MAGICIAN Jack Stephens wished he could have made Anne Robinson disappear after bearing the brunt of her remarks on The Weakest Link last week.

Mr Stephens, 55, who lives in Bromham, near Melksham, came a respectable third in the running for the £3,300 prize money but was the last contestant to take the dreaded walk of shame.

He only realised he had a chance of appearing on the hit BBC show after his daughter Susie, 20, secretly sent off for the application form.

He said: “I always sit in front of the TV when the show is on and get most of the questions right but I never thought about entering until my daughter did it without me knowing.

"When I went to the Pinewood Studios near London they were filming the new Bond film next door so that was quite exciting.

“It is a very long process as you apply, have to go to an audition and record a three minute film, then you are selected and go for a day of filming.

“The funny thing is you never get to meet Anne Robinson, she only appears when you start recording and after every round there is a long break when she goes away and I am convinced she has a team of writers to come up with her insults.

“She asked me a lot about being a magician and my favourite trick but the most memorable moment was when she called me the David Copperfield of Devizes.”

The episode featuring Mr Stephens, who tours the country as a magician, was filmed in October and he was only told the week before last when he would be appearing.

He sat down with his family to watch his performance and his daughter even threw a Weakest Link party at university in Cardiff.

Mr Stephens said: “Everyone thought my comment at the end of the show was brilliant when I said, ‘As I’m a magician, if Anne was my assistant it would be expected for me to saw her in half.

"But I would go one better than that – I would make her disappear completely’.

“Although the walk of shame was embarrassing it was probably better than getting into the final and losing out then.”