Tonight at 10pm on Ch4 – the second episode of Derren Brown Investigates.
Many modern day forms of spiritualism, life skills and self-help systems have taken on a “pure science” motif. They claim to have discovered unique techniques, based on scientific methods that deliver actual results, but only when you attend their 6 week course at a special introductory rate.
Scientology focuses on the nature of personal development at the core of it’s spiritual message, NLP claims to give you life tools to help improve yourself or rid yourself of phobias and many new age spiritual gurus like Deepak Chopra will commonly feature their own slant of quantum physics in conjunction with enhanced human capability.
In this show Derren visits Europe where he engages with the Bronnikov Centre, a school that claims it has managed to create a bio-computer you can install programming on, to achieve incredible results. From blindfolded reading to diagnosing illness without the use of any equipment – Derren Brown Investigates.
To discuss the show click here to head over to our Derren Brown Investigates Pages.
In the words of Spongebob Squarepants; “IIIIIIIIIIII’M READY!”
He seemed to be coming out with some pretty specific stuff. Will be interesting to learn whether or not he got anything right, and whether or not there is an explanation for it.
Ah, how nice it will be to watch this episode in my native english! =)
*Ah, how nice it will be to watch this episode in my native language! =)
God I love this series. You are such a legend. I’m so excited. Twitter is going to go MENTAL over you. Wow. This is just -
*runs around screaming* *stops and sits in front of the TV, remote control poised*
And in front of the TV I shall remain.
*gets up to get a biscuit*
Been here before and just like those times, I enjoyed what I’ve found. Thanks for sharing the trailer.
I have read up a bit on NLP so tonights episode will be very interesting. x
damnit, its killing me, I wish I could see these in the US.
Oh god Derren, how did you stop yourself punching that Bronnikov guy?
Looks like the man confused DB with Borat.
great show again,
i see a pattern emerging from these shows, false hope pays well, and when you critisize these people at the end and give them a chance to defend themselves they’re so rude!
keep this system away from the UK!
Brilliant episode, Derren has massive balls to ask those face to face questions in the last interview. Very thought provoking.
Goodness me Derren. HOW you kept your cool during that last interview i dont know. Great episode, the method to me, seems like a complete load of rubbish. Refusing to look ‘inside’ the box did make me chuckle. Thanks again Derren for a great show, Looking forward to the next. x
God! I love your program! You certainly can beat people to fool themselves. Please carry on your investigate on different topics on TV every week.
I really love it and it is very interesting to watch. Well done Derren!
Seriously its mind blowing to me how much of an unbelievable C U Next Tuesday that Bronnikov douche is. How can he live with himself?
ps: I would definitely join your circus
Brilliant episode. I actually find it really upsetting that these people can capitalize on the disabilities of others. Derren, you should have just messed with that guy\’s mind at the end or maybe just punched him in the face.
G
Great show. But when’s the next instalment? C4 have some dross scheduled for next Monday with Davina something and money or something…
A very interseting show indeed !!! What was inside the box ?
What was in the bloody box?
LOL!
I agree with Emma above…Bronnikov was an ARSE! I thought the Bronnikov method looked quite promising at first, but at the end all Bronnikov did was babble and throw insults at Derren, when he had a perfect opportunity to prove that what he did was real.
One word spring to mind \”SCAM\” God…..i feel so sick that people can play with other people minds like this and make them believe that the treatment is working, which is clearly not working at all.
Well done Derren for exposing these guys.
The ONLY plausible part of Bronnikov is to feel “air ball”- it’s one of d first steps of practising Chi Gong of Chinese KungFu, a method developed by Chinese monks during 1000s of years practice, seriously! Bronnikov is violating Chinese IP rights.LOL
Millions of Chinese know how to feel “airball”.Me too! But Bronnikov way of doing it as far as I saw is WRONG and VERY basic,which could cause REAL physical harm for students if practised wrongly as he SEEMS TO DO- a REAL potential danger of Bronnikov method as I see it. I can do the airball better,and I can teach Derren Brown how to feel that “ari ball” within a week FOR FREE, to prove it. All Kongfu guys, Jet Li, Jacky Chan etc know it.The rest of Bronnikov claims are bullshit! That he doesn’t claim to heal saves him from total disgrace.
Well done Derren, yet again. I would definately not reccommend anyone to see Bronnikov! lol x
i so wished u would have done that induced fear thing while staring at him at the end. what a fooool
Really enjoying this series! Both weeks these people have been very well exposed.
Not sure if Derren reads the comments here, but I’d love to know if he knows anything about / has any opinions on the Holosync or Hemisync programs which claim to give you all the benefits of the meditation of a Zen monk just by listening to a tape?
Also what he makes of the very popular Law of Attraction, the idea that our thoughts shape our reality, made famous by the movie and book “The Secret”.
This episode also reminded me a lot of Chi Gong & similar things, and I’d like to see him do something on that.
These are all things I’ve taken an interest to it would be amazing to see Derren investigate or do something with them in some regard, whether it be in this format or just as a blog post or something.
Really enjoyed tonight’s show – but it would be good to see Derren confront some of the questionable merchants of woo that have infiltrated our high streets rather than the more fringey stuff like the xray eyes nutter (ie the chiropractors, homeopaths, reflexologists, TCM, Gillian McKeith, Prince Charles and the like!). It would be nice to see the New Age guff that’s managed to garner some credibility with the four by four driving mums of Chelsea and the Gyyneth Paltrows of this world getting a good pasting (er I mean objective scientific anaylsis). Although having said that, as this Bronnikov method seems to be heading for our shores, perhaps it’s good that Derren’s got in early with a swift pre-emptive strike. Hope to see another series as there is a LOT more debunking to be done.
I just love it when Derren has these charlatans stuck for words and leaves them scrambling for some petty weak excuse that a schoolboy would think of……BTW when is Derren’s next episode on? I’ve checked the listings for next week but it doesn’t show anything for monday at 10pm is it
Firstly i have to say that the concept of this show promises to be very entertaining, and that to date the execution has lived up to this promise. I eagerly await the next episode.
I think that Derren did an excelllent job with Bronnikov, many have already posted that they would have found it difficult not to lose their temper with the man, but by staying calm he left Bronnikov to hang himself.
I have heard better quasi-scientific ramblings and basic understanding of physics/biology In a hollywood adaptation of a superhero comic book to the big screen, and that is saying something.
And to the poster “KC” , why bother trying to teach Derren the “air ball”, when you could head over to the Jref and earn a cool million dollars for the effort.
further to my earlier post;
As a martial arts instructor myself I would actually welcome an episode of Derren Brown Investigates on the topic of ‘energy balls’, no touch knockouts, and other bizzare claims that plague my industry.
The constant fraudulent nonsense that passes for martial arts instruction, means that people are being filled with a potentially very dangerous ‘false confidence’. Not only are they being conned out of their money, because instructors are passing off ‘paper tiger’ techniques as legitimate training practices, but also student who believe that they have aquired deadly fighting skills, may do less to avoid dangerous encounters.
@ KC says:
Rofl!!!
There is NO plausible part of the Bronnikov method. Just because some deluded Chinese dudes are following the delusion of their ancestors does not make it any less delusional!
I’d go so far as to say that most if not all of the delusions of today were believed to work in the good ‘ol days.
If you are so confident that it’s real, may I recommend you take the James Randi test, and garner yourself a cool mil when you “succeed”, and I’d imagine a slot on Derren’s show to boot!
Found a review of last night’s show here:
http://therationalmystic.co.uk/2010/05/jaw-dropping-derren-brown-and-bronnikov.html
I thought the same thing, regarding Derren’s refusal to sink to Bronnikov’s level, or even become defensive about his documentary. I was hoping Derren was somehow, well, Derrenizing Bronnikov during that interview, but somehow I’m not even sure it was necessary.
I hope the young boy does become angry, and he should be; his parents will cling to any hope that they can do better for their son, and the Bronnikovs know this, smirking to the camera and lining their pockets.
any chance of getting this streamed to the colonies, er… the USA anytime in the near future?
@KC I imagine that if you were to scientifically test chi gung/Chi and what have you it would come to nothing in all honesty.
This programme is damning against “airball” claims and energies sprouting forth from places in the body. So he was doing it wrong? He had the wrong technique? Well perhaps he did have the wrong technique….it STILL didnt show any result whatsoever. Surely there would have been an effect even if it was simply a case of wrong technique.
Theres always somebody else who can do the “proper,” way in these situations. But isnt it more feasible that this kind of stuff is mind games?
@AndrewMurrary So you would rather have a russian scam artist take 1000s of pounds from desperate people and say things like “if you dont get angry you can stay in your wheelchair,” to that kid with cerebral palsy? Dont be ridiculous. Giving false hope to people and taking MONEY for it, is a crime. The real hope is putting that money into making his life as BEST as possible for him NOW. not chasing some scam fantasy. Its disgusting what those guys are doing.
This series is getting better with every episode. Last night’s was especially fascinating.
“Here we see Tony using his psychic bio-computer to determine the position and colour of a char”
*Pause*
*Sound of someone accidentally walking into a char*
Chair, even.
Can I take a guess at what was in the box?…..A card saying, ‘I predict that Mr Bronnikov will have used the word “circus” ten times in our conversation for no reason…Take THAT!’
Hello, Just watched the episode, derren brown is a genius…. but i thought derren brown’s use of ‘Judy’ was pointless. he obviously met her much in advance, telling her about this method in skeptic manner, passing his skepticism on to her, hence effecting his whole intention of judy. even whilst she was carrying out the level 1 course, he would talk in the cafe to her about what he observed in the advance level (3). the whole episode was kind of carried out in a weird way….seen only from derren point of view, no one elses. But then again some people would rather watch something where they have to do no thinking, simply letting someone else do the thinking for them. respect derren brown’s work so much,he is one of the intriging ones, the new James Randy. Carry on undowsing these dowswers
@stublore, jibJIB
Coming over to larugh at Chi Gong itself showed your own ignorance. I didn’t give any credit to Bronnikov. He just took a half-cooked basic Chi Gong practice (a wrong one) into curing blindness or for its betterment while charging practitioners a lumb sum.They’re pure money-grabing fakers. In China they teach you feeling ariball for free, in every major park of evey city among those old people who do morning execises.”Feeling” airball itself(one’s enegetic field) is nothing mystic and well proven, with a correct method almost all ppl can feel it in a week or so in Chi Gong. If Derren purely criticises airball, then he’s barking at a wrong tree.The KEY is what you do with it. How Bronnikov did with it posing a potential danger to practitioners,while original ChiGong no.
Hope you read these comments, Derren. We are all indebted to you and your rationalist approach.
I am sure that many people on this blog have at some point thought “I bet Derren’s secret is that he actually IS a real psychic with some crazy powers”. When that fantasy died, my rationalism grew a hundredfold. Now we trust you to explore the nature of such claims. Stating the obvious, I know.
I actually felt quite sad about last night’s episode. How a man can LIE through his teeth and sleep at night is beyond me. I would be constantly on edge. I hate lying – even a genuine sick day makes me feel guilty. Why can’t he just get a job? Or be a scriptwriter for Heroes or Flash Forward or Lost even. It would suit his brand of male cow excrement.
You were typically lovely. Well done.
Further, note that there’re 2 things Bronnikov emphasized repeatedly: “all metal” and “I don’t heel” – they’re actually true, showing he was not 100% bullshiting, cuz that’s what ChiGong is about and more.Since metal is required, it could easily do harm if do it wrongly.Why I said I think his method is wrong? coz both Derren & those 2 ladies didn’t feel a thing of airball after 4 days. It’s abnormal. By watching d show,I noticed their envrionment & method are likely wrong. As I said, I can teach them to feel ariball for free for the fun of it & to prove it; if Derren and these 2 ladies honestly don’t feel a thing still, I’ll pay them money instead. Millions of ordinary Chinese who practice Chi Gong know how to do it. It’s easy but becomes highly complex if one goes to advanced stage though
I am realy enjoying this series Derren….Your like a psychic Hettie Wainthrop.
Amazing. I really wanna know whatwas in the box!
But what WAS in the box, Derren? It was a 12 inch black rubber dildo, right? That would have been hilarious!
The guys shoud have waited till everyone was blindfolded and then used an “Air Zooka” to fire air balls lol, they are very powerful and can blow candles out!
Think I will start a course! (No Russians Involved)
“The complete person course” £700.00 for 4 days. Explore your inner self, generate mystical forces, and predict your own future. Attract money, women/men and learn how to levitate (in your mind via computer screen). Be amazed at your inner psyche and memorise 100 digit numbers! ‘See’ what people are really thinking and read hidden body language! It’s all on the 4 day course, everything you wanted to know about yourself.
Disclaimer…No persons teaching have NO medical Degree, or any type of Diploma, A level or CSE. It’s all taught by the seat of their pants, approved by Derren Brown and Roderick Brothelburger CER OPI.
Call now and have your free conseltation for just £15.00.
Obviously, this is just the first draft….
@KC
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs.
Despite your claims of others ignorance, YOUR claims can be dismissed as easily as Bronnikov’s.
Just because a lot of people are taken in by a delusion, does not make the delusion true, it means those taken in are either ignorant or gullible.
IF you want to prove rather than make silly assertions, take the James Randi challenge and get your million quid. Until you provide such proof then your claims can be dismissed as easily as a child’s claim to have an invisible friend.
@KC I am NOT laughing at Chi Kung/Gung. I am not ignorant about it. But a scientific approach to these kinds of things will demonstrate that there is no evidence. But please I would love to be proved wrong…if you know of any independent 3rd party test results id love to hear about it
I think a book was in the box. The book would be ‘Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time’ by Michael Shermer.
@stublore
What Broonikov has is an extraorinary claim:X-ray alike diagonose,”see thru” things, etc. What I made, namely airball,was NOT an extradinary claim. It’s a piece of cake for any Chi Gong practitioner, proven by millions Chinese & foreigners for 1000s of years,with well-established institutions at a national level(many of them are for FREE 4 practitioners). What you think that it’s “extraorinary” is because you have very limited or ZERO knowldge on it yourself. It’s like for a sub-Sahara rainforest dweller, a F-22 fighter jet would look like a godsend magic; or a Dark Age man would be shocked seeing electricity. I don’t need $1 million: I am rich enough; airball stuff is 4 free in China and should be 4 free for anyone interested anywhere. Just google reseach Chi Gong,and learn!
Derren enjoyed last night tv, but am a little concerned, I teach mediumship , I see things and so do the people I teach are you saying that we are producing this ourselves, cos if that is the case wonder what the hell I am doing teaching. I have seen spirit, and have had many experiences especially nde\’s (twice) would love you to see an honest person who is trying hard to bridge the worlds maybe even if It cannot be proved, please see us ordinary folk who charge nothing for people to experience for themselves and gain a higher expectation of life and understand why we are here -hope this makes sense. I am an honest person and would not for the life of me try and influence people into believing something was not real and charge them for the privilege. Would love you to visit.
Oh come on everyone, what was inside the box, it’s quite obvious, it is a cat – a cat that is in a state of flux between alive and dead!*
*Please don’t go all animal rights on me folks, it’s a physics joke.
That was a great episode Derren.
Using the URO-GENITAL SYSTEM to create a psycho-bio-computer ! How did the guy manage to come up with this ? And the “spitting” bit is absolutely hilarious.
WHAT *WAS* IN THE BOX by the way ??
Ohhhhhh, let me think, …. taking deep breath … moving energy from uro-genitals to eyes …. *spit* … ahhh I’m in psycho-bio mode now …. I see … I see … hmmm … was that an empty box ?
Derren, thanks so much for a great episode! Those people make me absolutely sick, exploiting desperate people….Well done for putting them on blast!! And exposing them for the complete frauds that they are!!!
A great job. People often shed their prejudices, reservations, doubts, scepticism once they have paid a lot of money. The theory of Cognitive Dissonance explains this behaviour. Both the ‘pud psychic and Bronno use similar techniques of aggressively suspending the subjects’ disbelief by weird behaviour and statements. The psychic also used awful clothing and builder’s bum to elicit prejudice which the subject then suppresses. The antics of Bronno jnr would get him arrested if it were recognized as a snake charmers effort to fleece gulls. Observe how often a stage psychic will say “can you understand it (luv)?..” it’s blatant manipulation. Agressive and hostile, because it’s fraud, an effort to rob someone without their direct knowledge; a con.
@KC
if you are rich enough, then go and earn the million and donate it to a worthy cause. I know you wont because deep down you know you cant.
@Lesley Croft
it is quite possible that you are being sincere, and that you believe you are being honest, but that doesnt mean that you are right.
if you are being sincere then all evidence would point to you also being somewhere on the scale between fully fledged delusional to just a bit naive.
either that or you are knowingly dishonest, or to be blunt, a fraud.
Enjoyed tonights show, for all you unlucky people that don’t live in the UK the easiest way to watch it is go on a Bollockov course costing £700 and then using your extra sensory genital powers to see the show on your psycho bio desiel minds eye computermescreen.
It’s a shame tho we need people like Derren to tell most sensible people what we already know that things like this are a money making scam. Would have been good if during the investigates Derren becomes unsure on whether it is a scam or is in fact genuine.
THANKYOU DERREN
That was a great ep, how did you not punch the guy at the end?!
PLEASE PLEASE Derren and all who saw the episode, please let us stop this method (and the guy on last weeks show) from doing what they are doing, making money out of the ill and bereaved.
Thankyou Derren for exposing these con artists.
I cannot belive the Bronikovs, moaning at you because you are not a ‘scientist’ when you are more of a scientist that they will ever be.
I am a final year medical student, obviously interested in the human body, and these methods are disgraceful. By all means, market it as bull**** but don’t target the ill and the blind! (and then say it is for the healthy),
Sorry, I had to rant. I am disgusted.
Derren you are a legend
Did anyone else notice a slight similarity to Gurdjieff’s system for the harmonious development of man? Both systems are pseudo scientific crap which take enormous sums of money from affluent gullible people. and blame the same people for not understanding the system or not having a mind advanced enough to benefit from the teaching. A bit like cold reading techniques, if they fail its the fault of other people. Heads I win, tails you lose! I would love to see an episode on homeopathic medicine as this is still a hot topic.
A great episope! However, I have one small comment – this group displayed very many cult-like characteristics and it might have been beneficial to point this out, rather than simply look at them and say this isn’t scientific/rational. For example: revered leader-figure; confusing aims and methods; social and financial pressure to “get it”; ever increasing partication; breaking down someone emotionally and then giving them a path to get better (“you’re only 55%, if you practice every day you will get to 100%). For there are many other cultic groups operating on similar principles, and not all of them are so obvious, e.g. certain self-improvement & “philosophy” courses.
From memory, the Bronnikov method appears to have similarities to a brilliant fictional short story by Roald Dahl called The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, in which a shallow man (Henry Sugar) gains the supernatural ability to see through solid objects. It takes him a great deal of effort in an attempt to see through playing cards and gain an unfair advantage in casinos. It’s really worth reading.
If the Bronnikovs are able to see through solid objects and want money, why are they bothering with the effort needed to run these courses when they could simply visit Vegas? Their potential winnings would dwarf Randi’s million dollar prize. If their purpose is to help people advance spiritually surely this would still be possible as the courses could then be subsidised from their winnings?
Interesting show, but I wonder how much of the scepticism is knee jerk, I sensed Derren was uncomfortable dealing with Bronnikov, and I didn’t think it was purely because he thought him a charlatan.
Away from the cameras and the “appropriate” attitude required for his audience, I wonder what was going on in Derren’s head. Bronnikov has quite a business. Patents, customers, international programmes. Seems to me Derren thought scepticism was the easy and unsatisfactory choice. It also stopped him properly participating!!
Agree. When watching, it reminded me of a scientology place in Amsterdam i went to in my younger days before i seen sense
Great episode Derren, you did well. It is quite obvious these guys are a bunch of jokes, ripping people off with a deceiving self-improvement program, they are misdirecting their customers. Misleading everything, and Derren went there to prove it. The big man himself could only insult Derren with all he had rather than prove anything, because he knew he couldn’t prove himself, and that he in fact had no power and his teaching was full of ….
I doubt this will make it far anyway, people will just know when there’s no effects, but for the people who have been scammed already, I feel sorry for them, they’re wasting so much money on simply comfort and suggestion.
Businesses like this should cease to survive, hopefully the media gets onto this and exposes them as no one official can do that.
By half way you could not agree more with Derren, with the final show down, it had been plain evidence to Derren that the founder himself was a circus clown, it was a matter of time before Derren subtly asked if the entity was doing the right thing, and how it makes false claims and misleading points. This guy obviously knows nothing about Derren, and is just trying to insult Derren in order to protect his name/fraud methods. This is concluded to be an insult to certain beings, I’m not sure how this clown sleeps at night, I mean scamming a general audience is one thing, scamming a targeted audience through sly and deceiving exploits is another.
The Methods official site, I quote “Work with the global essences of the Earth, Heaven and Holy Spirit.” its clear that theyve created a religion of their own, talking absolute bull for wads of cash from the desperate/disabled by giving out false hope, to make them believe one day they will be better.
The whole blindfold exercise was laughable, with the energy “jump” at the end to see out of a gap! lol
Its was quite funny that the founder became so p*ssed off (unable to answer the straight questions that he was being given by Derren) for Bronnicough himself to start ironically stating that the docu must be being made for uk television to give the company a bad reputation, and that “the method” is NOT a real cure after all-the exact opposite of the Bronnikov methods advertising.
in the first episode of the current series i didn’t really dig the hint at a wavering position, when Derren said something like “well, this is what these people want to hear so maybe it’s not so bad afterall…” that frustrated me.
in episode two there was never really the feeling that the charade was OK, and it was abundantly clear that Brown was only playing along as a means to unveil the scene and score that sit down in the end. a style i preferred, but perhaps the situation as a whole lent itself to that particular sort of performance.
my guess as to what was in the box? prosthetic eyeballs, or something similar.
How about the Lightening Process?
The former UK Health Minister was apparently keen on it, and the NHS is now planning to fund a study of children using it. It sounds like a marginally less barmy version of the Bronikov techniques with the same emphasis on self-belief and personal development. They claim to cure people, but you also have to agree that “I understand that the lightning process is a training program and not a therapy or treatment”
They seem to have the same fear of scepticism as a lot of woo too.
From their site:
“We consider you are probably not ready yet to take the training if:
1 You are cynical about the process.”
It would be great if Derren were to look at some of the quackery that is on the edge of mainstream medicine – Seeing With No Eyes is a bit too easy.
Doh – Lightning, not Lightening