Status: Magic trick
Stevie Starr calls himself a professional regurgitator. He's been doing his act for a long time, and is quite famous. (He's appeared on shows such as Jay Leno and Ripley's Believe it or Not.) But I just became aware of him through
a video of one of his performances on Google Video, and I'm at a complete loss to explain how he does what he does.
His performance includes some of the following tricks: He swallows sugar, followed by a glass of water, and then regurgitates the sugar, completely dry. He swallows a live goldfish and regurgitates that a minute later, still living. (As he does this, he mentions the urban legend about
goldfish having 5-second memories.) Reportedly he's also able to swallow a (miniature) rubik's cube and bring it back up — solved. (Though the Rubik's cube trick isn't shown in the google video.)
I can't find anyone on the web who has a decent explanation for how Starr is able to do all this. Obviously he has a genuine talent with his stomach. An article about him in the
Amherst Student reports that:
he was born in a children’s home in Scotland, where he lived for the first 19 years of his life. When little Stevie was four years old, he discovered this unique talent by swallowing his lunch money and realizing he could bring it right back up. Thus, a freak of nature was born.
But this doesn't explain how he can swallow sugar, followed by water, and bring the sugar up dry. Or the trick with the rubik's cube. Does he have a second stomach, or something like that? To do the rubik's cube trick I assume he must have swallowed a solved rubik's cube before the show. But like I said, I'm pretty much baffled.
Incidentally, history is full of famous vomiters, so Stevie Starr evidently isn't the only one who has ever had this talent. In 1621 there was the case of the nail-vomiting Boy of Bilston (who had been trained by a priest to simulate the symptoms of being bewitched). This was followed in 1642 by Catharina Geisslerin, "the toad-vomiting woman of Germany," who, as you might guess, had a talent for vomiting up toads. In 1694 there was Theodorus Döderlein, who vomited up twenty-one newts and four frogs. (I'm getting this info from Clifford Pickover's
The Girl Who Gave Birth to Rabbits.) Pickover also reports that there have been cases of compulsive swallowers who don't later regurgitate what they swallow, including one guy in 1985 who had "53 toothbrushes, 2 razors, 2 telescopic aerials, and 150 handles of disposable razors" removed from his stomach.
Comments
For the sceptics out there, another trick he does is swallow dishwashing liquid and inhale butane gas, then he blows bubbles filled with the butane and lights then with a flame. He gets an audience member to light the bubbles and if not carefull the hairs on their arms gets singed. The fish also get high off the butane which is funny to see.
either way....the man is very good at what he does
You can see it go into his left cheek.
He then turns his head sideways in a 3/4 to the right angle so you can't see the lower part of the cheek clearly, but if you look closely you can see a slight bulge there.
So that's the answer, and it's definitive: he's storing the stuff in his left cheek.
Now watch this when he swallows the billiard ball. There is no faking that. Even as he bring it back up his yell is stifled from the ball closing his throat. Give it up people. He may be the ONLY real magician left.
I went back stage to check on him and he did the most amazing thing.
He put his mouth over the tap, turned it on full and filled his gut with litres of water.
He then turned to me and said " want to see the sprinkler?"
He turned in circles and sprayed water for almost 1 minute on all the walls in the room
ITs real and I watched him up close
It's a great illusion, believe it or not!
Isolation, and complete control of stomach muscles.
He can ingest an unsolved Rubik's cube, but with modified colored stickers, that can react with saliva, and change color to match a solved cube pattern.
Simple enough.
The powdered sugar trick is also simple. He puts the sugar in his mouth but puts it under his toungue. Then he swallows the water quickly not allowing it to mix with the sugar. After that he sinply releases the sugar out of his mouth. Only the absolutely dry part of the sugar comes out, the moisturized part keeps sticking in his mouth.
In my opinion Stevie cleverly mixes illusions with his undisputable talent to swallow even big objects such as billard balls or bulbs. That makes him fascinating. A similar mix of talent and illusion can be seen from Derren Brown.
Watch this video, and tell me how he is not swallowing the lightbulb. His hands go nowhere near his mouth, he just sucks it down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDEIYflt6IA
Is he hiding it in his mouth? Maybe, but I doubt it. I don't know many people who can even FIT a billiard ball in their mouth, let alone keep it HIDDEN in their cheek or under their tongue. It's not a gumball, it's a BILLIARD BALL. Also note that he seems to have more trouble (i.e. makes more noise) for larger objects.
As kids, a pal of mine could swallow an egg and bring it back hours later, unbroken, which is why I enjoy seeing Stevie Starr so much.
Some people are just made differently, that's all, but it seems some have to concoct ridiculous theories such as surgically made pockets in his mouth (grow up!!) or a deep hole under his tongue (really?) Just accept his method of making a living is just that - his job. I wish I could pay my bills doing the same.
Live, when I saw him at uni, he keeps his hands very much away from his sides and a girl I knew placed a ring of hers in his mouth and he swallowed it, and brought it back up in an order she requested with other stuff. His hands stay down. So unless he's empoying a pixie to live in his throat that catches and passes back up these items, he's actally swallowing it (though clearly with the rubik's cube and the sugar it's pre-swallowed). I assume it is an abnormality that he's been able to play to his advantage to make a living out of...
Either way, however he's doing it, it's an amazing trick.
HADJI ALI - The Great Regurgitator
http://thehumanmarvels.com/?p=964
THE GREAT WALDO - The Regurgitating Geek
http://thehumanmarvels.com/?p=60
I was very annoyed when I found that out, as I wanted to believe that he was genuine.
As for Keith, look at what you have written "after he swallows the pool ball" So he can swallow the ball but has to hide a coin in his mouth! Anyway, I have looked closely & can't see the coin but even if it were there, what does it prove? Maybe because the pool ball is the largest thing he can swallow, he actually brings the coin back immediately before swallowing the ball. Try hiding ten 10p pieces in your mouth & talking normally. It's impossible.
And he is scottish, glasweigen was brough up right outside glasgow.
Not sure what keith saw, couldnt see it anyway.
The guy is genuine and is one of the best shows of anything i have ever seen, keep watching britains got talent, the stuff he can do just gets better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZFIRhJrHJE&feature=related
He puts five keyrings in his mouth and brings them up connected but you can see him put five allready connected ones in his mouth before. He does this very well and tbh I think this guy will be famous no matter how many people think he is fake and until he stands behind an xray and people can prove its fake he will never be found out. And he will always be entertaining!
I am pretty sure that he is disclosing the items in his mouth and this is helped by the cleft palate - he is secreting the items in his nasopharynx. Given a cleft palate deformity this is actually a large space more than adequate to fit the objects he 'swallows'. It also explains how he is able to talk as the objects are not technically in his 'mouth' but stuffed up inside the nasopharynx space.
As for the lock/key rubix cube illusions, this is either done before the show or is done with the coercion of an audience member. In the case of the Britains Got Talent, the judge was obviously 'in on it' before the act.
To those who think he is actually swallowing these things and somehow has superhuman control of his stomach/oesophagus, I ask - why has he not submitted to medical exam? Where is the PROOF he is swallowing these things?
This is clearly an entertaining hoax, nothing more. Not two stomachs, not remarkable (impossible) control of muscles, not anything other than slightly abnormal anatomy and a bit of patter.
Part of his act used to be to allow someone to put their hand inside his mouth and feel around. Every time I saw somebody do this no-one ever found anything inside his mouth, under his tongue or in your theory in the nasopharynx space. Not sure a pool ball would fit there in any case. Also, he has had people put their hand against his throat to feel the item being swallowed. You are talking out of pure guesswork.
Is it not within the realms of impossibility that the so called 'audience' member is part of the act and is in on the illusion from the get-go?
This is done the world over in 'illusion' type shows. Why should we believe anything an 'audience' member says/sees when we know nothing about them either?
What is more realistic or reasonable?
That it is an illusion helped by his particular anatomy, or that he is in fact swallowing and regurgitating enormous items and flying the face of every single other human being's ability on the entire planet? That he alone has the amazing control of his stomach/oesophagus to be able to regurgitate said items in a particular order at will, appearing not affected by stomach acid, water, etc?
Where is the scientific proof?
Your assumption relies entirely on the so-called observations of audience members who could clearly be a part of the act.
Sorry to say but I find the naievity of many people on this forum to be astounding.
Heaven forbid that a second rate talent show presenter would 'lie' to make an act look good for TV ratings (that's NEVER been done has it - ie recent phone rigging on TV competitions etc) - TV execs are clearly a beacon of purity and would never be economical with the truth.
And no, cleft palate can exist independantly of other visible abnormalities. One does always have to have a cleft lip etc in addition to the cleft palate. Even if he does not have this condition there is no doubt that the objects never leave his mouth at all.
I'm not going to keep replying to this - I find it bizarre how I'm apparently the one who is 'totally wrong' when you are willing to swallow (pun intended) this utter tripe.
He is an illusionist who DOES TRICKS FOR ENTERTAINMENT - obviously a decent one because he has managed to convince a lot of people that he can do these things.
Maybe I should check if that statue of Liberty is still there , because I seem to remember Mr Copperfield made it vanish - was that real too?
I think you need to get out more.
Simon Cowell really cares about crappy forums like this and will be round at my door with the heavies to break my legs?
Get a grip on yourself.