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Access Hollywood
LOS ANGELES - An altercation occurred on the set of NBC’s supernatural show “Phenomenon” on Wednesday night during the live taping.
The incident involved contestant Jim Callahan, who took offense to comments made by “Phenomenon” judge Criss Angel, the “Mind Freak” who fronts the show alongside legendary mentalist Uri Geller.
After performing a stunt where Callahan claimed to have been possessed by the spirit of author Raymond Hill, Callahan didn’t take Angel’s criticism well and “went after” the “Mind Freak” according to a witness on the scene.
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“Criss jumped out of his chair,” the witness told Access Hollywood, “And was ready to battle it out.”
Following the stunt, Geller certainly seemed to be convinced by the act, calling it “very convincing,” while Angel appeared anxious for his turn to weigh in.
“Criss, I can see you’re itching to say something,” noted “Phenomenon” host and Access Hollywood’s Tim Vincent.
“I just think it’s comical quite frankly,” Angel said.
Angel then pulled an envelope from his pocket and appeared to challenge not only Callahan’s abilities but also those of his fellow judge Geller.
“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,” Angel insisted.
The challenge clearly didn’t sit well with the contestant.
“OK, man, I’ll tell you what I will tell you. I find you an ideological bigot,” Callahan responded as he made his way toward Angel.
“Tell me what’s in the envelope,” Angel kept repeating.
Angel then got out of his seat to meet Callahan, as Geller and Vincent came between the two men and separated them.
“It’s a live show. This is not planned. We’ll see you after the commercial break,” Vincent told the audience as the show cut to commercial with Vincent pulling Callahan away from Angel.
When they returned, order appeared to have been restored as Vincent and Callahan were on stage, with Vincent even making a joke that it was like an episode of the “Jerry Springer Show.”
The show then posted Callahan’s phone number for viewers to call in and vote, and they moved on to a special tribute from Angel to Harry Houdini.
Copyright 2007 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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.