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Is there any word for a person who ruins a magician's trick?

I remember that I heard that word, but it's now lost somewhere in my brain. Can someone please help me to remember that word?

Before asking here I asked in chat, where I got the response that there is no specific word for it. But I still think there must be.

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    Debunker is a person who uncovers the nature of tricks to the public, but that could also be counted as spoiling
    – user1306322
    Mar 24, 2014 at 15:17
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    I recently got into magic and most professionals I've seen talking about it (on YouTube and in a real, published, book) use the word 'heckler'.
    – 11684
    Mar 24, 2014 at 15:45
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    What about Scientist?
    – Ian
    Mar 24, 2014 at 16:55
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    "Illusion, Michael. A trick is something a whore does for money..."
    – Dryden Long
    Mar 24, 2014 at 19:11
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    @NateEldredge I mean revealing the way the trick was done by magician to other fellow audiences.
    – Mr_Green
    Mar 25, 2014 at 8:31

4 Answers 4

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How about a spoiler or a heckler?

Edit: There is also a Wiki article that says:

'exposure in magic refers to the practice of revealing the secrets of how magic tricks are performed'.

I am not sure how the term 'exposure' can be used as an agent noun to refer to someone who does the 'exposure'.

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    I think spoiler is a good word, but I also think this answer could be improved by adding a short explanation about why it's a good choice (like a reference to Macmillan Def. #4, for example).
    – J.R.
    Mar 24, 2014 at 14:18
  • +1 sounds good to me but I think that forgotten word was not "spoiler".. still ok.. :) (I never heard "heckler" though)
    – Mr_Green
    Mar 24, 2014 at 14:32
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    Mr Green: There is more than one way I could ruin a trick. I could yell out the secret: "No, that woman hasn't been sawed in half! She has her legs scrunched under her back!" Or, I could just yell insults at the magician, without saying anything about how the tricks work: "Your show is boring! I think Ron Weasley could do better tricks on his first train ride to Hogwarts!" In the first case, I'm playing the spoiler; in the second, I'm a mere heckler. But either one might ruin the show for you and your kids.
    – J.R.
    Mar 24, 2014 at 15:01
  • @J.R. I’m not sure the second is actually a valid insult, given the fact that Ron Weasley is, as a matter of fact, a real wizard, and his spell didn’t work (presumably) because Scabbers isn’t a rat, not because he lacks skills. ;-)
    – Konrad Rudolph
    Mar 24, 2014 at 20:45
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A Spoil-sport is somebody who could reveal the secret to a magician's trick, as per your example, but also the type of person who kicks the ball under the bus, tells a four-year-old that Father Christmas is not real (an obvious lie) and who tips-off the teacher about the whoopee cushion beneath his seat. To accuse somebody of being a spoil-sport carries a heavy connotation that their undermining of all fun and happiness is deliberate, and that they are probably deriving some kind of depraved pleasure from the act.

Synonyms include miser, party-pooper and killjoy.

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When someone reveals a magician's trick it is referred to in the community as "exposure".

Magician's logically refer to these people as exposurists.

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  • Not eposurers? :)
    – Paul Draper
    Mar 25, 2014 at 1:44
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I like to use the words Heckler and Debunker. Also Saboteur might be the word you're looking for. I am quite fond of the word Heckler though.

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