[imagesource: ITV]

Britain’s Got Talent is back for a new season, which means people are doing their thing in the auditions, hoping to catch their big break.

This week, one audition from a Harry Houdini-inspired performer left everyone a little shaken.

Even judge Simon Cowell was left on the edge of his seat, barely able to watch through to the end.

The daring performer, Andrew Basso, started out his act by asking judge Amanda Holden to put him in handcuffs, after which he put himself upside down in a glass tank filled with water.

With the blood rushing to his head and his nose blocked, the Italian escapologist was supposed to unlock himself from the cuffs using just a paperclip.

To up the ante, he challenged himself to make the Houdini-style escape within two minutes.

But the music stopped and the seconds ticked way past the two-minute mark, leaving everyone just as breathless as he was in that tank:

Metro reported that Simon told his fellow panellists that this kind of act does “freak” him out, while others, including judge David Walliams, wondered if the overtime was a part of the act:

After being blown away by what he’d just witnessed, Simon asked: ‘Why would you want to do this?’ With Andrew responding: ‘I feel alive.’

Thank goodness, yes.

David, Holden and Alesha Dixon all gave positive comments, with the latter adding: ‘It’s so hard to watch but I’m so impressed but your fearlessness.’

‘There are a tiny tiny group of people in the world who can do what you just did, that’s an audition we’re never going to forget,’ Simon concluded.

Basso has been allowed into the next stage of the competition, which begs the question: will he make it out next time?

It’s also worth noting that some people are suspicious that the whole thing was staged due to an unopened padlock.

Reality TV that isn’t actually real? I am shocked, I tell you.

[source:metro]