were given the opportunity to save one of them from being eliminated. In a head to head competition with Gerry McCambridge, Guy Bavli was chosen as the winner and McCambridge was eliminated, resulting in McCambridge being the only contestant eliminated in this episode. Angel complemented Guy on his act which involved bending spoons, a trick Geller is famous for, saying it was his "best performance yet". There was no Uri Geller's Mental Challenge in this episode. Instead, the host challenged the audience to guess what Criss Angel has in the envelope who he challenged Uri Geller and Jim Callahan with in episode 2. This episodes celebrity guests were Tia Carrere, Dayna Devon and Kim Kardashian.
[edit] Five
Mike Super wins Phenomenon. There was no Uri Geller's Mental Challenge in Episode 5. Instead, the show had Criss Angel reveal one of his two envelopes which said "911." After he opened it, Angel said, "If somebody could predict, tell us on 9-10 that 9-11 was going to happen, maybe that could have prevented it." He states that the other envelope would be revealed on the season premiere of Angel's other series, Criss Angel Mindfreak.
[edit] Contestants
| Name | Specialty | Home Town | Eliminated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Super | Mystifier | Canonsburg, Pennsylvania | Winner |
| Angela Funovits | Mentalist/Illusionist | Avon Lake, Ohio | Episode 5 (second place) |
| Eran Raven | Mentalist | Irvine, California | Episode 5 (third place) |
| Guy Bavli | Mentalist | Tel Aviv, Israel | Episode 5 (fourth place) |
| Gerry McCambridge | Mentalist | Long Island, New York | Episode 4 |
| Jan Bardi | Mentalist/Illusionist | Leuven, Belgium | Episode 3 |
| Jim Callahan | Paranormalist | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Episode 3 |
| Wayne Hoffman | Mentalist/Illusionist | Reading, Pennsylvania | Episode 3 |
| Jim Karol | Mentalist | Allentown, Pennsylvania | Episode 2 |
| Ehud Segev | Mentalist | Safed, Israel | Episode 2 |
[edit] References
- ^ Menon, Vinay. "Geller comes to fork in the road", Toronto Star, October 24, 2007.
- ^ CNN. "Larry King Live: Mindfreak Criss Angel", CNN, October 30, 2007.
- ^ Randi, James. "Last Week's Star Trick", James Randi Educational Foundation, October 30, 2007.
- ^ a b c Access Hollywood. "Angel sparks altercation on ‘Phenomenon’", MSNBC, November 1, 2007.
- ^ NBC (2007). NBC Phenomenon Videos. NBC. Retrieved on November 4, 2007.
[edit] External links
Candidates' sites
