A magician ended up impaling his hand on a six-inch nail in front of his shocked audience after a Russian roulette-style trick backfired.

Kyle Wallace, 55, was attempting a stunt which involved slamming his hand down on a table where some upright nails were concealed in one of three bags when the trick went drastically wrong.

He had placed the large, upright nail - poking through a chunk of wood - into a bag during his compering performance at the Arch 1 theatre in West Ham in east London last Thursday night.

Kyle Wallace, 55, was attempting a stunt which involved slamming his hand down on a table where some upright nails were concealed in one of three bags when the trick went drastically wrong and a six-inch nail pierced through his palm (pictured). He had to stay overnight in hospital before having surgery to remove it

Despite being in agony, the magician posed with members of the audience at Arch 1 theatre in east London for a selfie before being taken to Newham University Hospital in east London where an X-ray showed his injury

He had also filled two other bags with items of a similar size before asking the audience to choose which one he should slam is hand on.

The idea is for him to miss the concealed bag with the spikes but on this occasion the trick went wrong, leaving the nail embedded in his palm.

Despite being in agony, he posed with several members of the audience for a selfie before being taken to Newham University Hospital in east London where he had to stay overnight.

He told the Evening Standard: 'There was no drop of blood at all because the nail had sealed the wound. As I raised my hand I brought the bag up with it. It was a nightmare.

'Everyone looked in horror at that one point and one guy at the front even burst into tears.

'I told everyone to get their phones out so they could take a picture.'

Kyle Wallace, 55, is a founding member of the G&B Comedy event at which he was performing and also describes himself as a magician and author

Mr Wallace, who also works as an author, stand-up comedian and event promoter, had performed the trick 'hundreds of times before' without problem but had altered it slightly to 'up comedy value'.

He said he spent about 30 hours with the six-inch nail embedded into his hand before doctors removed it during surgery.

Writing on Facebook following the incident, he said: 'I'm still in hospital and Andrew is still with me (it's been nailing me now for 11 hours solid, so it only seemed right to give him a name).

'I'm going down to theatre shortly to have it removed. And yes, it's friggin (sic) agony. But upside is every nurse who asked for a selfie with me has promised to come down to the club.

'Sorry to the acts that went on after me. I appreciate that was a tough set to follow. Will let you know how it goes once I've been to theatre. Thanks for all the messages.'

Mr Wallace, who is a founding member of the G&B Comedy event at which he was performing, later updated his social media page to inform fans the nail had been removed.

He wrote: 'It's out, so am I. At home now. Bandaged and enjoying a decent coffee.

'A day and a half with this sticking out of my hand is one if the weirdest experiences of my life...and I've done some weird s*** in my time.

'Thanks for all the messages. I hope you'll not be put out by me not answering them individually, but I'm a leftie for a few weeks now.'

Mr Wallace is now expected to take some time recovering before returning to performing magic at an event called Nightmare Before Christmas at Arch 1 next month.

He said that, despite the ordeal, he will continue to use the nail in a bag trick, adding he will never make a mistake during the stunt again because 'it has been emblazoned on my mind.'