Jez Starr, By Hook Or By Crook, The White Hart, Cheddar Gorge

If Jez Starr, the Dreaded Mentalist, made one mistake at his Prisoner-themed magic show on Saturday night, it was inviting me, Number 53, onto the stage to aid his first trick.

Audience members in the near-sell-out room above the White Hart left their identities at the door and swapped them for a numbered badge like those in the cult 1960s TV show.

The Cheddar-based magician churned the random number generator six times to select his assistants. My number came out first.

Narrating in his grand showman voice, he challenged me to perform extra sensory perception in a scene straight out of the classic Prisoner episode The Schizoid Man.

Only the magician would see what was on his card and I would go with my instinct and say what image was drawn on it. All three of my guesses were wrong.

Number 53 had no talent for ESP or following clear instructions, it turned out, when I was asked to challenge the mentalist to show off his own skills.

Under one of six large polystyrene cups went my car keys while the blindfolded magician had his back turned.

My only instruction was to answer yes when asked if my keys were under a cup. Just yes, simple as A, B and C. I was too stupid to understand the general idea, coming out with absolutely, definitely, no, it's under that one, nodding, and yeah. Not a yes in sight, totally disrupting the trick.

After removing the obstacle that was Number 53 from the stage, the rest of the show flowed smoothly.

In the spirit of Patrick McGoogan, the magician staged escape attempts from chained-up wrists and rope and later on a strait jacket.

And for his masterpiece, the Dreaded Mentalist told Number 16 to choose from six numbers from a bag. These translated into six-digit codes for a pinned-up map of The Village from the show.

Mapping out the codes, the assistant ended up cross referencing the Old People's Home.

An envelope with escape route written on it was revealed and inside was the words Old People's Home.

Fine work, but the twist came when the same six codes were put on to an OS map of Cheddar – pinpointing the White Hart, where we were all gathered.

The Dreaded Mentalist asked all his participants to stand and sound off in the order they appeared on stage.

Every participants' number was revealed on a card hidden behind the magician's curtain, which he had filled in before the show started.

Making such a prediction, said the magician, had odds of one in 94 million. Nothing is impossible in this place.

Although, I think the odds of me – Number 53 – being invited back on stage to help the magician are six of one, half dozen of another.

Number 53 (Ian Mat)

Jez Starr next stars in The Thirteenth Box, a cave tour and ghost hunt through Cheddar caves. Tours are on Friday nights from June 25 to August 27.