An autistic East Meath teenager is set to take the telly by storm this weekend when he performs magic tricks on his TV show Britain’s Got Talent.
Cillian O’Connor, (13), became the youngest member ever Society of Irish Magicians five years ago and the inside word is he wowed the BGT judges, including the hard to impress Simon Cowell, in the show which airs tonight, (Saturday April 15th) on both ITV and Virgin Media One at 8 pm.
Insiders say judge Simon Cowell was ‘bowled over’ by the talents of Cillian O’Connor (13).
Cillian, who has who has Autism and Dyspraxia, became ‘obsessed’ with magic after watching aspiring magician Issy Simpson’s performance on a previous series of the Saturday night smash hit shiw.
The Donacarney – Mornington schoolboy was the youngest member ever of the Society of Irish Magicians when his talent was spotted several years and he was instantly fast-tracked.
His dad Richie revealed, “He was meant to do an audition but the first night we turned up Cillian was doing a few magic tricks for people there, he was only eight at the time and one or two of the magicians were grabbing other magicians saying have a look at what this kid is doing.
“After seeing Issy on TV he kept asking us when can I meet her, we tried to explain that Issy lived in a different country and that she would be very busy, but we would check to see if she was performing somewhere and bring him to see her.
“Because of his autism once he gets something in his head he doesn’t let it go.
“Before this, he would take himself away on his own and would have no eye contact now he goes up to strangers and shows them tricks. He is much more interactive now playing with other children, we can’t believe it.
“Magic has opened up a whole new world for him. We are so proud.”
