If he just stood in that waterbowl for a week, that would be a pretty extreme stunt, but still just a stunt, not a magic illusion.

Same thing with the ice tomb, or David Copperfield's firestorm. Or getting sawed in half on stage. Or sitting in a box with a dozen swords stuck in its sides. If they had actually endured those things, those would be stunts.

But the reason why they're called illusionists is because those guys don't actually do what they say they do, or what your eyes think you see. They only make it look like they're really getting sawed in half, sit in a glass box for a month or stand in 2500 degree fire for a minute or stay submerged for a week.

The fact that most people just think of these things as "stunts" shows that these illusions are pretty amazing, because if you recognized them as a fake illusion right away, they wouldn't be any good.

Have you seen David Copperfield's "stunt" where he makes the statue of liberty disappear? If he really made her disappear, it would have been a stunt requiring enormous logistics, cranes, etc. But the fact that he didn't really do it and just made it look like he did, is what makes it an illusion.

Ah yes, Blaine. Master of "Who gives a shit" illusions.

I didnt see a door on that thing.