A great purple theory

A last minute and pointless trip to Bath today. But the silver lining was spotting this strange chap. His foot is suspended about 2 feet off the ground so that he is literally floating in mid air. No supports of any kind - no glass tube or thin wires etc. His hand rests on the candy cane shaped post but no one can hold themselves up in the air by their hand.
Mr M and I puzzled over this. Here is my theory: the carpet covers a magnet and he is seated on another magnet (stitched into his purple pants I guess). They are both north or both south magnets so they repel each other and that is how he is suspended.
It's only fair to say mr m thinks this is nonsense. But his theory is only "it's something to do with the candy cane post".
Blippers' views??