Magician attacked and set on fire on Live TV

[Ollie]

For those who haven't heard on Facebook, the magician Wayne Houchin was attacked live on air in the Dominican Republic by the host who set his face on fire. They threw Agua de Florida (which is highly flammable due to its high alcohol content) in his face and set it on fire to take out his "demons".

He was severely burned and without the fast response from the Curiosidades team he would have lost his life due to the studios lack of extinguishers and first aid kits.

Luckily he got to hospital and is now in a stable condition although in a lot of pain. It's not known if he will be permanently disfigured.

What makes it worse is the ‘journalists’ taking such an unfortunate event lightly and accusing the team of publicly practicing VooDoo and Witchcraft and that the attack was a divine justice for the nastiness of the practices.

He's such a nice down to earth guy in person and it's shocking that some religious nutheads have to respond to their beliefs in such extreme ways.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQOeFC0d12k&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

 

[Ian]

Fukaxe, why do people always move the camera away the moment after something happens?

I've watched plane and car crashes videos and the second after the crash, the camer is pointed at the ground. I want to see the seconds immediately after the incident.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

**** everything about this.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using Tapatalk 2

 

[kimahri]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVoKlqbz1l4[/youtube]

+1

 

[peep]

See, I follow Graham Lineham (writer of lots of TV sitcoms) on Twitter and he likes to talk about anything in the media. He posted this and was later informed by a lot of people that it's apparently a stunt? It's actually the magician throwing the fire on to the TV host?

So after seeing that earlier in the week and now reading your post, I'm confused.

 

[Ben]

He's such a nice down to earth guy in person

Urghhhh, stop name dropping magicians noone has ever heard of.

 

[marc]

I've also read it was a stunt that went wrong.

 

[Ollie]

Following updates from the Hospital they say that now Wayne is resting, healing & working through the legal process in the Dominican Republic.

 

[marc]

Ollie it's all meant to be a publicity stunt.

 

[kimahri]

Following updates from the Hospital they say that now Wayne is resting, healing & working through the legal process in the Dominican Republic.

Thanks to this riviting news I am now able to function in daily life.

 

[furie]

I have no idea if this is a publicity stunt or real. It's certainly got the media fooled.

It should be simple to find out though.

What was the "live" TV show and who was the host? I'm sure that both the TV network and the host will have issued statements about this? Or haven't they because it was conveniently in "the Dominican Republic where nobody knows anything..."?

 

[marc]

That's the whole idea though they work to confuse people just like that idiot brown does.

There main aim is to confuse the people watching.

This stunt went wrong and it's got people talking.

 

[Ollie]

Where are the sources saying it's a stunt? Wayne (the magician) himself said it wasn't a stunt or planned and was a criminal attack. You can tell by his reaction in the video that he wasn't expecting the host to do it. A warrants now been issued for the hosts arrest.

I don't think a magician would set his own head on fire without any hood or protection, end up in hospital with burns over his hands and face and get legal teams and the police involved just for the sake of a 'stunt'. It's just not the sort of thing Wayne would do.

Abc news have an updated news story here.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2 ... an-tv-show

U.S. magician Wayne Houchin is recovering in a Dominican Republic hospital after a TV host lit his head on fire with a flammable liquid.

Houchin was a guest on the Dominican Republic’s “Approach the Stars” TV program Nov. 26 when, he says, host Franklin Barazarte unexpectedly poured flammable cologne on his head.

A video of the incident shows the magician’s head bursting into flames as Barazarte runs his hands over Houchin’s hair.

A warrant has been issued for Barazarte’s arrest.

Houchin was rushed to the hospital with first- and second-degree burns to his face and hands. He wrote on Facebook, “This was not a stunt or part of an act. This was a criminal attack.”

In an e-mail to ABC News, he said: “The doctors here are cautiously optimistic that I will heal with no scars on my face. Each day I look and feel better. My hand, however, is in a lot of pain and isn’t healing as well as my face.”

Even world-famous magician David Copperfield has come out in support of Houchin.

“You try to present yourself as a performer that is creating wonder and amazement and occasionally somebody might misunderstand that and might think that you’re trying to foster belief in something supernatural,” Copperfield told ABC News Sunday night.

Houchin was performing on the show with a group of magicians. After the performances, Houchin says, the host told them he wanted to give them a “blessing.” Without warning, Houchin said, the host doused him with “Agua de Florida,” a flammable cologne commonly used in Santeria rituals.

The video shows Barazarte and others trying to extinguish the flames for a few seconds as Houchin lay on the floor covering his face.

Someone in the video can be heard saying, “His face is burnt.”

It is unclear what ignited the cologne. The incident was not broadcast on Dominican television, according to The Associated Press.

The show has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.

Houchin has gained international success as a magician. He has appeared on Discovery’s “Breaking Magic.”

Houchin and his wife earlier this year broke the world magic record for the fastest upside-down, dual strait-jacket escape.

 

[marc]

Will post them for you later Ollie when at home.

 

[furie]

That's all well and good Ollie, but there is still nothing that proves it was anything else. I'm not saying I don't believe it, but the guy was suddenly gained world recognition from this incident and the only "it wasn't a stunt" information has come from him and the press, which is just reporting the same thing.

If you do a search for Franklin Barazarte, there's nothing apart from this news. The show also doesn't get any hits, apart from to do with this news item. It just seems a bit suspect that a presenter on a national TV show isn't known anywhere on Google.

So if it's true, then it's a very sad state of affairs and I wish Wayne well. I just don't know what to believe though, my BS detector if flashing, just not very brightly.

Will answer this directly:

I don't think a magician would set his own head on fire without any hood or protection, end up in hospital with burns over his hands and face and get legal teams and the police involved just for the sake of a 'stunt'.

I've set fire to my head firebreathing. It looks really impressive and while it's certainly not an advisable thing (I did it by accident, the wind suddenly changed and blew the paraffin back onto me) and it's scary as hell, the damage tends to be limited as the flames burn off the fuel and then go out. He could have had enough protective gel on to help. Again, I'm not saying he did, but he could have - magic and illusion is his skill after all.

It's just not the sort of thing Wayne would do.

Sorry, but you have no idea if it's the kind of thing he would do or not. He's a stranger on the other side of the world that you see a "presentation of" on camera or stage.

 

[marc]

Ollie this is what they do, the fool the people watching and he's fooled you so it worked.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

That's sad! Whether it was a stunt that went wrong or someone who set his face on fire, it's still a terrible thing to happen! Hopefully he's not permanently disfigured.

 

[Ollie]

Ollie this is what they do, the fool the people watching and he's fooled you so it worked.

OMG. I never knew that. I've been doing magic wrong for so long. I assumed you just had to be honest and tell them how you were doing it as you did it.

Anyway latest update is that he has an active criminal warrant out for his arrest, but he's legged it to New York with his wife. So as a result of ignoring serious charges, he’s now officially considered a fugitive of Dominican law.

This 'stunt' is sure fooling the police who are getting involved. They're going to feel so silly when they find out a guy hospitalised himself and got lawers and police involved just for a bit of screen time on a TV channel noone watches.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the ... story.html

 

[kimahri]

just stick some Sudocrem on and he'll be fine.

 

[Mark]

WtheactualF?

If this was real why the hell was the host not kept well away from the magician guy. In the moments after it happens you can clearly see the host next to him. Surely, if it was a violent act meant in malice it would have got more of a shocked response from the people in the room? Everyone actually seemed rather calm about it, like they were expecting it to happen... Seriously, if someone had just done that to me, in amongst the pain I imagine I would be effing and blinding and telling people to keep the lunatic away from me. Surely they would have been keeping the host well away?

Ollie, what I think Marc was getting at is what I say about Derren Brown. In essence I don't believe all of his powers of mindcontrol that are displayed on TV and actually the real mindcontrol is that he manages to make the public enmass believe he has those pass. That is where the real trickery lies.

If this was just a stunt it was aimed to make people believe he was attacked etc etc and thereby he manages to make the world believe something which is a pretty spectacular magic trick

Having said that, if the police involved, that really muddies the water and now I don't know what I believe lol