Richard Essien (Professionally known as Magical Bones) is a magician who reached the Final of Series 14 of Britain's Got Talent. He hails from Peckham in London, and had been performing magic since he was 10.
He began his audition by asking Simon to pick a card and mark it, before throwing the deck in the air, performing a backflip and catching the marked card in his hand. He then revealed his inspiration behind magic - Henry Brown, a former slave who escaped by mailing himself to another part of America in a box, before moving to the UK and becoming a magician. Several people then entered the stage, including a woman who stood next to the Judges' panel. A girl was then put in a glass box, with swords placed either side of her and a curtain placed around the box; Essien walked behind the curtain as the girl who had been trapped in the box simultaneously walked out. The curtain was then removed, revealing what appeared to be Essien in the box; however, this was then revealed to be the woman previously stood by the Judges (now wearing Essien's red jacket), with Essien standing besides the Judges wearing a different set of clothes. David praised him for his 'Powerful presence', with Alesha adding 'What you represent is so much bigger, and that just makes me feel so proud'.
In his Semi-Final performance, he performed a trick Henry Brown performed - 'The Great Door Mystery', in which the audience were shown a box with two doors, which were opened and then closed, and then opened again to reveal a woman. Bones then showed the audience how the trick was performed - the woman was initially positioned behind both doors, then moved out of sight whenever a door was opened. Once he had done this, he closed both doors again, before opening them to reveal his wife (who was earlier explained to have been in Canada with her son). Alesha remarked 'You completely owned that whole stage', with Amanda adding 'It was so slick and so professional – you deserve every bit of success you will get from this'. Essien won the Judges' vote with 3 votes from David, Alesha and Ashley, therefore advancing directly through to the Final.
Essien began his Final performance with a streetdance routine, during which he made his wife appear. He then locked himself in a wooden crate (as Henry Brown had done), which was then made to disappear and re-appear on the other side of the stage. Amanda described Essien as 'An entire piece of entertainment', with David adding 'That was absolutely outstanding'.
Before BGT[]
Before becoming a magician, Essien worked as a streetdancer under the name 'Bones'. During this time, he performed in the music video for 'Singin' In The Rain' by Mint Royale, the song which George Sampson later danced to, to win him the second series.
After BGT[]
In April 2021, Essien appeared on an episode of the second half of the seventh season of 'Penn & Teller: Fool Us', however he failed to fool the duo.
Essien was one of ten magicians to perform on The Ultimate Magician. In his performance, he performed several miracles with a pack of playing cards to ‘9 To 5’ by Dolly Parton, ‘21 Seconds’ by So Solid Crew and ‘Hit The Road Jack’ by Ray Charles, before finally having Magical Bones printed on the back of his deck and having his wife Mel appear on stage. He then had Mel handcuff him before he padlocked himself within a wooden crate, before Mel stood atop the crate and raised a large curtain in front of her body, only for Essien to have been revealed to have swapped places with her by appearing atop of the box once the curtain was dropped down thus meaning that Mel was now in the box. Penn remarked 'Your taking these ideas that were performed by masters before you then doing an entirely new thing' with Amanda adding ‘When we first met you, your act was about a historical event and I love how everything you've done so far has gone back again to the workings of how it all started [for you]’. He ultimately placed 2nd overall in the studio audience vote.