Author: Emma Loggins
Date: 2008-08-01

Interview:
We had the pleasure of interviewing Criss Angel about the new season of Mindfreak as well as his upcoming projects. Here's what he had to say:

I have a couple of questions and I hope they all kind of blend into together. But I was wondering if you could describe in detail the handcuffs, shackles, chains, that you'll be in. You know, will they be on your feet, your h ands, are they police issued are they made of steel you know, how heavy is this chain. And then once you get through this obviously you have obstacles you have to get - get up to the building. And I was wondering how high the helicopter is, are you going to grab onto a rope, or a ladder, and then whisk off into the moonlight. Or, climb aboard and then drive off...

C. Angel: Yes, let me give you all of the particulars, because I just got back to it, and that's exactly what I was doing as I was actually rehearsing you know, this escape.

First off the lieutenant and commander of the SWAT Team and the lieutenant of the police department there in Clearwater, will be providing whatever handcuffs he owns, or he wants to provide and whatever brand they are. I think they are going be Smith and Wesson, and they are police issued handcuffs. As are all of the locks, there is a pair of handcuffs basically that I will be manacled, my wrist will be manacled through the sixth story balcony completely visible to the public and to the camera at all times.

I will have to get out of the handcuffs, I'll pick my way through them. And I will have the picks hanging around my neck, I will also have a stop watch on because it's critical for me to know moment by moment where I am, and how much time I have allocated for each thing just in my head and the way I've been rehearsing.

Once I give the go, the overall running time of this escape is four minutes, but I will have to do it in no less - not a second more than three minutes and thirty seconds and I'll explain why.

Once I escape and pick my way out of the handcuffs, I will then have to pick my way or get through four sets of doors.

One directly behind me on the balcony, and once I make my way through that, I will have to tend to another door which is the only entrance and exit into that room to that balcony that will have a chain and a lock that will also be provided by the police.

I will pick my way through that, I will then have to run down the hall, I will have to run up three stories of stairs, they'll be no stairs going down in that building, and that is because it cannot mess with the integrity of the implosion. And that is what is coded in the design of the implosion to allow it to implode within 20 foot, because obviously for safety for the public. So, the stairwell has to be removed.

I will have to run up three flights of stairs, once I get through the door to that - to the staircase, and then when I hit the roof, which is nine stories, they'll be a roof hatch that will have two - I think it has a slot for two locks. I will have to make it through both of those locks, open up the hatch, climb up to the roof, go to about the center of the roof where it will be an area that would allow me to grab the 30 foot ladder that would be hovering from the helicopter, which I'd been rehearsing while I was in Clearwater right now at the airport.

I will grab a hold of that ladder, and then be whisked up a 1,000 feet above, we will ascend in 30 seconds, that's why I have to make it to the helicopter to the roof by no later than three minutes and thirty seconds.

Because if I get there at 3:31, that helicopter won't have enough time to ascend a 1,000 feet. Once it ascends a 1,000 feet, at four minutes, that building will blow up.

Now my goal is to be at that roof top in no more than two minutes and thirty seconds, that's what I've been practicing in that time zone 2:30 to 2:40 tops. And then I'll have a little time to kill in the event that the helicopter for some reason you know, has some wind conditions or whatever that needs to stabilize and adjust itself, but that's essentially my goal.

Will you be coming back?

C. Angel: I'm going to be in the helicopter and then they are going to have to go to the - there is a airport that's within five minutes, that I will have to land. Because I don't think they can get a permit to land anywhere near that area, because we don't have the exact numbers of the public and how many people will be attending because it's a free event.

So I will have a clip that will be from the helicopter that I'll clip on to, and hang from - you know, I'll be holding on but I - once I'm on there you know, if I lose my grip - which I won't, but if I did I will.