In tonight’s series opener of Britain’s Got Talent, ITV viewers will be introduced to a 13-year-old magician called Cillian O’Connor. The Irish schoolboy’s charisma and bewitching tricks leave Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Bruno Tonioli and Alesha Dixon astounded. The entire panel and the majority of the audience were left in tears as the captivating youngster opened up about his autism.
During the first episode of series 16, Cillian takes to the stage and confidently introduces himself to the crowd and judges.
Ahead of his mesmerising performance, he told the camera he enjoyed magic as he loved making people smile.
“If I can make them believe in magic and perform at the Royal Variety Show I will genuinely cry – honestly,” he said.
Opening up about how magic has changed his life, Cillian said: “Before magic, my social skills were very bad.
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“I would just be in the corner and I didn’t want to be within 50 feet of anyone.”
When he took to the stage he composed himself and blew Simon and the rest of the judges away with his brilliant magic tricks.
During the performance he told the crowd he wanted to bring them on his journey, adding: “I’ve learned that having autism is not a disability, it’s an ability.
“When I was younger I was unable to interact with people, I felt incomplete, I felt invisible.
“After discovering magic, it felt like my life changed, it felt like a lightbulb coming on inside my head and I found a way to interact with people through my magic.”
The youngster received a standing ovation following his performance which brought Cillian as well as all of the judges and audience to tears.
Reflecting on the highlights from the first episode, Alesha told Express.co.uk: “I cried at the young magician as that was such a heartwarming moment.”
“The first episode had all the ingredients for the most amazing cake, it was just perfect,” Alesha added. “It ticked every box.”
Amanda said Cillian’s performance was “amazing” as she reflected on the episode.
Simon added: “I love the whole first episode, I’m always nervous when it comes in because it comes in a very rough form.
“I’m always nervous because that sets the template, but when I watched it, I am not just saying this, but I love every second.
“It kind of had everything in there, there were emotional stories, there were great performances and there were things which really made me laugh as well.
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