Criss Angel Rips Phenomenon Contestant Jim Callahan, Video Online!
by Tashi Singh
Criss Angel Debunks Paranormalist's Act: It was Halloween night when Criss Angel decided to test Jim Callahan's paranormalist abilities - and it was hilarious!
Criss Angel, who is a talented illusionist, probably knows 'fake' when he sees it - and so he called contestant Jim Callahan out on his act. Callahan got so angry and defensive that he even tried to fight Angel!
Girls Talkin Smack write: I don't think that many people are watching Phenomenon, but it's a live reality show competition with magicians/mentalists. Some fool got on stage and claimed that he was channeling a dead author and pretended to be possessed on stage. The whole thing was just ridiculous with the contestant writhing around in a chair and basically making a fool of himself. So at the end Criss Angel pretty much debunked his abilities and the contestant got mad, lunged at him and the host almost got knocked off the stage trying to hold him back.
It's six minutes long, but it's definitely worth your time! Check it out below:
On Halloween night, October 31, during a 2-hour long live episode of NBC show ''Phenomenon'', famed magician Criss Angel told Uri Geller and Jim Callahan, "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 this envelope right now." While Geller ignored Angel's challenge, Callahan started to confront Angel in a hostile manner, as host Tim Vincent held him back and Geller held Angel back.

Previously Angel made it clear that he will not "tolerate" fellow magicians who try to pass their illusions off as paranormal. For example, on the day before the Halloween special, Angel told Larry King, "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."

In the midst of the confrontation, the TV show cut to a commercial break. Vincent said the show was not "Jerry Springer." When the last contestant appeared Angel said it was "a hell of a lot more entertaining than the previous act." The following week Callahan was voted off the show by the TV audience.

James Randi, a former magician who had previously worked with Angel and a long standing critic of Geller and psychics, wrote of the incident, "Criss Angel said, in his rather lengthy comments, 'Callahan demonstrated something that is unexplainable to some' — though to whom that might have applied, I cannot fathom — and Criss is beginning to sound very much like that chap James Randi, tossing about a million-dollar challenge."

This is not the first time that Uri Geller has been challenged by a professional magician. Thirty years ago, during a French television show called ''Droit de réponse'', Gerard Majax demonstred that all "so called" powers shown previously during the show by Geller could be reproduced by a magician even more convincingly than Geller.