Young Meath magician hand picked by Simon Cowell to appear on spin off TV talent show

The young Meath magician who came third in last year’s Britain Got’s Talent is hoping to conquer America after being hand picked by Simon Cowell to appear on a spin off TV show.

Cillian O’Connor (14) has been chosen to be a finalist in America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League, a spin off of the popular talent competition.

The show had its premier on NBC last week which saw Simon Cowell, Mel B, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel take contestants through their paces to have a chance of being crowned the ultimate TV talent show winner.

Sixty acts from previous shows of the global TV franchise competed to make the final 40 with Cillian being selected to go through to the final stages.

The talented teen wowed Simon Cowell in auditions with his impressive magic skills so much so that the famous TV judge hand picked Cillian to be on his team.

The talented teen wowed Simon Cowell in auditions with his impressive magic skills so much so that the famous TV judge hand picked Cillian to be on his team.

"Each judge had to pick ten acts that they wanted and I am on Simon’s team,” beamed Cillian. "It was a shock to hear his voice coming on the phone saying saying Cillian you’re on my team, you have a chance at winning this,” he added.

Despite being once dubbed TV’s “Mr Nasty”, The magic maestro says his mentor is anything but, even inviting the young magician to his dressing room to give him a pep talk during the audition process.

"Simon in so nice,” explains Cillian. " He’s not as bad as people make him out to be . He’s calm and he’s nice to people. He interacts, he talks, he will give you tips on how he thinks you can improve your performance.

" After the auditions he invited me back to his trailer to talk to me face to face, that was very nice of him. He gave me a pep talk and was really encouraging.”

Cillian who flew to the states to film the series late last year says although he can't reveal much about how he faired out in the competition, he is hopeful that his appearance on American TV will give him the chance to be exposed to a bigger audience.

" To win this show would be a dream come true,” said Cillian. “The prize money is $250,000 which would be nice but more importantly it would give me the opportunity to expand to wider audiences, it would be good to become more international.”

The magic star left judges on Britain’s Got Talent speechless last year with his impressive tricks, heroically overcoming Autism and Dyspraxia to get a standing ovation from the audience and celebrity judges.

The Drogheda Grammar school student tugged on the heart strings with his story of how performing magic had helped him overcome the social awkwardness that came with his autism and brought the judges to tears.

Not only is Cillian set to appear on one of the biggest TV shows in America this year he is also set to bring his own live show on tour with dates added for Dublin, Belfast and the TLT Theatre in Drogheda.

Joining Cillian on tour will be Ryland Petry from America’s Got Talent. Although the teen said he couldn’t give too much away about what audiences could expect he promised that it would be “ a performance to remember.”

“If you loved by BGT performances, you are going to love the tour,” said Cillian.

"It will be bigger and better than Britain’s Got Talent. We are coming up with ideas and the moment and trying out different things, it’s very exciting,” he said.

“Before I started doing magic, my social skills and my fine motor skills were a lot poorer but magic was kind of a lifeline for me. Now with my tour I’m able to bring people into my world and them believe in magic,”he added.

Cillian’s dad Richie O’Connor who previously told how "magic changed his son’s life” after he once struggled to make eye contact or interact socially says both and his wife Elaine are “so proud” of all he has achieved.

"We are just walking around ten feet tall all of the time,” said Richie. "He spoke at a Tedx event last year and he had a big conference with Stanford University in California for Neurodiversity. He also performed for AsIAm, Ireland’s national Autism charity and he is also going to be involved with an international conference they are hosting later this year. He received the Rising Star Award from the Magic Circle last year as well.

"To have gotten to where he is now is absolutely unbelievable.”

see https://gagreflex.co.uk/shows/my-magic-world/ for more information on tour dates