Dynamo said he was worried his Crohn’s disease might add “physical stress” on his body before he performed a burial stunt live on TV.
On Thursday, the 40-year-old magician from Bradford appeared in a one-off Sky Max special where he spoke to celebrities including actress Kate Beckinsale, singer Kesha and model Cara Delevingne, before he escaped from five tonnes of dirt.
During the two-hour programme Dynamo Is Dead, the Yorkshire-born entertainer whose real name is Steven Frayne, spoke to Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson, who also has Crohn’s disease.
Before he met the 30-year-old comedian and actor, Dynamo said: “If I were to describe what Crohn’s disease feels like, imagine if you’ve got an open wound, but that wound is inside your stomach.
“Every time you eat it’s like taking dirt and scrubbing it into that open wound.”
He added: “With my burial looming, one thing that worries me is how my Crohn’s might add to the physical stress on my body.”
Davidson spoke about his experience with the disease and Dynamo engaged him in a magic trick where his mind and body were deceived.
According to the NHS website, Crohn’s disease is a lifelong condition where parts of the digestive system become inflamed.
At the beginning of the programme, Dynamo spoke about the recent battles he has faced in life, including the loss of his nana and two dogs.
Speaking about why he wanted to perform the burial stunt, he said: “It’s a way for me to have closure on a part of my life that I want to forget and make way for a new life that I want to live.”
Before his burial, the magician visited a number of famous faces to perform some magic tricks, including world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury.
The pair talked about mental health before Dynamo, in a trick of visual deception, took away Tyson’s heavyweight belt from a photo hanging on a wall in front of them.
The magician was also in conversation with former Victoria’s Secret model Delevingne, 31, who spoke about her sobriety.
Discussing her road to recovery, she said: “Last year, I just finally was like, ‘You know what, I’m done. I’m done. I can’t do this anymore’.
“So (I) just paused everything, I really focused on it (recovery) and it didn’t happen straight away.
“But I got there and there was a weight lifted and I haven’t ever been this happy in my entire life.”
Daredevil Jonathan Goodwin, who was left paralysed during rehearsals of America’s Got Talent: Extreme, told the magician not to do the stunt.
Before the live portion of the programme aired, Goodwin told Dynamo: “The first thing I’m going to say is, don’t do it.
“(Being) buried alive is the most dangerous escape stunt that there has been, more people have been killed doing buried alive than any other escape.”
He added: “This is real and this is one of the most physically challenging things that I think that it’s possible for a human being to do.”
The programme culminated in Dynamo’s burial, which saw the magician climb down a ladder into a pit near the Angel Of The North statue where he crossed his arms lying down before he was buried underneath what Goodwin said was “five tonnes of dirt”.
The magician successfully escaped some minutes later.
In his past stunts, Dynamo has appeared to walk on water on the River Thames and through a wall on the US-Mexico border.
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