Testing psychics
I thought I would pen a few words about the high-profile test offered to Sally Morgan by Simon Singh, Chris French and the Merseyside Skeptics tomorrow Monday. It looks like Sally has declined to take part, but their offer is open to conduct a fair test or at least discuss the test with her to make sure both they and her are happy with it.
Simon Singh, along with other sceptics, has had concerns about Sally and published them here on his blog. I add, as does he, that I am not saying that Sally is a fake or a fraud. I’d really like to think that she’s not, but reserve all judgement. I don’t know her and have never seen her show, on TV or on stage. Even if I had, my opinion about her would mean very little, and I’m sure she could give a flying doughnut about what I had to say. Really the only worthwhile point is whether claims such as Sally’s stand up to testing, not what I or any other individual with our own inevitable prejudices happens to think.
Until recently, I thought I had never met her, but I have since heard rather excitingly that I may have filmed an unused sequence with Sally once at her home. If I did, it would have been for one of those old Mind Control specials ten or so years ago. I have my team looking into that to see if we ever did and if they can dig it out. Certainly we filmed with one lady psychic at her house, where we each gave each other a reading, so perhaps that was it.
Sally has recently received mixed media attention following a phone call to a radio station made by a lady who had attended her show in Dublin, who said she heard what sounded like verbal cues being given to the medium on stage. Apparently she heard phrases like ‘Dave – bad back’ being whispered from the lighting booth at the back of the auditorium a few seconds before Sally repeated those words on stage, raising the strong suspicion in this woman’s mind that Sally was using an earpiece. If this were true, it would follow that the assistant in the booth had most likely picked up information in the foyer where people were openly discussing what they were hoping to hear that night. The phone call can be heard here and is worth listening to in full. Sally has since denied the insinuations, saying that it was simply lighting technicians chatting, although to me this doesn’t seem to answer the question of why she was delivering lines moments after they were heard coming from the booth.
Frustratingly for Sally, her explanation may of course be fair. To be honest, if I were a fake psychic and wanted to use an earpiece to receive my cues, I wouldn’t put my assistant in the lighting booth where in-house staff would normally work. There would be the advantage of receiving visual cues, but my preference would be to tuck him away safely backstage somewhere. Unless, that is, I was supplying all the crew for the show, in which case it (more…)
Derren Discusses The Gameshow
If you head over to Channel 4′s website for the Experiments you will be able to see an exclusive interview in which Derren explains where the ideas behind the show came from.
Click the link below to view:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/derren-brown/articles/derren-brown-on-channel-4
Derren Brown – The Gameshow: Tonight at 9pm Ch4
Just a little reminder that the second episode in ‘The Experiments’ series airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 4.
Leave your thoughts on the show in the comments section below, or click here to watch a sneak preview 
Exclusive Sneak Preview: Derren Brown – The Gameshow
The Experiments – The Gameshow, airs Friday 28th October at 9pm on Channel 4.
Trailer: Derren Brown – The Gameshow – 28th Oct
The Experiments – The Gameshow, airs Friday 28th October at 9pm on Channel 4.
Sneak Preview of 4th Experiment – Derren Brown: The Secret of Luck
Here’s a little bit of info about the forth experiment of the series which will air on Friday Nov 11th. It comes from the press release:
Derren Brown returns to our screens with “The Experiments”, a brand new four part series for Channel 4. Each stand-alone episode asks and answers a single question regarding human behaviour, and features Derren’s inventive and jaw-dropping mixture of stunts, suggestion and thought-provoking entertainment.
In ‘The Secret of Luck’ the fourth and final show of the series, Derren investigates what makes some people lucky and others attract only misfortune. This episode takes the form of a documentary fronted by Dawn Porter who acts as Derren’s secret agent, and this time the subject of the experiment is an entire town. Together Dawn and Derren plant a rumour about the lucky powers of a local statue and watch as it changes the lives of the residents.
Remember to tune in this Friday for the second episode in the series, The Gameshow.
The Gameshow (Episode 2), airs Friday 28th October at 9pm on Channel 4.
The Guilt Trip (Episode 3), airs Friday 4th November at 9pm on Channel 4.
The Secret of Luck (Episode 4), airs Friday 11th November at 9pm on Channel 4.
Derren Discusses The Assassin
If you head over to Channel 4′s website for the Experiments you will be able to see an exclusive interview in which Derren explains where the ideas behind the show came from.
Click the link below to view:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/derren-brown/articles/derren-brown-on-channel-4
The Assassin: Tonight at 9pm Ch4
I have been asked by those who ask such things to remind you that tonight on C4, 9pm is the first episode of my new series, Derren Brown: The Experiments.
We kick off with ‘The Assassin’. Here are some teeny teaser clips of tonight’s show which you may or may not enjoy.
If you like a little comment, then do feel free to comment throughout and after the show here on this blog.
What larks. Please enjoy the show.
Sneak Preview of 3rd Experiment – Derren Brown: THE GUILT TRIP
Here’s a little bit of info regarding the third experiment of the series which will air on Friday Nov 4th. It comes from the press release:
Derren Brown returns to our screens with “The Experiments”, a brand new four part series for Channel 4. Each stand-alone episode asks and answers a single question regarding human behaviour, and features Derren’s inventive and jaw-dropping mixture of stunts, suggestion and thought-provoking entertainment.
In ‘The Guilt Trip‘, the third show in the series, an unwitting participant is placed at the centre of an elaborate, hidden-camera murder mystery – can Derren convince him to admit to a murder he didn’t commit?
Remember to tune in this Friday for the first episode in the series, The Assassin.
The Assassin (Episode 1), airs Friday 21st October at 9pm on Channel 4.
The Gameshow (Episode 2), airs Friday 28th October at 9pm on Channel 4.
The Guilt Trip (Episode 3), airs Friday 4th November at 9pm on Channel 4.
The Experiments: Online Exclusive Unseen Footage
Remember to tune in this Friday 21st Oct 9pm Ch4 for the first episode in the series, The Assassin.
Derren: “Here’s a little stunt we filmed: originally to be included in the series but we thought it worked well as a kind of extended trailer. It begins with me doing a very quick hypnotic induction on someone in the street who had previously applied to be on the show. Though he had no idea he was ever going to be used…”
Remember to tune in this Friday 21st Oct 9pm Ch4 to watch the first of the Experiments: The Assassin.
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