Teen magician Cillian shines a light on autism with BGT show
TEEN magician Cillian O’connor said he will “cry for ten minutes straight” if he wins Britain’s Got Talent.
The 13-year-old Co Meath schoolboy faces an anxious wait to find out if he makes the semi finals of the ITV talent show.
Cillian, who has autism and dyspraxia, wowed the judges with his sleight of hand skills securing four yeses on the opening episode of the show last weekend.
He told RSVP Live: “I would cry for about 10 minutes straight if I won the competition.
“And you know it would be a bit weird an Irishman winning Britain’s Got Talent, and you wouldn’t really expect it but it would be it would be an amazing achievement.”
He continued: “I wanted to include as much about my autism and dyspraxia as possible, just so people knew that I had autism.
“I was very shy. And I struggled with my social skills.
“But I was brave enough to go on in front of about 4,000 people as well as Simon, Amanda, Alicia, and Bruno, and just nail it.”
Asked if he had any advice for anyone struggling with social skills Cillian said: “Well, for anyone else who struggles socially they should try to find something to help them express themselves.
“That’s what I would say. It could be magic, it could be music, art – just any skill they can have. They’ll get them known to the world.”
Cillian admitted Simon Cowell was the judge he was most nervous about – but it didn’t stop him heading straight for the infamously ill-tempered BGT boss.
He revealed: “I was nervous about Simon the most. I was standing right in front of him.
“And while I was at the judge’s table, I was doing the tricks, but my legs were shaking as I was doing them, so I was very nervous.”
But the magic maestro had plenty of practice before his big night, with younger sister Casey stepping into the unlikely role of Mr Cowell for Cillian’s rehearsals.
“My sister Casey would play as Simon... so when we finally got to the auditions Casey wasn’t very happy to she lost her job to Simon.”
Cillian got to watch his own performance at a viewing party with his family and friends last weekend, and admits seeing the whole thing on screen had him feeling emotional.
“It was airing Saturday night and I walked in about 40 people there and watching myself.
“I cried watching it as well. Because the whole thing runs smoothly.”
I wanted to include as much about my autism CILLIAN O’CONNOR ON HIS BGT APPEARANCE