There’s no shortage of talent on “Britain’s Got Talent,” but it takes real magic to move all four judges to tears.
Marc Spelmann of North London, England, describes himself as a “Devoted Father, Mystery Artist, Performer, Mind Reader, Magik Expert & Speaker.” Yet during his audition for the popular talent show, Marc was quick to tell the judges that what he was about to show them was “not real magic.”
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As the skeptical judges looked on, Marc had each one participate in his act. He asked David Walliams to select a crayon from a packet (red), Alesha Dixon chose a card from a children’s deck of cards (penguin), Amanda Holden mixed a Rubik’s Cube into a random pattern, and Simon Cowell circled a word at random from a book (hat).
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After learning each judge’s piece of the puzzle, Marc said, “If I told you I knew this exact outcome yesterday, a week ago, or a month ago, you’d say well that would have to be magic.”
“But it’s not real magic,” Marc continued. “It’s interesting intriguing maybe clever but it’s not real magic. See for me real magic changed two years ago, this to me is real magic….”
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Marc then stood back and showed the judges what he meant – and that’s when the entire auditorium seemingly held their breath…
Marc’s story of real magic began almost 10 years ago when he and his wife Tessa began trying to have a baby. Month after month went by, and it seemed that they’d never achieve their dream of becoming parents.
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As Marc’s wife, Tessa, looked on tearfully from her seat, he continued.
“We found it was hard for her to conceive. We gave it one last chance and we were convinced that it wasn’t going to work. We did a test and it came through negative, so we resigned ourselves to adopting, because we were desperate to be parents,” Marc said.
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But first, Tessa began IVF treatments, undergoing a painful five cycles. After the fifth cycle, Tessa went in for blood work, and they finally heard the amazing news they’d been waiting to hear.
When you do IVF you have to have a blood test, so Tessa went and had the blood test and you have to wait an hour or so and then they said ‘congratulations, you are pregnant’. It was the most bizarre moment ever. She burst into tears because it was 10 years of trying. She couldn’t contain herself. It was what I class as real magic.
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Sadly, Marc and Tessa’s happiness was short-lived. Just three months into her pregnancy, she discovered a lump on her breast.
“Tessa had a really aggressive form of breast cancer,” Marc said. “It was a large tumor and they said you will need chemotherapy and a mastectomy. The only words that came out of her mouth were ‘what about my baby?’, which says everything about Tessa. We had days of pure hell – is Tessa going to make it, is the baby going to make it?”
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Doctors used a reduced form of chemotherapy to protect their daughter in utero, but Tessa lost her hair and had a mastectomy. All of her efforts were rewarded, however, when their daughter Isabella Grace was born.
After Isabella’s birth, Tessa continued with aggressive radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Today she is cancer-free, and the family never loses sight of how lucky they are to have more time together.
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As Marc wrapped up his video presentation of what lengths he and his family had gone to so that he could stand before the judges on the BGT stage, the audience and judges were in tears. But Marc wasn’t finished yet.
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In the video, which he began filming two years beforehand, he revealed that all four of the objects he’d had the judges use mirrored his daughter’s favorite things.
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Isabella sleeps with a stuffed penguin, only uses a red crayon, and even arranged the Rubik’s Cube in exactly the same pattern that Amanda had made just moments before.
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Perhaps most impressively, two years ago Marc had asked his now-two-year-old daughter to tell him a word to ask Simon to circle in the book if he ever made it onto the talent show. Incredibly, she said, “hat.”
Even Simon could not believe his ears!
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“I’m absolutely gobsmacked, I mean, first of all, thank god your little girl’s OK,” Simon said during the judging portion of the show. “I don’t know what you’ve gone through Marc, through your career trying to get the break you’re looking for, but I have a feeling this act is going to change your life. It was unbelievable.”
Amanda agreed, visibly moved. “It was absolutely incredible. We’re all parents and that’s the greatest magic in the world.”
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All of the judges and hosts were so impressed, they didn’t hesitate to hit the Golden Buzzer. The entire auditorium erupted in cheers, with many people wiping away tears. Marc, you’ve made a believer out of us, too! If that’s not real magic, I don’t know what is.
Watch the incredible performance below, and be sure to share!
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