Shin Lim

**Shin Lim** was a card magician act from Season 1 of Fantasy's Got Talent. He was the winner of the competition, claiming the $1,000,000 prize and the headlining of a show in Las Vegas.

## Background

Suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome and a career-ending injury to his thumb tendons, Shin Lim had a tough start in his journey through sleight of hand magic. Despite all of this, through painstakingly hard work and perseverance, Shin Lim is now the reigning world FISM champion for close-up magic. A self-proclaimed "sleight of hand artist," Shin Lim admits he is not actually a magician or a wizard, and has no intention of lying to the audience. He performs carefully choreographed routines rather than pretending to defy the laws of physics. Combining dexterity, precision and grace, he has distilled a lifetime of training into a devious display of dancing digits. His mind-blowing finger moves are so masterful that the audience is left to wonder if what their eyes have seen is truly possible. According to both Simon and Howie, Shin Lim is "the BEST close-up magician they have ever seen." [1]

Shin previously appeared on *Penn & Teller: Fool Us* in seasons 2 and 4, fooling Penn and Teller both times.  His first appearance in the show's second season went viral, with over 50 million views on YouTube.

## Audition

Shin Lim's audition in Episode OUT04 consisted of performing a cards routine with Raynard, in which he had him sign a randomly selected card. He then created the illusion of the card appearing on top of a deck of cards, the imprint of a card rubbing onto Shin’s skin as a tattoo, the card vanishing and reappearing in the deck, as well as inside of a sealed envelope, the deck of cards transforming into a deck of clear plastic sheets, then into a glass case with Raynard's card sealed inside, and finally appearing to insert the glass case into the deck’s box and tearing the box, revealing the case had disappeared. Raynard, Hwacha, and Redwhaley all voted "Yes," sending Shin to the Judge Cuts.

## Judge Cuts

Shin Lim's judge cuts performance in Episode OUT10 consisted of performing a trick with "Queens" and "Aces" (known as 52 Shades of Red). Shin made the "Aces" vanish, then reappear under guest judge Fallenhero's hand. Shin then progressed to vanish the remaining queens in various ways. Raynard, Hwacha, and Fallenhero gave him standing ovations. His performance was strong enough for the judges to send him to the Quarterfinals.

## Quarterfinals

Shin Lim's performance in Episode OUT14 consisted of a routine involving fast-moving cards that disappeared and reappeared and even started smoking, changing into a different deck which spelled out "Vote For Shin Lim America’s Got Talent". Raynard, Hwacha and RedWhaley14 gave him standing ovations. Shin received enough votes to advance to the Semifinals in Episode OUT14 along with Siro-A.

## Semifinals

Shin Lim's performance in Episode OUT16 consisted of doing a close-up routine (known as the Dream Act) with assistance from Raynard and Redwhaley. He had Raynard pick and sign one card, and makes the marker in his hand disappear. He laid it face down and erased the face, then extracted it from his mouth. Redwhaleyalso chose and signed a card, making it appear from several different places including his pants, pocket and mouth. Raynard's card in a plastic bag flipped into Redwhaley's card and back before making it disappear along with the deck box. Raynard, Hwacha and RedWhaley14 gave him standing ovations. Shin received enough votes to advance to the Finals in Episode OUT16 instead of Yaashwin Sarawanan.

## Finals

Shin Lim's performance in Episode OUT18 consisted of performing a close-up trick with Tyra Banks. He had Tyra roll 2 dice and made 4 cards of the same number appear. Tyra then chose a suit, and he made multiple cards of that chosen suit appear. To the left of the table was a card with a question mark on it, changing the number with mental magic, then made the number and suit appear among floating cards. Raynard, Hwacha and RedWhaley14 gave him standing ovations.

## Finale

For the finale in Episode OUT19, Shin Lim performed a card trick with Raynard and fellow contestant Mat Franco. He received enough votes to advance to the Top 5 instead of Alex Dowis. Shin was announced as the winner of Season 13 ahead of Eminem, NF, Siro-A and Mat Franco, winning $1 million and the headlining of a show in Las Vegas.