Criss Angel says he doesn’t remember the moment his dangerous straitjacket stunt went awry at his Las Vegas show Mindfreak Live! on Friday.
“Once I started going up — I was told that I began my escape and that’s all I remember until I woke up and I was literally surrounded by paramedics and people putting things in my arm,” the 49-year-old told ABC News in an interview aired on Monday on Good Morning America.
The famous illusionist lost consciousness as he hung upside down in the air, confined by at least one straitjacket during the show at the Luxor Hotel. He was rushed to a hospital — abruptly ending the 90-minute showcase, Angel’s rep said in a statement to PEOPLE.
Angel returned to the stage the next day, performing the stunt successfully in one of his early Saturday shows.
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“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and for me it’s always about pushing my envelope,” he told ABC on Monday.
Angel told the network that the accident was not a publicity stunt, noting that his doctors wanted him to stay away from the stage for another day. Defying doctors’ orders, Angel checked himself out of the hospital.
In 2013, Angel suffered a shoulder injury when attempting a similar stunt in New York City’s Times Square, prompting a 10-week hiatus of his show Believe. The act requires him to hang upside down while buckled into a double-straitjacketed harness.