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<\/p>\nDynamo’s final act under his stage name has been called ‘truly spectacular’ by fans after he was buried alive live on TV on Thursday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The magician, 40, whose real name is Steven Frayne, returned to TV screens for the first time since 2020 with the new one-off show on Sky, Dynamo Is Dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Viewers watched with bated breath as Dynamo lay in an empty grave before five tonnes of soil was poured over him, before ‘three vital minutes’ on the clock started.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two minutes and 47 seconds passed before the escapologist broke through the soil, gasping for air.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Commentary overlaid the footage of Dynamo digging himself out of his own grave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Dynamo’s final act under his stage name has been called ‘truly spectacular’ by fans after he was buried alive live on TV on Thursday night<\/p>\n
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The magician, 40, whose real name is Steven Frayne, returned to TV screens for the first time since 2020 with the new one-off show on Sky, Dynamo Is Dead<\/p>\n
They said: ‘He’s done it. The feat that Houdini failed to do. And that’s the first time\u00a0 that anybody has ever managed to escape from being buried without a coffin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘Steven Frayne, what a legend. That’s unbelievable.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fans took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to commend Dynamo of the heart-racing stunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They wrote: ‘Wasn\u2019t really aware who dynamo was but thought I\u2019d watch #DynamoIsDead tonight. Truly inspirational and a great collection of clothes. Just glad he took the stonie jacket off before he was buried alive!’\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘Dynamo is being buried alive on live TV \u2026 this is mad!!!’ and ‘Anyone else with me in sayin #Dynamo is amazing and his honesty and braveness is inspiring! Also magic is real’.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘#DynamoIsDead is a heartwarming, relatable magical spectacle within a therapy session Every trick has a link to something to do with mental health, grief, addiction, disability etc and how hard but important it is to seek out those who find themselves in exactly the same or\u00a0similar position and how hard and how stressful it can be to find help out there and how hard but how special the recovery side of things is A truly spectacular piece of television.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Dynamo impressed many viewers with the death-defying stunt, others branded it ‘staged trick nonsense’.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They wrote: ‘People are really believing this staged trick nonsense. Common’ and ‘Just seen the end of the Dynamo Programme with him buried alive. Seems a bit suss he got out right before the end credits & there was no drama to it and it was “Oh he is out’ (sic).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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They said: ‘He’s done it. The feat that Houdini failed to do. And that’s the first time that anybody has ever managed to escape from being buried without a coffin’\u00a0<\/p>\n
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After nearly four years off the nation’s TV screens due to severe health struggles, Dynamo made a comeback with Dynamo Is Dead<\/p>\n
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Fans took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to commend Dynamo of the heart-racing stunt<\/p>\n
In 1915, great American escapologist Harry Houdini kicked off the trend when he was buried without a coffin beneath six feet of earth.<\/p>\n
But he panicked while trying to dig his way out and, by the time his hand broke the surface, he had fallen unconscious and had to be pulled free by his assistants.<\/p>\n
British magician Alan Alan attempted the stunt again in 1949, but he too had to be rescued and was moments from death when he finally emerged, shaken but alive.<\/p>\n
Antony Britton had a go in 2015 but also had to be saved by rescuers, with photographers capturing the moment his hand burst through the soil.<\/p>\n
Illusionist David Blaine had more success with a variation on the stunt in 1999, which saw him spend a week underground in a see-through coffin.<\/p>\n
Dynamo revealed the programme was called Dynamo Is Dead as he thinks it will be his ‘final act’ under his stage name because he feels the need to ‘move on’.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week,\u00a0Dynamo revealed his motivation behind the death-defying stunt, and confessed to having a difficult year after the death of his grandmother, Nellie Walsh.<\/p>\n
‘She got me into magic and I felt like it had died with her. I needed to bury the part of me that had died with her.’<\/p>\n
Opening up about his mental health, he revealed: ‘When I came up with the idea [of being buried alive] I felt like I didn’t have a lot to live for.<\/p>\n
‘But I have realised that I do have a lot to live for, a lot more magic to give and this is something that I need to do for me.’<\/p>\n
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While Dynamo impressed many viewers with the death-defying stunt, others branded it ‘staged trick nonsense’<\/p>\n
Speaking about the hazardous stunt, Dynamo admitted: ‘I think its one of the most dangerous things I have ever done.<\/p>\n
‘I felt like the weight of the world has been on me and I’ve been living in the dark and this encapsulates it.<\/p>\n
‘It’s nerve wracking and it’s really set in how scary this is now. I’m excited to see what life will be like after this.’<\/p>\n
It comes after the star revealed how he was left unable to perform after a flare up in his Crohn’s disease caused by eating a piece of undercooked chicken.<\/p>\n
Dynamo explained problems with his medication saw his life to spiral into a ‘vicious circle’, as he felt physically well enough to perform but lost all pleasure from his work and fell into a deep depression.<\/p>\n
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The magician said the programme was called Dynamo Is Dead as he thinks it will be his ‘final act’ under his stage name because he feels the need to ‘move on’<\/p>\n
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\u00a0In 1915, great American escapologist Harry Houdini kicked off the trend when he was buried without a coffin beneath six feet of earth<\/p>\n
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Earlier this week Dynamo said losing his grandmother motivated him to take on his ‘most dangerous’ magic trick (pictured together)<\/p>\n
Speaking to The Sunday Times for an emotional interview earlier this week, he said: ‘You take magic away from a magician and you lose your sense of purpose.’<\/p>\n
He revealed he began to self-harm and suffered an identity crisis, telling the newspaper: ‘The last five years, maybe even longer, I’ve at times lost the will to live.<\/p>\n
‘Right now I feel happy to be alive. Albeit \u2026 I’ll be ultimately happier when I come out of that grave. Touch wood.’<\/p>\n
Diagnosed with Crohn’s, an inflammatory bowel disease, while in his teens, Dynamo had to have half his stomach removed and lived in excruciating pain for years.<\/p>\n
He turned to magic to distract himself from his health struggles, and became a household name in 2011 and gained fame from his incredible street performances, card tricks and stunts.<\/p>\n
But his chronic illness has plagued him throughout that time, and flared up in 2017 after he ate a piece of raw chicken at a fast-food chain.<\/p>\n
He disappeared from public view before opening up about the impact of it months later, telling fans he had been hospitalised with a combination of Crohn’s disease and food poisoning.<\/p>\n
The performer revealed he was still dealing with the side effects of his steroid medication, including arthritis affecting his hands, knees, toes, ankles and neck.<\/p>\n
Dynamo said that that at times it got so bad that he was ‘unable to shuffle a pack of cards’.<\/p>\n
He vowed that he would return to magic, and said he was working with ‘doctors and physio and doing everything in my power to get to 100 per cent.’<\/p>\n