MIND2MIND, CHAMPIONS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
Inside the ten‐minute whirlwind that rewrote modern mentalism, silenced the FISM 2025 jury, and reignited British magic
Four days into FISM 2025, the air inside Turin’ s packed competition hall was unmistakably heavy. After scores of card flourishes and dove steals, attention spans were fraying. Then the house dropped to blackout and two pin‐point spots sliced the darkness apart, one locking onto Marina Liani high in the stalls, the other catching James Harrington downstage centre. In a single beat the Dubai‐based duo Mind2Mind divided the theatre, daring spectators to choose where to look and challenging the judges to keep pace.
Ten minutes later everyone was standing. Marina, blindfolded by a spectator vetted by the jury, rattled off a phone’ s make and battery level, nailed a clean card‐at‐any‐number with a borrowed deck, detailed a chipped credit card, and, most audaciously, recited the owner’ s private four‐digit PIN. For the finale James whisked a cloth from a clear acrylic box packed with twenty‐five random objects, all gathered moments earlier by a jury‐appointed volunteer. Marina, still blindfolded and facing away, described each item in forensic detail – Okito box, thumb tip, serial number on a torn banknote – finishing the inventory in fifty‐seven seconds.
Australian commentator Tim Ellis captured the mood in his live blog:“ In an absolute tour de force, they identified every object in the box in extreme detail. Huge standing ovation. They’ ve got the mentalism prize in the bag.” Moments later the scoreboard confirmed it – First Prize, Mental Magic, with second place withheld.
Backstage, a fresh drama brewed. Whispers claimed the impossibly clean revelations must involve a planted accomplice. Judges demanded a private demonstration under fiercely controlled conditions, and Mind2Mind obliged. By dawn the Genii Forum and every hotel bar echoed the same verdict: mentalism had been red‐lined into the future.
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