What Happened To Criss Angel After Mindfreak & Where Is He Now?

He was once known as the king of prestidigitation. An edgier, grungier take on your average street magician, Criss Angel took the world by storm, gaining celebrity pals and eventually his very own series on A&E. When "Criss Angel: Mindfreak" was at the peak of its popularity, it attracted hundreds of fans who found Angel's dedication to his craft — and his fearless cheerfulness regarding his own survival. "If something happens to me," he says during one episode of the show, "keep rolling." That's the attitude he exhibits as he lies upon a bed of nails and sets himself on fire to entertain his audiences.

But fame doesn't last forever. While "Mindfreak" had a decently long run, eventually it came to an end, leaving audiences wondering where Angel would turn up next. The answer to that question is back to the TV world and beyond it. What is Angel up to these days? Why did he become so popular, and what made him leave his show? Keep reading to find out.

Criss Angel started out life as a traveling musician. He eventually paired up with the magician Klayton to form the band and magic act Angeldust, which managed to release five albums before breaking up. He then appeared in the television movie "The Science of Magic" before performing his first attention-grabbing stunt: spending twenty-four hours underwater in a water tank set up in Times Square. 

Lasting from August 27 to August 28, 2002, Angel fasted for twenty-four hours to make it through the stunt. Previous practice runs allowed him to figure out how long he could stay submerged without needing to drink, eat, or use the bathroom, and he applied what he learned from these lessons to the Times Square version of the illusion. Angel stated that the trick was done in part as a tribute to his idol, Harry Houdini.

Angel was briefly hospitalized for dehydration when it was all over, but the stunt garnered him a lot of attention. That notoriety resulted in the ABC Family special "Criss Angel Mindfreak: Postmodern Illusionist," which begat the series "Chris Angel: Mindfreak" on A&E Network. Angel also starred in a special titled "Supernatural" on the SyFy channel before the "Mindfreak" series launched.

"Mindfreak" helped burnish Criss Angel's reputation in the magic world. While the series proved to be quite popular for a time, it eventually came to an end in 2010 after six seasons and 94 episodes. During the show's run, Angel managed to become the most popular magician in the country, bringing magic back into the public eye, regularly appearing on talk shows and reality shows as his celebrity grew. There's no word as to why the "Mindfreak" series was canceled, but it seems possible that Angel simply walked away to concentrate on other endeavors.

When "Mindfreak" ended, Angel launched a new series, "Criss Angel BeLIEve," on SpikeTV (which also happens to be home to some of the most bizarre Marvel series to ever air on TV). The show only lasted a single 13-episode season in 2013 before being canceled. The filming of "BeLIEve" ran concurrent to a magic show of the same name that Angel was performing at the Luxor in Las Vegas with Cirque du Soleil. Though it was critically maligned, Angel had a contract to fulfill with the Luxor and kept refining the show until it closed in 2016. But when he launched a magic show called "Mindfreak Live!" at the Luxor, an injury would occur, which would slow down his career.

In March of 2017, Criss Angel was performing a stunt during "Mindfreak Live!" in which he hangs upside-down while wearing a straitjacket. Typically, Angel escapes from his encumberment without any problems, but on this occasion, he passed out. While dangling from the rig, he was lowered to the stage, and the show's curtain was pulled. The night's performance was canceled 11 minutes in while he was rushed to a hospital. Angel left the ER later the same night on his own power, then underwent a battery of tests over the course of the weekend to determine if he was fit to continue performing magic.

He was, and the show went on, but had things gone further awry, he might have fallen to the stage and been seriously injured. What makes this entire sequence of events even more fascinating is the fact that Angel holds the record for the longest body suspension, established in 2005 when he hung upside-down in Times Square, suspended for five hours and forty-two minutes by eight fishhooks. His record was broken by illusionist Matt Zane in 2008, though he only used four hooks.

The trick, like many of Angels' stunts, is somewhat controversial both for how dangerous it is to his well-being (the hooks were inserted directly into his skin) and how frequently he revealed the secret behind it. Angel has never been one to keep his magical ways close to his vest and often allows fans a peek behind the curtain and explains how he pulls off his magical stunts. He has published his secrets in a book and also revealed them on some of his shows. All of that has made him a subject of controversy and somewhat unpopular among magicians. Unsurprisingly, he continues to ply his trade in spite of these brickbats.

Today, Criss Angel is still doing what he does best — plying his trade as a magician. His "Criss Angel: Mindfreak" magic show moved venues and is now a daily event at the Planet Hollywood in Creaser's Palace in Las Vegas. He performs five nights a week for audiences in the packed Criss Angel Theatre.

In addition to his Las Vegas residency, Angel was a judge for the game show "Phenomenon" on NBC. He also had a reality show on The CW, "Criss Angel's Magic with the Stars." He has appeared as himself in several movies about magic. He also has a rich personal life, with three children and a ten-plus year relationship with Australian singer Shaunyl Benson that has seen them marry, divorce, date, have kids, and get engaged again.

Their son, Johnny, is a cancer survivor, having gone through two bouts of b-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. His son's heroism inspired Angel to found the nonprofit group The Johnny Crisstopher Children's Charitable Foundation, which is dedicated to raising awareness of pediatric cancers. Angel does fundraisers for the foundation and also works with the Make a Wish Foundation. It goes to show that even the most daring of magicians can have a softer side.