Episode Recap: Silly Rabbits

The first team of challengers on Wizard Wars includes magicians Kyle and Mistie Knight, a husband and wife magic duo from Las Vegas. They square off against Jarrett and Raja, a comedy magic duo who's dazzled everyone from Lincoln Center patrons to Michael Jackson.

Host Ellen Fox reveals tonight's three everyday objects for round one: a cape, luggage and a live bunny rabbit.

Kyle and Mistie hop on stage promising challenge, suspense, and danger by having one of them locked in real handcuffs, with the cape draped over their hands so they can't see the cuffs. Kyle then reveals their live rabbit with a quick appearance trick from behind a napkin. They place their rabbit ("Spike") into a box where he has a carrot that's attached to a rope. That rope is attached to a 7-piece luggage set dangling precariously over the stage such that once Spike eats the carrot and through the rope, it'll come crashing down. Kyle climbs into a box while Mistie locks it once he's secure inside. Meanwhile, an audience member locks Mistie into the regulation handcuffs and drapes the cape over her hands.

A clever "bunny cam" shows Spike eating away faster than expected, and just as Mistie frees herself from her handcuffs, the entire luggage set crashes down and destroys the box in which Kyle is(?!) still locked. The audience gasps in genuine concern, just as Kyle calls out from across the theatre holding Spike: "That was too close, Mistie!" The Judges were very impressed with their artistry at tying together such three random objects in such a complex story.

Jarrett and Raja are next on stage, their routine centered around taking a trip together. After a clever gag involving Jarrett stuffing his shorts, they produce "Skip," their rabbit from a handful of scarves. Meanwhile, Raja takes to the keyboard (since he's a magician musician). Skip is placed into a container for the audience to see. Jarrett shows off a piece of luggage dangled over the stage with a target painted on it, and a cannon aimed at the target. As Jarrett scans the audience to borrow a watch for the next part of their routine, Raja sneaks across stage and puts Skip - yes, the live bunny rabbit - into the cannon. With a flourish, Raja makes the words "Air Hare" appear on his cape.

Jarrett then puts an audience member's watch into the back of the cannon (still unaware that there's a rabbit in there, too) and lights the cannon. Just before it shoots, Jarrett sees that Skip is missing, but it's too late: the cannon fires. They cut down the luggage. Inside, two cases deep, is a metal box, where Skip is safe inside along with the audience member's watch - tied to him, no less.

While the Judges appreciated the sense of danger in Jarrett and Raja's act, it's Kyle and Mistie who will face off against Team Wizard (street magician Justin Flom and grand illusionist Shimshi) in a breakfast-themed battle using a toaster, a blender, eggs, and a table set for two.

Challengers Mistie and Kyle take the stage, recounting their first forays into magic when working together in a restaurant, performing sleight of hand close-up magic for diners. As Mistie tells their story, Kyle makes an egg and some dishware appear and disappear again. The couple borrows Judge Jason Latimer's ring while an audience member comes up and takes a seat at their "restaurant" onstage; she's tasked with holding onto Jason's ring. Mistie and Kyle go to take her order, only able to make their guest French toast. Mistie makes a pile of bread appear from under her covered tray. Kyle places the bread, some milk, and some eggs into a blender. Their final ingredient? Jason's ring.

They dump the entire mixture into the toaster... which then catches fire... which then catches the rose on the table on fire. Kyle eats the flaming rose and out pops perfectly cooked French toast from the toaster. They flip the toast over to reveal a message: the word "egg" burnt into the toast. Their audience volunteer cracks open the last remaining egg in their carton. Inside, yet another message: "Check the egg behind the Judges." A waitress hands Judge Jason Latimer an egg in a glass: when he cracks it open, he's amazed to find his ring safely inside! Just when everyone thinks they're done, Kyle pulls the tablecloth from under the table leaving the place settings intact, then Mistie amazes everyone by walking behind the tablecloth he holds up and emerging in a completely different dress.

The Judges were really wowed by the consistency throughout their act, and one hit after another.

The Wizard War is on as Team Wizard Shimshi and Justin head up to the stage. Shimshi gets things rolling by making a toaster vanish out of thin air while Justin makes another toaster seemingly hover in midair. They set up their act as how to make a Wizard's Power Protein Shake. First, Shimshi makes an egg appear at will in his hands, which Justin cracks open and adds to their blender. Instead of blending it, he pours the yolk into his hand and returns it to a solid egg once more.

Shimshi borrows a cell phone from an audience member to look up the ingredients again online. Justin tosses in a whole egg and some milk into the blender. Next is caffeine and iron: Justin magically dissolves a spoon into a clear glass cup of coffee and pours it into the blender. The final ingredient? An "apple" - but not just any apple. Shimshi dumps the audience member's iPhone into the blender and Justin presses the blend button. The audience member can hardly keep his seat seeing his phone blended to chunks.

Shimshi stands on a table, stating that the shake can make him float. Justin pulls away the table and wonder of wonders, Shimshi's still floating in the air. Justin then remembers they used the toaster as a timer for their act, and now that it's done, out pops the audience member's phone (much to his relief). 

While Team Wizard played big with massive suspension and appearance tricks, it was the littlest thing of all that night that bewildered and impressed the Judges the most: Jason's ring inside the egg - so it's challengers Kyle and Mistie who get to take home a $10,000 nest egg of their own.