Does David Blaine use paid actors in his street magic that is aired on television?

Answer 1

Apparrently he does: It seems to me a great many of us in UK are really wondering why....

Yes he is indeed paid because he is an entertainer. Like many comedians, actors, and Music Artists. Actually he could be classified as an actor because of his magical acts he does on camera.

David Blaine is paid for his TV appearances, usually by the network on which he appears. He also makes personal appearances, both public and private, for which he gets paid. He may perform his dramatic public events without pay in order to promote himself for paid performances. Houdini also did public publicity stunts without pay to promote his paid appearances, I don't know that for sure if David Blaine has private sponsors for those public events, if he does, they're not publicised.

Answer 2

Yes, unfortunately he does. The trick is to deceive you. The paid actors and their acting skill is what fools you into the illusion. If you watch some video's on YouTube you can actually see the handoffs to the audience in the clips.