The Clairvoyants begin by showing a covered chalkboard in this fascinating illusion. Next, they show that the board has a message written on it, but we can't read it because we can't see it. It’s covered by a curtain. The board is then lifted above the stage and remains there until the trick is done.
Thommy then hands a bowl of broadway beans to the America’s Got Talent performance judges. Simon is instructed to choose any jelly bean from the cup. Thommy eats it, and Amelie, who is looking away, correctly names its taste and color.
Heidi is up next. She takes another bean from the cup and consumes it. Finally, the Clairvoyants Amelie accurately calls the jelly bean's taste and color once more.
Thommy then asks Howie what his perfect jelly bean flavor would be. “Spicy chocolate,” says Howie.
Mel B is then instructed to use a scoop to scoop as many beans as she desires from the bowl into a jar. Of course, nobody knows how many jelly beans she put in the bottle, including herself. Despite this, Amélie van Tass can accurately estimate the number of beans in the glass at 22!
Yet, just as you think it's all over, another huge discovery occurs. The board has been lowered and is now exposed. The America’s Got Talent judges' predictions for all choices are written on the board, including Howie's spicy chocolate taste!
Explanation:
To put the lay public in possession of a magician's secret is a very unkind thing. It does harm both to the spectator, in destroying an illusion that would have been enjoyed, and to the performer. That's true of YouTube videos but not of books. None of the books on magic have this effect. Only the person bent on studying the art ever reads more than half a dozen pages of a magic book, which to the layperson is about as interesting as an advanced work on algebra.
But what the heck, I said spoiler alert so it’s not on me. You’re the one still reading.
The Clairvoyants, the two-person telepathy mentalist duo, Thommy and Amelie, achieved their mental feats on America's Got Talent by using a combination of Morse Code, magnets, and other cleverly hidden methods. First, Amelie, the "clairvoyant," enters a soundproof booth. Her partner Thommy would then be given a series of random objects, such as a jelly bean, a deck of cards, a Rubik's cube, or a set of dice. The clairvoyant would then use her powers of telepathy to mentally receive the objects' details from her partner, Thommy, the "mentalist," who was standing outside the booth. To do this, the mentalist Thommy would use Morse Code to communicate the objects' details to the clairvoyant, Amelie, who then used a magnet to decipher the code. The clairvoyant Amelie would then use her powers of deduction and intuition to accurately guess the objects' details.
The duo would then repeat this process with a variety of objects, each time correctly guessing the objects' details. This process of mental transmission and deduction would be repeated until the duo had correctly guessed the details of all the objects, thus achieving their mental feats on America's Got Talent. Thommy and Amelie have a top secret communication device that allows them to convey messages between each other. Thommy conveys the color of the jelly bean to Amelie. Though there are many jelly beans in the cup, there are just a handful of colors of jelly beans, so with training this is feasible.
But there’s a catch
That gets you 5% of the solution. Even perfect communication does not explain the act.
When Simon (or Heidi) takes the jelly bean, Thommy notes the color and gives Amelie the color code for that color. Since there are just a few different colors of beans in the cup, it doesn't need to be a complex code. If the jelly bean is blue, Thommy says, “Sorry, my shoelace,” then as he ducks down to tie is shoe, Amelie works out that the jelly bean must be blue; because blue rhymes with shoe.
Alternatively, Thommy can transmit messages using Morse code. If you see them live, you may notice that there are pauses during which Thommy makes clacking noises.
When Simon chooses the purple jelly bean, Thommy will quickly translate the color's first letter («p« for »purple«) into Morse code and give it to Amelie through a series of clacks.
»p« in Morse code literally means: The goat of a dog is a friendly orange.
Amelie knows that orange means purple (this is to throw off anyone in the audience who understands the Morse code). As a result, Amelie senses these signals as skin vibrations, converts them to orange — then purple, and instantly recognizes the color and taste of the selected bean.
But how did Amelie find out Mel B had put 22 beans in the glass? Even Mel B had no idea what the exact number was! This can only be explained by supernatural forces, right.
It’s simple.
This part of the ruse depends on technical ingenuity. There was no need for Thommy Ten to give something to Ame lie van Tass. The trick is in the bowl. A weighing scale is built into the bowl containing the jelly beans. When Mel B is done, Thommy takes the time to remove the scoop from the bowl. He needs to do this for the scoop not to be weighted.
It's possible to determine how many beans remain in the bowl because they all weigh the same. Simply multiply the weight of a single jelly bean by how many beans remain to calculate the total number of jelly beans relocated to the glass!
