He came, he sawed, he conquered.
That’s exactly what famed illusionist Steve Wyrick did after being approached by the Fox Sports 1 network to be the first-ever celebrity performer in the 17-year existence of The Annual Miss Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant. For the event, which was held and filmed for TV in the famed The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Wyrick created a completely original illusion involving multimedia and video technology that took sawing a woman in half to new technological levels, proving that his magic is truly a cut above the rest.
“I cut a woman in half with a chainsaw and pulled her torso off the table and onto a Snap-On toolbox,” the magician explains. “Then I took her legs and put them on a pallet jack. Both parts were rolled downstage. For the first time ever in magic, I had an audience volunteer examine the body parts. Audrina Patridge, who was one of the celebrity judges, came up and after examining the parts, freaked out. She screamed, ‘It’s like real!’
“Still the most challenging part of the event for me, being single, was being backstage with 60 gorgeous women running around in tiny bikinis and trying to keep my focus on getting ready to perform,” he adds, smiling.
This was the first time Wyrick performed at The Joint, home to such musical icons as Paul McCartney, Axel Rose, Vince Neil and many more. Besides Patridge, celebrity judges included NFL legend Terrell Owens, UFC fighter Chuck Liddell, Cynthia Bailey, Jay Williams, Lance Smith, Lt. Colonel Jason Amerine, and Susie Castillo.
Wyrick gave a truly cutting-edge performance, for sure, as viewers can witness for themselves when the pageant airs on the Fox Sports 1 network on July 17, 2013 at 9 p.m. EST.