Dynamo’s final act under his stage name was called ‘truly spectacular’ by fans after he was buried live on TV on Thursday evening.

The 40-year-old magician, whose real name is Steven Frayne, returned to TV screens for the first time since 2020 with new one-off show on Sky, Dynamo Is Dead.

Viewers watched with bated breath as Dynamo lay in an empty grave before five tonnes of earth were poured over him before ‘three vital minutes’ started on the clock.

Two minutes and 47 seconds passed before the escapologist broke through the ground, gasping for air.

The commentary overlaid footage of Dynamo digging himself out of his own grave.

They said, ‘He did it. A feat that Houdini failed to achieve. And that’s the first time anyone has managed to escape the funeral without a coffin.

“Steven Frayne, what a legend. That’s incredible.’

Fans took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to praise Dynamo for the nail-biting stunt.

They wrote: ‘I didn’t really know who Dynamo was but I thought I’d watch #DynamoIsDead tonight. Really inspiring and a great clothing collection. I’m glad he took off the stone jacket before he was buried alive!’

‘Dynamo is buried alive on live TV… this is crazy!!!’ and ‘Everyone who thinks with me about #Dynamo is great and their honesty and courage are inspiring! Magic also exists.’

‘#DynamoIsDead is a heartwarming, recognizable magical spectacle within a therapy session. Each trick has a link to something to do with mental health, grief, addiction, disability etc. and how difficult but important it is to track down those who are in the exact same or similar position and how difficult and how stressful it is it can be to find help there and how difficult but how special the recovery side of things is. A truly spectacular piece of television.’

While Dynamo impressed many viewers with the death-defying stunt, others called it “staged trick nonsense.”

They wrote: ‘People really believe this staged nonsense. Common” and “Just watched the end of the Dynamo program being buried alive. It seems a bit suss that he came out right before the credits and there was no drama going on and it was “Oh he’s out” (sic).

In 1915, the great American escapologist Harry Houdini started the trend when he was buried without a coffin under two meters of earth.

But he panicked as he tried to dig his way out, and by the time his hand hit the surface he had fallen unconscious and had to be pulled free by his assistants.

British magician Alan Alan attempted the stunt again in 1949, but he too had to be rescued and was moments away from death when he finally emerged, shocked but alive.

Antony Britton tried in 2015 but also had to be rescued by rescuers, with photographers capturing the moment his hand burst through the ground.

Illusionist David Blaine had more success with a variation on the 1999 stunt, which involved spending a week underground in a transparent box.

Dynamo revealed that the show was called Dynamo Is Dead as he believes it will be his ‘last act’ under his stage name as he feels the need to ‘move on’.

Earlier this week, Dynamo revealed his motivation behind the deadly stunt, admitting that he had had a difficult year following the death of his grandmother, Nellie Walsh.

“She introduced me to magic and I felt like it had died with her. I had to bury the part of me that had died with her.”

He opened up about his mental health: “When I came up with the idea [of being buried alive] I felt like I didn’t have much to live for.

“But I’ve realized that I have a lot to live for, a lot more magic to give and this is something I have to do for myself.”

Speaking about the dangerous stunt, Dynamo admitted: ‘I think it’s one of the most dangerous things I’ve ever done.

“I felt like the weight of the world was on me and I was living in the dark, and this is a summary of it.

“It’s nerve-wracking and it really shows how scary this is right now. I wonder what life will be like after this.’

It comes after the star revealed how he was left unable to perform after a flare-up of his Crohn’s disease, caused by eating a piece of undercooked chicken.

Dynamo explained that problems with his medication caused his life to enter a “vicious cycle” as he felt physically well enough to perform, but lost all enjoyment in his work and fell into a deep depression.

In an emotional interview with The Sunday Times earlier this week, he said: ‘You take magic away from a magician and you lose your sense of purpose.’

Revealing that he had begun to self-harm and suffered an identity crisis, he told the newspaper: ‘Over the past five years, maybe even longer, I have sometimes lost the will to live.

‘Right now I’m happy to be alive. Although…in the end, I’ll be happier when I get out of that grave. Touch wood.”

Diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease, Dynamo had to have half of his stomach removed in his teens and lived in excruciating pain for years.

He turned to magic to distract himself from his health problems, becoming a household name in 2011 and gaining fame through his incredible street performances, card tricks and stunts.

But his chronic illness has plagued him all along, flaring up in 2017 after he ate a piece of raw chicken at a fast food chain.

He disappeared from public view before opening up about its impact months later, telling fans he had been hospitalized with a combination of Crohn’s disease and food poisoning.

The artist revealed that he was still dealing with the side effects of his steroid medication, including arthritis in his hands, knees, toes, ankles and neck.

Dynamo said that sometimes it got so bad that he was ‘unable to shuffle a deck of cards’.

He vowed to return to magic, saying he was working with “doctors and physios and doing everything in my power to get to 100 percent.”

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