The Magic of David Copperfield XV: Fires of Passion (1993)

This is the 15th CBS Copperfield TV special, introduced from Caesars Palace by David Copperfield himself, who describes an escapology number which would be performed in this location as the last feat of the special and is inspired by an illusionist of the past, Harry Houdini. Two assistants put a strait jacket on Copperfield and then wire his feet on some ropes fixed to a round platform which in turn is fixed to three ropes which will raise all in air, so Copperfield will come to be upside down, dangling in the air at 10 stories (or 33 meters, or 108 feet) on the stage. At this point the assistants set fire to the platform and to the three ropes. In addition, on the stage they place exactly under Copperfield two rectangular frames which support vertically dozens of steel and sharp spears, and then they also set fire to them. Copperfield has about two minutes to free himself and to grab a lifeline before the fire breaks the three ropes and drops him on the spears. So, the illusions performed are: "Flying Entrance", "Cocoon" (aka "Passion's Prison"), "Air Coppers" (aka "Ring Flight"), "Blueprint For Mystery", "$500,000 Challenge" (aka "Torn And Restored Baseball Card"), "After Hours" (aka "Vertical Asrah"), "Shot Through The Heart", "Touch The Magic - A Miracle In Your Home" (the third and penultimate of the interactive games performed in four specials) and then "Amazon Ritual" (aka "Burning Rope Escape" and "Fires Of Passion"). The "$500,000 Challenge" illusion is the first and only one that Copperfield has performed, with his host Wayne Gretzky, in a pre-recorded video set in his own Magic Warehouse and that he showed to the spectators in the theater via a monitor. Instead "Amazon Ritual" is an escape filmed at Caesars Palace and is one of the few escapes no more repeated.