A huge escape!

The World’s First tandem upside-down double strait jacket escape …

A world’s first was accomplished some 75 feet over the National Museum of Singapore on Saturday. The last night of the Singapore Night Festival saw “Asia’s Most Famous Illusionists”, the pairing of J C Sum and Magic Babe Ning, complete a nerve-wrecking, death-defying, tandem escape stunt that had the two dangling upside down from a burning rope, with each strapped into a double strait-jacket.

Dangling 75 feet over the air in double strait-jackest suspended from a burning rope

The stunt was part of the performances and the highlight of the two-weekend festival.  The spectacular act was performed to a huge crowd (there must have been more than several thousands) which started to gather in anticipation some two hours before when the National Museum of Singapore, which served as a backdrop for the act, entertained making faces. Many had been present for another of Ning’s mega stunts on the previous evening, when they witnessed “the sexiest woman in magic” stage an amazing escape from a locked steel vault which was filled to the brim with water. For that stunt, Ning was completely submerged, chained and shackled with only a pair of paper clips to help her get out, having only the time that it would have taken her to run out of breath to get out – a feat which on its own was remarkable as it was the first time such an escape has been publicly witnessed in Singapore (see my prevous post)!

The second stunt, was of course a lot more spectacular – and terrifying, especially so when all was done in full view of the audience. Both Ning and J C Sum were each tied-up into two strait-jackets, with two members of the audience picked to do the job. Both were then attached to a rig by their ankles one over the other. The rig was in turn was attached to a length of rope set alight as they were being attached which was attached to the hook of a huge telescopic crane. As the rope burned, the two were hoisted up – J C Sum made an announcement before the stunt that they would be hoisted not to 50 feet (15 metres – about five storeys) as was originally intended, but 75 feet (23 metres or 7 1/2 storeys) up in the air.

As a stunt, it must surely count as the most daring ever seen in Singapore. Based on a upside-down escape stunt from a strait-jacket whilst suspended made famous by none other than Harry Houdini himself, the very first tandem inverted strait-jacket escape is much more risky, as it is dependent not just on the actions of one person, but two. There is of course the wind, as well as humidity – which does make the strait-jacket stick to the skin, to contend with. And to top it all, it was done without safety nets!

Working against a clock set by the time it would have taken to burn through the rope, with the time taken to raise and lower the pair, J C Sum seemed to be initially ahead of Ning in getting out of the strait-jackets – his got his hand free as Ning seemed to struggle. But Ning was first to get out of her two strait-jackets, and the close to three-minutes that it took J C Sum to fling off his inner strait-jacket what must have seemed like an eternity to both. There was some drama as the audience could see that Ning seemed to be having some difficulty in attempting to remove J C Sum’s jacket which had got caught at her feet but all could heave that huge collective sigh of relief as she seemed to recover and it wasn’t long before both could be lowered down. The total time taken for the duo to be raise, to escape and be lowered would have been close to five minutes which probably was as much time as they could have used – the rope after the fire was extinguished did look as if it was about to be burned through.

It was a visibly relieved look that Ning wore as she first waved to the crowd on completing the stunt. With fireworks illuminating the stage, the pair was greeted by thunderous applause. The two were then presented with a certificate for their world record feat by the Singapore Book of Records as well an Outstanding Achievement & Contribution to Magic award by the International Brotherhood of Magicians Ring 115 – all which certainly was well deserved!

Pink-haired woman escapes from chains and shackles

A pink-haired woman escaped from chains and shackles last evening in front of the huge crowd that had gathered in front of the National Museum of Singapore last night. It wasn’t any ordinary pink-hair woman, not that you would ordinarily find a woman with pink hair, of course. The woman, who has been dubbed the “sexiest woman in magic”, was none other than Singapore’s very own female magician, illusionist and escape artist extraordinaire, Magic Babe Ning, who was attempting the first of two mega escape stunts as part of the Singapore Night Festival.

Ning with the shackles.

And the locks.

A member of the audience invited to check for metal objects on her.

Holding their breaths with her, the audience waited in suspense as “the sexiest woman in magic” took a little longer than the “under two minutes” that was expected in emerging from a locked and chained steel vault she was submerged in whilst shackled and chained around her wrists, neck and waist – with only the aid of two paper clips to pick the locks. The impressive escape was certainly quite a feat – not just that many of us can even pick a lock in under the two minutes Ning had to hold her breath for, but also because it would have been the very first time such a that a Houdini-like escape of this kind was performed in Singapore.

With the seconds ticking away, there was a lot of relief all around as first a hand emerged, and it wasn’t long before Ning’s pink mop popped through as she came out taking in a huge breath of air. Her stunt partner, J C Sum, with whom she would be performing the second death-defying escape stunt with, later revealed that she did take longer than expected, with Ning explaining that she had some difficulty as she had conspired to drop the paper clips whilst submerged in the water.

What definitely will top this stunt would be the second mega stunt that Magic Babe Ning would be attempting at 10 pm tonight with J C Sum at the same location. This stunt, set to be a world’s first – officials from the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Singapore Book of Records will be on hand to witness it, will see the two attempt a world’s first tandem upside down strait jacket escape! Both Ning and Sum will try to escape from regulation strait-jackets, suspended only by ankle boots attached to a bar tied to a single burning rope, high over the museum’s dome – surely a must see. More information on the stunt and some of the other Singapore Night Festival installations this weekend can be found at my previous post.