HotelChatter

Here's the exact escape scenario:

Handcuffed to a seventh-floor balcony, the Sin City sensation will have just three minutes and 30 seconds to get through a series of locked doors and climb three flights of stairs to the roof. His salvation: a helicopter hovering above with a dangling 30-foot ladder.

But things didn't quite go as planned. Angel never got on the helicopter. Instead, the camera crew found him after the implosion near the front of the hotel covered in dust but otherwise ok.

Yeah we're pretty skeptical about that and the first thing that comes to mind is that Angel escaped via some emergency chute. And SyFy Portal who has the entire recap of the episode says:

Anyone watching this -- and I'm sure I'm hardly alone -- were able to easily figure out that at least the final 90 seconds [of the escape] were pre-recorded

Meaning Angel's attempts at unlocking locks and "escaping" were totally fake. And we agree. After all, of course, Criss Angel is not going to die on live television in a hotel implosion! That would be idiotic! Let's hope Angel has better tricks up his sleeve for his Cirque du Soleil Show in Las Vegas Believe.