Printable VersionAn estimated crowd of 5,000 people swarmed the Bridgewater Channel Saturday waiting for hours to watch a famed magician perform an escape stunt while dangling below the London Bridge.
 Magician Criss Angel addresses the crowd while dangling over the Bridgewater Channel Saturday. Kay Sykes Photo/Special to the News-Herald. |
Angel escaped his locks in the underwater stunt in about four minutes.
The performance is scheduled to air in Angel’s sixth season of “Mindfreak,” which is slated to run on A&E in mid-July. The show is a weekly show and an estimated 100 million people have watched the episodes.
Lake Havasu City officials hustled with A&E’s producers to pull the stunt together in the past few weeks.
The stunt’s segment is expected to highlight the city for at least 10 minutes of the show. It has been previously reported that the show could provide what would equal “millions” of dollars of advertising.
But after hours of spectators waiting, the reviews of the stunt were mixed.
Both sides of the Channel were packed by 11:30 a.m., and various watercrafts had started hovering around the stunt’s area.
The stunt didn’t start until about 3:02 p.m. and was over in four minutes.
Several times during the course of the hours leading up to Angel’s descent into the waters, the crowd packed into the English Village grew restless at the boats in the Channel blocking its view. “Move your boats” was chanted over and over again at first mainly from the children allowed to watch the stunt for free from the Adventure Center docks, but then adults along the sidewalk joined in as the stunt’s start grew closer.
Lake Havasu City resident Alison Post, 36, said she arrived in the English Village around 2 p.m.
“I’m glad we didn’t come down here at 9 or 10 a.m. just for that,” she said after the stunt. “It was not worth it and we’re still complaining. (We) couldn’t see anything.”
But local resident Marvin Fetterman said his wait since 10 a.m. was worth it.
“I thought it was fantastic,” he said, even though he was “too far away to see most of it.”
Ellen Sabo, owner of London Bridge Ice Cream Parlor in the English Village, said crowds were packed in by 9:45 a.m. She said she wasn’t expecting such a large crowd.
“For the local support, it’s been great,” she said.
Debbie Huss, a 30-year-old visitor from Minneapolis, said she thought the event was “overrated.”
“Really? This is it?” she said.
But Tracie Vineyard, a 36-year-old local resident, said she enjoyed it because she was spending time with her family on a boat in the Channel for the day.
“I wish it would have been a little faster,” she said. “It was fun. It was nice to have it here.”
You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com
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