I've never cared for Criss Angel. I find his show way too over the top dramatic and his huge ego makes the show almost impossible to watch. It doesn't help that his circle of friends and family are on the show over acting and inflating his ego even more.
But I did gain some respect for him when he was on NBC's show Phenomenon. It was a short lived show hosted by Uri Geller and Criss Angel and it was essentially American Idol for paranormal, mentalists, psychics, mindfreaks etc. Well Criss Angel has always maintained that what he is doing is all tricks. There is no such thing as paranormal, psychics, or that is he is connect to the spirit world and Satan. So when one of the contestants claimed that his talking to the dead was real Criss Angel challenged him and Uri to guess what was in an envelope in his pocket. Even offering up a million dollars of his own money. Well the alleged psychic lost it on him and hilarity ensued. And no the clown didn't guess what was in the envelope.
http://www.randi.org/joom/content/view/118/1/