The Charm Offensive: Keiichi Iwasaki’s Quirky Magic Earns Ant & Dec’s Golden Buzzer on BGT 2022 ✨🇯🇵
When Keiichi Iwasaki—a 49-year-old magician from Japan—walked onto the Britain’s Got Talent (BGT) 2022 stage, no one expected the whirlwind of whimsical chaos and genuinely mind-boggling magic that followed. Speaking with charming nervousness and often apologizing for his English, Keiichi delivered an audition that was so unique, so funny, and so flawless that it earned him the coveted Golden Buzzer from hosts Ant & Dec, catapulting him straight to the live shows.
The Introduction: A Dream and a Boat 🚢
Keiichi immediately won the audience over with his innocent demeanor and quirky answers. When asked why he was auditioning, he said it was because BGT is the “biggest stage in the world,” fulfilling a long-held dream.
But the most unforgettable revelation came when he was asked what he would do with the prize money: “I want to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowing a boat, so then I want to buy the boat.” This utterly unexpected and charmingly eccentric answer instantly endeared him to the judges, who confessed, “No one’s ever said that. I love that”.
The Magic: Close-Up Wonders and Comedy 🎩
Keiichi’s act was characterized by close-up magic, interactive comedy, and misdirection so subtle it was dizzying. He began by approaching the judges’ table, where he focused on Simon Cowell, saying he had seen him on YouTube “100 times”.
- The Chopstick Mystery: His first trick was a quick, funny bit involving a chopstick, which he seemed to momentarily teleport between his fingers, leaving Simon baffled and the audience laughing.
- The Card Prediction: Next, he asked the hosts, Ant & Dec (or “Deck” as he affectionately called them), to select a card. After confusing the judges with his hilarious “Japanese way to shuffle”, he correctly revealed the chosen card not once, but twice, leaving David Walliams shouting, “Didn’t know Japan was creating wizards!”
- The Final Masterpiece (The Ring): For his grand finale, Keiichi called judge Alesha Dixon up to the stage for a mesmerizing piece of intimate magic. He borrowed Alesha’s ring and placed it on her finger, covering it with a cloth. In a sequence of impossible moves, the ring appeared to pass through her finger, vanish, and then reappear in impossible locations, culminating in him making the ring appear tied to his shoelace 🤯 after a lengthy chase scene around the stage.
The Golden Conclusion 💖
Keiichi’s unique blend of faultless magic and delightful personality earned him a standing ovation and universal praise from the judges.
- Alesha Dixon praised his charm: “You are funny, you are quirky, you are very, very charming, and your magic was absolutely excellent”.
- David Walliams called him a spectacular combination: “You’re the funniest person we’ve seen and the most magical person we’ve seen all combined in one, and I love you”.
- Simon Cowell added that his son would “love” him and declared him “one of the best we’ve seen so far”.
As the judges prepared to vote, hosts Ant & Dec—who had been watching the entire performance from the wings with growing excitement and hysterics—could not contain themselves. They ran onto the stage, interrupting the voting process and making a collective decision. Shouting over the applause, Ant declared, “You, my friends, get the Golden Buzzer!”
The gold confetti exploded, raining down on a completely overwhelmed and emotional Keiichi, who kept repeating, “It’s like a dream… I never expected it. It’s too much” . His audition was a masterful lesson in stage presence, proving that true magic lies not just in the trick, but in the pure, unforgettable joy of the performer.
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