What is so bad about Criss Angel? I'm not for him or against him but I'm just wondering.

You must remember Criss has never really claimed to have powers.And at the end of his Seance,one AND two,he makes a statement that gives us the hint he doesnt even beleive in the paranormal.In the first one he says "Do you beleive in ghosts?I dont." and in the second one he says "Are you a conduit to the paranormal?Or jsut a con?"Those both give away its all illusions.And the automatic writing guy did claim to be in contact with a ghost and the paranormal,which Criss did say he would call out anyone that claimed such things.I am right there with Criss,the guys act was over the top.And Criss is a very talented magician,Camera tricks have been used,but every tv illusionist has used it.Sorry to say.Criss is still a talented stange magician and has developed a good character.

Since when did Criss become an expert on the Paranormal. Who told him he may speak for everyone? Jim Callahan believes what he believes and no one can prove or disprove this. Jim did in fact mention several times that he was performing for entertainment purposes on Phenomenon. Criss was attacking him for other reasons that the show viewers knew nothing about.

Saying you believe in the Paranormal for your act and staying in character all the time is not a con, its commitment. Remember Chung Ling Soo?

Bottom line, Criss broke the format of the show to bully a contestant and insult the Uri, the host and creator for the show.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkmBFqSWJSk

The guy had it coming. His act was garbage and Criss called him out on his bs. I'm normally not a huge Angel fan, but I was right with him on this one. He shouldn't have said anything about Uri, but there may be more to why he did. Maybe Uri's disrespected Criss in private. Maybe Criss couldn't handle Uri being so soft on all the contestants. Who knows?

If you're going to go on stage, do some crappy acting and claim to be possessed by some writer no one has ever heard of and then call that magic, you deserve to get called out for it. Penn Jillette, Banachek, Sankey I would think would've done the same thing.

Do you honestly think that those people would do the same? Those people, unlike Angel, respect their art.

I'm sorry, but you really have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. The professional magic community is laughing at Crissy, if they’re not laughing; they’re forming a lynch mob. All of your allegations are pure speculation. I know from first hand sources why Crissy was wrong on so many levels too numerous to mention here. If you really want the facts, re-read the posts or go to the Magic Café and read those posts.

Lets see...maybe a few months after I started getting into magic I gave my attention to Criss Angel. I liked him and gave him my respect. As time got on, it lessened, slowly but surely. Now, I don't have much respect for him, but I don't have disrespect. But, after watching that scene on Phenomenon, my respect for him has hit an all time low.

Now, I don't think he over acted. This was his presentation of being a "spirit-writer" I think he said. Personally, I would believe this version of it than someone whose character is a "spirit-writer" and that remained calm and steady and looked as if nothing was happening. I think it was horrible what Criss Angel did. Jim (was that his name?) said he was an entertainer, and those videos before the act is him in Character. I myself would of liked to see Criss get his (insert word) kicked by Jim after that.

I think the act was crappy. It just wasn't entertaining to me. I agree with Criss that the act was comical. However, Criss acted like an idiot and called out Jim and Uri, which was disrespectful, arrogant, and bratty. I never liked him, and this didnt help his situation.

The whole "criss angel almost getting in a fight" thing was fake. The guy who tried to claim he had paranormal powers had this whole thing planned out with Uri Criss and NBC. It's to get more viewers. Do you see what you guys are doing right now? Yeah your deffinently going to be watching Phenonmenon next week. Did you see when Criss and the guy got face to face, notice how they didn't try hitting each other untill after Uri and the host pulled them back? Then the "paranormal" guy put on the worst "hold me back man" act in the world. The host was holding him back and he did the weakest looking little punch in the world,not to mention he did it while the host was holding his arms. This guy who put on all this crap didn't even want to be the next Phenomenon as it is. He just wanted to get his million dollars for doing this "act" and move on. Even if on the votes he got the most he was going to be kicked off anyway because he can't move on...he's not really an ordinary magician trying to win. When they came back from commercials and the host said "sorry if you thought you were watching Jerry Springer but this is Phenomenon." I just laughed because Jerry Springer got busted. Did you guys know that? It was on the news they found out every conflict on the show was fake. They just wanted more and more viewers for more and more money. Phenomenon isnt fake but that part was. I'm not talking bad on Phenomenon, i'm saying congrats you just got tons of more people watching and now more people will be intrested in magic.

I have to disagree with parts of your statement. It is still unclear whether or not this was real. The guys bad "hold me back" thing may have just been his own acting and not scripted by NBC. He was just called out on live tv so he may have wanted to deflect or get some of his pride back. People act like they want to fight but then do a lame "hold me back" thing all the time. It wasn't necessarily scripted by NBC but sure it is possible.

Also I really don't see how this helped with the ratings. Honestly I think the only people watching this show are magicians. I literally have to force myself to watch it all the way through. Everything about this show is bad from the host to the acts to the judges.

yea, that video has spread it self all over youtube. first of all... for chriss to do that... is purely immature as an individual and really ignorant as a magician. he basically became the heckler.. isnt that kinda the magicians enemy ?secondly, that guys act was a lil over the line.. his over reaction to being exhausted was waaayy too dramatic. and personally I dunno if you guys would agree with me or not :S but.. this show.. is REALLy really hurting to watch, I watched the first episode... not tooo impressed. so I gave it a second go, and was less impressed. and then after the 3rd one.. im really really dissapointed in these people :s.I swear a saw a fishing line on one of their effect where the glasses was standing up.. you could see the fishing line clearly o.o. at least he could of I'T'ed it o.o

Yea I do see what your saying about the whole not wanting to get in a fight but still wants the pride thing. But I still think it's fake. That's just my opinion. To further explain how it could get more viewers, is just like the guy who repled right under you saying it's all over you tube, right there, so many people are going to be watching more wanting to see something else like that. It also seems to me like they were building that whole thing up from the first show. How they constantly said "This show is live so we really don't know what could happen." O.K we get it. It's live anything can happen, OH MY GOD CRISS ANGEL ALMOST GOT IN A FIGHT! I love live stuff now, i'm deffinently watching this next week.
Like that.
I just saw all the people saying thay lost all their respect that they even had for Criss left. You shouldn't. He had it planned with the guy and wasn't trying to talk down to the guy. Oh and another way they were building the wholefight scene up is before Phenomenon even aired on criss's site, it said Criss would call out any guy who tried to claim he was real, weird how that exact thing happened.

I definately wasnt fond of Jim Callahan's act. However, what Criss did shows a real lack of character. I basically agree with some of the things Angel said, but to lose composure like that on Live Network is totally ridiculous. Really kind of a disgrace to Magic in my eyes.

But I think the big question is whether or not you the Mentalist, claim to have some sort of "psychic" or "supernatural" powers. From my understanding, Mentalism is the art of trickery into making others believe you can read their mind. Mentalists dont claim to have true "powers". The art is more about being a clever trickster than a possesed spirit writer.

A mentalist would have been more interactive with the young lady who chose the object. Instead, we got a self-indulgent seance, a medium act maybe, but Mentalism gosh no. And I believe the title is supposed to go to the best Mentalist, am I wrong?

I still disagree with Angel's handling of the situation, but after all, this is the entertainment business, and that was just not entertaining.

...and how did he know "metal, rectangular, 4 wheels" ? Was it a clever trick, a setup, or is he really able to do what he did? and if it was clever, why dress it up with such nonsense?

Best one so far: "I need everyone to hold hands now..." Criss looks at Uri, Uri looks at Criss.....Yeah that's not gonna happen.