Like Magic: TikToker James Samuel’s Success is No Illusion

If you count scrolling through TikTok as a favorite pastime, then it’s likely you’ve come across magician extraordinaire, James Samuel. Originally from the small town of Thetford, England, James wows his 1.7M TikTok followers on the regular with his incredible magic tricks involving inanimate objects, cards, and the always classic sleight of hand. His natural charisma and “how did he do that?” illusions make for addictive content, so it’s easy to be sucked in for longer than you realize.

This creator has not only raked in millions of views and counting on TikTok, but his YouTube channel also sits at an impressive 569K subscribers. James performs sneaky, near impossible-to-understand, deceptive illusions that will truly have you stumped, like this one, where he tapes his index finger and thumb together, yet manages to get scissor handles through his stuck fingers. Or this one where he pulls out a fresh deck of cards from a seemingly wooden, solid card box that is “screwed” together. Our favorite? The one where James manages to turn a can of Coke into milk.

The thing that is most appealing about James, and the reason he’s been able to amass millions of fans across social media, is that he performs the simplest of tricks with a knowing smile on his face, and leaves you dumbfounded as to how he’s doing it. He’s having a ton of fun and just wants to bring you along for the ride.

The Magic of Manifestation

His first experience dabbling with magic was with his dad, who used to entertain young James with the age-old trick of pulling coins out of his ear. From then, he was hooked, and would manifest becoming a magician by writing it down on a piece of paper when he was only four years old. 

Fast forward 15 years later to 2019, and James Samuel was 19-years old, performing on the “Britain’s Got Talent” stage as a magic group called 4MG that included his schoolmates and fellow magician buddies Harry, Theo, and Josh. Fun fact: these four lads had been dreaming of being on BGT since 2009.

In their first audition as 4MG, James opens the show, solemnly stating, “Magic is all about mystery.” The four young magicians each go on to conduct an elaborate card trick that left the audience floored and which one judge characterized as “dazzling.” Even the infamously tough-to-impress judge, Simon Cowell, was shocked (his jaw visibly dropped, much to TV viewers’ shock). And on that day, the “boy band of magic” was born. James and the boys of 4MG would go on to reach the final round of BGT and leave a legacy of modern, stylish magic behind them.

“Magic is all about mystery.”

Creator James Samuel

Since charming millions of viewers on Britain’s Got Talent, James has been full steam ahead, steadily building his repertoire as a solo performer across TikTok and YouTube. In these videos, the master of astonishment often brings along friends to perform tricks with him and occasionally showcases magic battles with his own mother.

For His Next Trick…

After finding success on TikTok and YouTube, James has recently teamed up with Jellysmack to expand his social media presence with the launch of his very own magic show on Snapchat. And it all started with a DM.

James messaged Jellysmack on Instagram asking if we could help him break onto the Snapchat platform. Now, we’re excited to announce that he has joined our roster of leading creators as part of the Jellysmack Creator Program. Manifesting multi-platform success? We’re here for it. Jellysmack is thrilled to help James distribute his mesmerizing magic show that is sure to capture the attention of a whole new audience on Snapchat.

While we have no clue how he conducts those mind-bending tricks, we can’t wait to see the next trick up his sleeve.