I'd have to agree with you about his magic tricks. He doea blur the lines a lot and it's hard to see what he really did. In that sense all of his act is a huge demonstration of misdirection. But when it comes to hypnosis, I've never seen anything more impressive
I can't find any source for this random comment's claim that they were actors, which seems like it would be pretty easy to prove. I think you've been bamboozled.