Illusionist David Blaine was left having to clean up his own blood after stabbing himself with an ice pick in a magic trick gone wrong.
Blaine, 49, was performing live in front of an audience when the gruesome scene unfolded at one of his recent shows in Las Vegas.
People performing magic often love a bit of audience participation, and Blaine was encouraging exactly that as he used two members of the crowd to help determine which of three styrofoam cups had an ice pick hidden underneath.
When done correctly, Blaine is able to smash his hands down over two of the cups and come away unscathed, with the sharp tool remaining untouched under the third.
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Unfortunately it seems he couldn't read the crowd as intended during this particular show, as when he slammed one of his hands down he landed right on the sharp ice pick.
Blaine recalled the painful events in an interview with People, when he claimed - potentially in a bid to bolster his position as a magician - that he had a feeling things were going to go wrong.
The illusionist said he's done the same trick 'one thousand times' without injury, but said: "I felt like this was the one."
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He remembers feeling uncertain about the cup selection as he went to slam his hand down, but he 'didn't want to delay' the show.
"I wanted to keep it exciting so I just figured I'll go for it even though I didn't feel it was right," he said.
Whether you consider seeing an ice pick go through someone's hand 'exciting' or not, Blaine at least delivered in providing some shock factor.
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I'm sure there were a few uncertain members of the crowd trying to figure out whether the blood was part of the show, and Blaine appears to have left them guessing as he attempted to carry on as normal.
"The show must go on," Blaine explained, "So I just cleaned up the blood and started again a minute later."
The injury hasn't deterred Blaine from performing the trick, and in fact has only made him more excited to try it again.
"I wasn't a big fan of the trick until now," Blaine explained.
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He quickly got back on the horse to perform the trick again at the Resorts World Theater, where he also impresses audiences with a 10-minute water dive in his show which is set to run until 11 March.
Emily Brown