A Vietnamese magic contestant mistakenly gulped down acid during a “Vietnam’s Got Talent” semifinal broadcast live on a national TV channel on Sunday.  

Tran Tan Phat performed a risky stunt in the show’s fourth semifinal, which aired live on the Vietnamese national broadcaster’s VTV3 channel.

The semi night was on air as part of the third Vietnamese season of the “Got Talent” series format that was created by Simon Cowell in the United Kingdom.  

During the hair-raising magic stunt, Phat was supposed to single out a small glass of diluted colorless, odorless acid, which was shuffled between four other glasses of water.

The five glasses looked and smelled identical.

Phat’s job was to drink water from the four glasses and avoid consuming the acid from the remaining glass.

Before Phat proceeded with his awe-inspiring trick, veteran composer Huy Tuan, who was a jury member, was asked to shuffle the five glasses behind Phat’s back. Nobody, including the audience and the other jurors, saw the glass of acid except for Tuan himself.

Unfortunately, the young man made a disastrously wrong choice and drank from the glass of acid after drinking from the first glass of water.

As soon as he realized his mistake, he instantly spit the acid out and covered his mouth with his hand.

Strange expressions were seen on his face.

The incident sent chills through the jury, audience members, and television viewers.

The organizer’s publicity representative told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper after the show that Phat received medical attention immediately after the incident.

He suffered mild burns to his lips and the tip of his tongue.

Doctors allowed Phat to be discharged from the hospital but the organizer kept him there for further monitoring.    The acid used during his stunt was diluted sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄), the organizer said.

The contestant had some of the toxic liquid in his mouth along with some leftover water from the first glass.

The organizer asserted risky stunts are always inspected closely to ensure contestants’ safety.

Phat performed well during rehearsal, the organizer noted.

The contestant admitted his dangerous blunder took place because of his anxiety.

Phat earlier received enthusiastic applause and ample praise from the jury and audiences when he performed his unique stunt of swallowing a bunch of needles during the show’s seventh episode in mid-September 2014.

His hair-raising stunt escalated when he asked a female juror to pull one end of a string of white thread. He swallowed the other end of the thread.

To everyone’s delighted surprise and horror, as the female juror pulled the thread out, the needles which Phat had earlier swallowed were attached with good intervals to the thread.

“Vietnam’s Got Talent” has its copyright purchased from Britain’s Fremantle Media.

The show, which airs at 8:00 pm on VTV3 every Sunday, encourages contestants from all walks of life and age brackets to showcase their talents in singing, dancing, and a wide array of risky stunts.

The winner will walk away with an award of VND500 million (US$23,301).

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