Throughout the audition rounds of “Pilipinas Got Talent” Season 7, we've witnessed a wide range of magic performances, but even the power judges will agree that Ody Sto. Domingo’s close-up magic might just be the best. As he stepped into the live semifinals over the weekend, Ody has brought a level of precision and mystery that impressed the judges and topped the public voting, making him the first act to officially secure a spot in the upcoming Grand Finals. 

As we look forward to what he will bring to the stage for his next performance, let's revisit his journey that brought him this far in the competition.  

Some of the show's avid followers might remember that Ody has already been on the "PGT" stage before, as he also became a Grand Finalist in Season 5 (2016) where he finished as second runner-up. After his first "PGT" run, he decided to pursue work as a magician on a cruise ship, driven by the need to secure a better future for his family. Life on board wasn’t easy, especially at the height of the pandemic. He had to perform and entertain guests every single day while being away from the people he loved the most. Milestones that were meant to be celebrated with family, such as his birthday, Christmas, and New Year, were spent alone on the ship.  

When his contract finally ended and he returned home to the Philippines, Ody began fulfilling his dreams one by one. He proposed to his longtime girlfriend and, more importantly, set his sights once again on the “Pilipinas Got Talent” stage. And he's determined to make his comeback count, this time facing the new panel of judges composed of Freddie “FMG” Garcia, Eugene Domingo, Kathryn Bernardo, and Donny Pangilinan. 

Possessing both smooth storytelling and stagecraft, Ody opened his audition act by showing an image of himself from Season 5 projected onscreen—standing on the very same stage—immediately drawing a connection between the past and the present. He then handed FMG an envelope and gave Donny a remote control. From there, he shared that he was once a frustrated singer who had studied foreign songs for his hidden passion. He sang what he described as an African song while holding a timer that stopped at exactly 8.8 seconds, then joked, “Kaya nag-magic na lang ako,” winning the crowd with his humor. 

He went on to say that he could still use music as part of his magic, and to demonstrate, he brought out a songbook and asked Donny to say “stop” as he flipped through the pages, then told him to remember the first song title printed at the top of the page he randomly stopped on. 

Moving on to Eugene, who he easily made smile with his witty remarks, he showed a few pieces from his postcard collection and asked her to point to one without him seeing. Then, turning to Kathryn, he talked about how he got engaged after returning to the Philippines and that he and his fiancée had just moved into a new house. He mentioned that they were still undecided on the color of their new home, so he presented a color wheel, spun it upside down, and had Kathryn say “stop” before pointing to a random spot on the wheel using a marker. She then signed the back of the wheel and checked the color she had marked—without revealing it to Ody. 

From there, Ody talked about the connection between the past and the present, then took the envelope from FMG and pulled out a yellow piece of paper, which Kathryn confirmed as the color she randomly marked on the color wheel. On that wheel, the shade of yellow was labeled with the code “41546d,” which, much to everyone’s surprise, was written exactly on the back of the yellow paper. 

The judges were even more amazed when he turned the paper upside down and the code “41546d” read as the word “pansin,” the same word written also on a yellow paper he used in his Season 5 performance. He then asked the judges to look at the still on the LED screen to confirm that detail. 

He turned to Eugene and asked her to reveal the country she had randomly picked from the postcards, which was Romania. Ody then unfolded the paper he had been holding to reveal that it was actually the flag of Romania. 

Lastly, he asked Donny to share the song he randomly landed on from the songbook, which was “Palagi” by TJ Monterde. He then told Donny to press “rewind” on the remote control, which played back the earlier part of the performance where Ody had sung what he described as an African song, but when in reverse, it was actually the chorus of “Palagi.”

The judges were already stunned by that point, but Ody took things even further when he asked them and the live audience to take out their phones and check the available WiFi connections, and to everyone’s shock, all the WiFi names displayed the phrase “PANSIN [Romanian Flag] PALAGI.” 

Donny was left speechless and could only say, “Ody... Wow,” while Judge FMG, who had also witnessed Ody’s performance back in Season 5, remarked that the magician had truly taken his craft to the next level. 

For his live semifinals performance on May 25, Ody turned magic into a poetic glimpse of the future. He opened his act by showing to the camera a set of four cards with the faces of the judges, saying he had prepared a trick for each one of them but only one could be chosen for that night. To help with the decision, he asked PGT host Melai Cantiveros to pick a card at random, and she ended up selecting the one with Eugene’s photo. 

If his audition act was about connecting the past and present, this semifinals performance focused on the future. He then asked Eugene to pick one card from a new set, this time featuring images of possible scenarios that might happen in the near future or just a few moments from that exact point. The card she chose showed "a man looking at a tree." 

Ody said that the image represented the future, but that there was still something missing. Using his natural storytelling flow, he shared how the future can be compared to a feather, something delicate that must be handled with care because one wrong move could ruin it completely. 

He then walked to the center of the stage where a table with a set of cards was waiting. All the cards were blank except for one that showed the three of hearts, and with the skill of his magical hands, each of the blank cards slowly turned into a three of hearts one by one. 

He placed a single blank card on a tiny easel, and with a simple gesture, an image of a feather appeared on it. With a wave of a light stick, the card vanished instantly, drawing a series of wows from the judges, but Ody wasn’t done yet. As he pointed the light toward his palm, a white feather appeared in his hand. 

Smoke rose from the feather as he carefully folded it into an arrow-shaped paper fold, which he referred to as the missing piece. He placed it on a board illuminated under a spotlight and was covered with a newspaper sheet and marked with several similar  origami shapes in different sizes. He turned the board counterclockwise, and the shadows cast by the shapes came together to form the face of Eugene. 

He then returned to the card Eugene had chosen earlier and cued for another board to be lit. As the light hit it, the shadows formed the image of a tree—exactly the same as the one on the card she had randomly picked. Ody then stepped into position and struck a pose, completing the full picture of "a man looking at a tree." 

Everyone in the room was left in awe. Eugene had nothing but big words for the performance, saying, "Isang krimen 'pag hindi ka pumasok sa Grand Finals." Though she admitted she wasn’t usually drawn to magic acts, Ody completely changed the way she saw it, and added that she holds nothing but respect for him.

But it wasn’t just magic—it was the numbers themselves that proved how much Ody’s act stood out. He earned the highest public vote on joinnow.ph among the first six semifinalists who performed during the opening live weekend show, sweeping an impressive 49.14% of the total votes. That figure was far ahead of the second highest vote-getter, dance group Femme MNL, who also secured their Grand Finals slot with 16.14% of the votes. Meanwhile, the bottom four semifinalists were eliminated.  

After blowing everyone away in the semis, what spell will Ody cast next in the Grand Finals? 

For now, let's watch out for the remaining semifinalists. "PGT" Season 7 airs weeknights, at 7:15 pm, on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL), and A2Z. Viewers can also catch it on TV5 every Saturday, at 7:15 PM, and Sundays, at 7:45 PM.