Namun kini, semuanya didedahkan dalam dokumen pengadilan. Hal ini disebabkan oleh salah seorang sukarelawan dari penonton yang mengalami kemalangan dalam aksi itu melapor ke pihak berkuasa akibat menderita kerosakan kekal otak.
London-born chef Gavin Cox, 55, was called on stage by David Copperfield. But he fell backstage after taking part in an illusion with inflatable balls. Mr Cox said he was left permanently brain damaged as a result. Copperfield's lawyers denied Mr Cox's allegations and say the illusion has been safely performed for 15 years involving 100,000 participants
4 June 2016
David Copperfield performs a trick involving inflatable balls to the crowd but few realise the audience participants have to run through a darkened secret passage and it was here where Mr Cox fell
Gavin Cox in hospital after his fall. Gavin fell and injured seriously at the MGM Grand after volunteering in a David Copperfield show. It is his sensational court documents in a claim for millions of dollars against the magician and the hotel.
Their nightmare began in November 2013 when Copperfield ‘chose’ Gavin to take part in the trick – called 13 – by hurling giant inflatable balls into the audience. Those who caught them were invited to the stage. ‘I was in seventh heaven when I caught a ball,’ Mr Cox said.
As he walked to the stage, the 6ft 4in chef said he was asked three questions by a Copperfield employee: Could he run? Was he a magician? Was he a member of the Press?
‘It was total pandemonium. You don’t know where you are going. It’s dark. There are hands pushing you on your back. As I went around a corner, my feet slipped from underneath me and I hit the ground.’ Mr Cox fell as he ran around the side of the theatre. His lawsuit claims Copperfield ‘failed to prevent, inspect, maintain and warn of dangerous conditions’ and claimed the magician and the hotel failed to ‘devise a trick that would be safe for audience participants’.
Copperfield’s lawyers deny this, saying ‘multiple inspections’ were made of the area.
Mr Cox blacked out after his fall but remembers the audience cheering at the end of the trick.
Afterwards Copperfield came to a side room to talk to the 13 and said he trusted they would not to reveal its secrets.