A HYPNOTIST fooled people into thinking he knocked himself out on stage leaving volunteers in a trance, the Echo can reveal today.

Weymouth-based entertainer David Days is amazed a planned experiment made worldwide news over the weekend. His antics at the end of a show at the Royal Manor Theatre on Portland on Friday night were leaked to a national news organisation, prompting a media frenzy. The story even reached news sites in America and Australia.

But Mr Days – real name David Payne – has revealed it was all a stunt.

Audience members were even let in on the secret afterwards, but no-one came forward to reveal the true story.

Mr Days finally came clean last night, thinking that he should spill the beans because the story had gone global.

Mr Days said: “It was an experiment which was ultra safe but had the maximum impact. We spent a whole week planning it and thought about many scenarios.

“What we hadn’t planned on was what happened afterwards.

He added: “An excited member of the audience contacted the press. When they rang my manager, she didn’t want to say too much because she felt we had to protect the TV programme.

“She was put in a position and felt she had to stay with the story.”