ITV’s This Morning received a wave of complaints this week after a segment featuring magician Sophie Lloyd didn’t exactly work its magic on viewers. Hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley were fronting the show as usual, but things quickly took a turn during an interview that many found a bit of a snoozefest.
Sophie, who made headlines in 1991 for infiltrating the famously male-only Magic Circle by pretending to be a man, joined the pair to revisit her headline-grabbing stunt. At the time, her disguise was convincing enough to get her in the door, until she was eventually found out and booted from the club. Fast forward several decades, and the Magic Circle has now offered her an apology — and even invited her back, reports the Express.
During the chat, Sophie explained the lengths she went to to pull off the act. “I’d played a boy before. It took months of preparation,” she told Sky News, opening up about the elaborate plot she carried out just six months before the club started letting women in. It was a bold move, sparked in part by her frustration with the outdated belief that women couldn’t keep secrets — a view the Circle had held since its founding in 1905.
“I mean, going back 30 years, men’s clubs were just something you accepted,” Sophie said, reflecting on the uphill battle female magicians faced at the time. Her act was inspired by fellow magician Jenny Winstanley, who had also been denied entry despite her talents.
But while Sophie’s story may have been groundbreaking in its day, the segment didn’t land well with Tuesday morning’s audience. Viewers were quick to take to social media to voice their disinterest. One user on X wrote bluntly: “Wake me when she’s finished.” Another was more direct: “Cut it now, what is this all about, no one cares.”
The complaints kept rolling in, with some branding the segment as “scraping the barrel.” One viewer pointed out the story wasn’t even fresh news, saying, “This Magic Circle story is already about a week old.” Others just begged for it to stop altogether.
Despite the backlash, Sophie’s tale remains a curious footnote in the history of British magic. But for This Morning viewers, it seems they were expecting a bit more sparkle.
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