THEY did not manage to pull the wool over the eyes of renowned magicians Penn and Teller.

But double act Richard Young and Sam Strange, who dazzled audiences when performing on ITV1 show Penn and Teller: Fool Us on Saturday, received high praise from the magicians.

During the programme, four magical acts performed a trick and challenged the American duo to work out how it was done.

Those who managed to ‘fool’ them got to perform at their Las Vegas stage show.

Richard Young, 26, from Cowley, said: “We do this trick called ‘metamorphosis’, where we change places really quickly and we put our own little twist on it.

“They rumbled us, but they were very careful about the way they explained it – they let us know they knew, but they did not let the audience know what happened.”

In the trick, Mr Young was tied inside a bag in a locked box. Mr Strange, 26, from Eynsham, then pulled a screen in front of the box and went round the back of the screen.

But it was Mr Young who emerged from the other side of the screen, and the box was opened to reveal a glamorous female assistant.

Meanwhile, Mr Strange emerged behind the audience at the back of the studio.

Penn Jillette told the pair: “It is a great act. It is a more modern version of the trick that was the backbone of Houdini’s act.

“You two are such fabulous performers.

“That secret, kept quiet for the rest of your lives, would make you one of the best magic acts the world has ever seen.”

Since Saturday’s show, Young and Strange have been flooded with emails and have attracted more than 100 new followers on Twitter.

Mr Young said: “We have had some really lovely feedback afterwards. Although we did not fool them, more people know about us than did before and we wanted to go on there and be entertaining, which I think we did.”

He added he did not know if the attention would lead to more work for the duo, but said the experience was well worth them taking part.

He said: “We did it purely for the experience of doing it and allowing people to see us.

“It is the biggest stage you could ever hope for and for 10 minutes on Saturday night, it was ours.”

The pair, who have been working together for two years, perform large-scale illusions with a comedic twist.

On Saturday’s show, Mr Strange skipped around the box waving a flag and Mr Young originally appeared wearing a tutu befitting his ‘lovely assistant’ role, until it magically appeared on the woman emerging from the box.

They will take their show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a month this summer.