A quirky magician left Britain's Got Talent judges and viewers at home stunned with his spellbinding tricks - but his biggest deception was kept under wraps.
Keiichi Iwasaki admitted he was nervous as he stepped onto the popular talent show, telling Virgin Media viewers how he chose to be on BGT because it's "the biggest stage in the world".
His hilariously unique magic left the audience totally in awe of his powers, as he managed to make chopsticks go through his ears and out his mouth and made cards float through the air.
READ MORE: BGT fans accuse show of 'staging' surprise audition for singing doctor
The Japanese performer even got Ant McPartlin, and Declan Donnelly involved but awkwardly got the Geordie duo the wrong way round for a card trick which ended with the three of clubs coming out of Dec's shirt.
Keiichi then enlisted Alesha Dixon as his next assistant and floated a ring through the air all the way onto her finger.
The judges showered him with praise as Amanda Holden said he was "very charming", David Walliams dubbed him as the "funniest person we've seen", and Simon Cowell said his son Eric would "absolutely love" him.
But they didn't need to give their verdicts as Ant and Dec ran onto the stage shouting "no, no, no", then slammed down the golden buzzer.
An astounded Keiichi hugged the lads as he thanked them, saying: "It's like a dream, thank you so much. I can't explain my emotion. I never expected the golden buzzer. Thank you so much."
However, it's definitely not the first time the magician has felt the joy of making it through to the next round.
After his audition, it emerged that the well-known street magician has appeared in four other versions of the Got Talent franchise.
Keiichi auditioned for the Italian version of the hit talent show in 2016 and performed in the Bulgarian spin-off in 2021.
He even managed to make it all the way to the semi-finals of the Spanish show in 2019 and also auditioned for Germany's Das Supertalent last year.
Once viewers found out, some of them voiced their frustrations online, particularly amid the backlash against other contestants who have already found fame getting through this year.
"So a former Italy, Bulgaria, and Spain's got talent act gets the golden buzzer then... hardly an unknown," tweeted one viewer.
Another added: "This is why I think #bgt should only allow acts from Britain to apply. This @antanddec #goldenbuzzer Japanese magician from last night's show has already performed the same act on Germany, Italy, Spain & Bulgaria's Got Talent shows. What a con!"
"So a former Italy, Bulgaria, and Spain's got talent act gets the golden buzzer then……. he'll be on America's Got Talent next year. Hardly an unknown….. You can't tell me that Simon Cowell's not aware of him," said another sarcastically.
But BGT bosses hit back at criticism from certain viewers by insisting there are no rules stopping anyone from applying if they have been on another version of the show.
A spokesperson said: "As with many other entertainers who are hoping for success in the industry, Keiichi, a street performer, had previously auditioned on television shows in the past.
"There are no rules that state this should prevent him from applying. All acts audition on the same basis, and normal programme rules apply.
"These claims unnecessarily encourage negative trolling against our contestants, and "fix" claims are completely untrue.
"We have always been very open about who can apply for BGT. We look forward to our viewers tuning in to show their support to Keiichi."
It's not the first time this series that BGT has faced a backlash for the histories of some of the contestants.
There was controversy at the start of the series when Loren Allred got Amanda's golden buzzer after it was revealed she was the voice behind The Greatest Showman's hit track Never Enough.
Loren appeared on The Voice and was mentored by Maroon 5's Adam Levine - with many fans dubbing her golden buzzer 'unfair' since she is a professional singer.
Simon's golden buzzer act, Axel Blake, irked fans after it emerged he had already gained mainstream success, even having his own stand-up show on Amazon Prime.
While American stunt performer JD Anderson, who bent a hammer with his bare hands, has links to Simon through America's Got Talent and the game show Red or Black.
Britain's Got Talent continues all this week on Virgin Media One.
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