Transcript
Male: Hi Heather.
Heather: Hi.
Male: I have some rubber bands, I want you to look, make sure it’s normal.
Heather: Normal.
Male: That one’s good too, it’s good to go. All right, it’s two different colors, right?
Heather: Mm-hm.
Male: OK. Now, Heather, this is interesting. I want you to pinch this one, and this one right here, in the middle, pinch it. Pinch it, rub it back and forth. Rub it back and forth, back and forth. Watch. When you feel that they have linked, I want you to let go when you think they’re linked. Check it out, let go. Oh, you did great, look at that, it’s actually linked. Isn’t that great?
Heather: It’s crazy.
Male: That’s crazy right?
Heather: Yeah.
Male: Well, you know what, to unlink you need to rub it again. Rub back and forth, just to soften up the fibers of the rubber band. All right, and, let go. Whoa, you did great. Awesome.
Heather: [laughs] How’d we do that?
Male: Can you keep a secret?
Heather: Maybe.
Male: So can I. Okay. Here’s the explanation to the linking rubber bands. For this illusion you’re going to need two rubber bands, size 19. They should be of different colors. I use a blue one and a tan one. You’re going to put the rubber bands between your hands by the index finger and the ring finger. And you’re going to need a little bit of misdirection for this, because you’re going to set this up where the second band and the third band, you need to switch them. So basically you’re going to bring this up, twist it, and bring it down. So basically you’re switching the second and third bands, so now it looks like the blue one is on top and the tan one is on the bottom, as it should be, but in reality they’re twisted on either side of the bands. So basically what you’re going to do right now is you’re going to have a spectator pinch the second and third bands, rub it back and forth, and you’re going to say the heat from the rubbing is going to melt them together and make them link. But what you’re really do is your going to let go of your middle finger of the right hand and it actually looks like it’s linked together. You can let go of that, it looks like it’s linked. But in reality it’s twisted on one side.
Whenever you want them to unlink you’re going to let go of your middle finger of your left hand. And that unlinks. So one more time. You’re going to switch these two, and you’re going to rub the second and third bands together, when you let go of the middle finger of the right hand, it links. And when you let go of the middle finger of the left hand, it unlinks. And that’s the secret to the linking rubber bands.
