Bangor magician stuns America's Got Talent judges with disappearing act

Joel Mawhinney turned a children’s TV résumé into a prime-time U.S. audition, making judges on America’s Got Talent believe he had smashed their personal items before revealing the possessions were intact. The Bangor, County Down performer, who now works as Joel M, built the routine around borrowed objects, a hammer and a mallet, then used the apparent destruction to drive a disappearing act that landed him in the next round.

The act centered on items with obvious emotional weight. Three judges watched as what looked like a 50th birthday gift from Mel B’s fellow Spice Girls, a picture of a dog and a mobile phone were brought into the routine. One report said Mawhinney also borrowed Howie Mandel’s phone and went backstage in search of more objects, extending the sense that nothing around the panel was safe. For a live talent-show stage, the trick depended on speed, concealment and a tight sequence of reveals rather than brute force spectacle.

Mel B was initially horrified, particularly when the routine appeared to target a sentimental Spice Girls bracelet. Belfast Live said she later reacted, “I believe in magic.” The key to the performance was not the apparent smash itself but the reversal that followed, when the objects were shown to have survived the apparent wrecking. That shift from apparent damage to recovery is what gave the audition its tension, especially on a stage where the judges are primed to catch every mistake.

Mawhinney’s appearance also marked a career pivot that gives the performance extra weight. Later coverage described him as a 28-year-old magician, content creator and former Blue Peter presenter from Bangor, Northern Ireland, now performing professionally as Joel M. BBC and CBBC previously introduced him as Blue Peter presenter number 41, a detail that places him firmly in the world of children’s broadcasting before this U.S. breakthrough. A BBC Blue Peter page summed up the moment by saying Joel M made the judges’ personal items disappear on the latest series of America’s Got Talent.

The contrast is part of what made the audition cut through: a familiar face from British children’s television, now working a higher-pressure American talent stage with a routine built on borrowed objects, controlled panic and a final reveal that reset the room. Belfast Live said the performance carried him through to the next round, turning a one-off audition into a wider transatlantic introduction.