Eagle-eyed Britain’s Got Talent viewers spotted a hidden fake thumb during one young magician’s final performance.
But fortunately, Ant McPartlin was on hand to shove it out the way, saving Cillian O’Connor’s bacon.
The Irish school boy wowed the judges with an impressive magic routine which saw Ant disappear.
After the performance, co-host Declan Donnelly joked: ‘I need to know how to do that.’
The trick began with Cillian performing a card trick, revealing later that he had ‘predicted’ what Simon Cowell was going to choose from the deck.
He then asked Simon to write a ‘magic word’ from the previous semi-final onto a handkerchief, and he chose ‘dog’.
Using his magical powers, Cillian brought Ant to the centre of the stage and pulled that same hankie out of Ant’s top pocket, with Simon’s handwriting on.
However, as Ant pulled the hankie out, audiences at home noticed something was hanging off it… a second plastic thumb!
But, ever the professional, Ant simply pulled the thumb off and shoved it into his fist.
Cillian then carried on with his performance, earning rapturous applause from the crowd and a standing ovation from the judges after his final reveal.
Viewers at home were also keen to praise Ant for how he handled the blunder, noting how he used his own sleight of hand to ensure the rest of the act went smoothly.
‘So lovely of Ant to hide the fake thumb so that it didn’t embarrass him’, one person tweeted.
Another was also able to see the funny side of the mishap, tweeting: ‘Cillians fake finger stuck to the hanky coming out of ants pocket!!! Tv gold’.
Reassuring 14-year-old Cillian, another wrote: ‘Truly gutted for @CilliansMagic when he left his finger on the hanky ant tried his best to cover up. Bless him cillian you are still truly amazing and hope you win sunshine’.
‘Didn’t even see the fake thumb and I don’t care I loved cillian be nice people of twitter’, another urged.
‘Fake thumb, who cares. We all know there’s no such thing as magic so give the kid a break. He did a great job’, one praised.
Judge Simon was full of praise for the youngster from County Meath.
‘I just think you’ve obviously got magical powers and I believe in that,’ he told him.
Meanwhile, Bruno Tonioli described him as ‘the embodiment of magic’.
‘You had us in the palm of your hands,’ added Alesha Dixon.
Watch Britain’s Got Talent on ITVX.
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