Archive: 58 posts

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The Events are forthcoming Derren Brown television specials that will air on Channel 4. Filmed for in front of a live studio audience, this new series is made up of four one hour specials, during which Derren will attempt what he has described as "some of the most incredible feats to date". The show will consist of a mixture of pre-recorded location pieces connected by theatre-based segments, with each of the four one-hour programmes building up to a major stunt performance. Illusionist Derren Brown tonight claimed he was able to predict the lottery numbers just by combining the random guesses of a panel of members of the public. On Wednesday 2.7 million viewers tuned in to Channel 4 to see Brown perform his latest trick. Broadcasting from a secret studio location, Brown told viewers he had written his predictions on a line of balls, which he then revealed after watching the draw live on BBC 1. He said "That's a year of my life right there. I can't believe it", as he turned over the balls to reveal they were an exact match for the winning numbers: 2, 11, 23, 28, 35, 39. Tonight he told viewers that he used: "A powerful beautiful secret that can only be achieved when we all put our heads together." Advertisement - article continues below ? He gathered a panel of 24 people who wrote down their predictions after studying the last year's worth of numbers. Then they added up all the guesses for each ball and divided it by 24 to get the average guess. On the first go they only got one number right, on the second attempt they managed three and on the third they guessed four. By the time of last week's draw they had honed their technique to get six correct guesses. Brown claims that the predictions were correct because of the "wisdom of the crowd" theory which suggests that a large group of people making average guesses will come up with the correct figure as an average of all their attempts. But Brown still left his audience guessing after stressing that he did not, and would never, fix the lottery machine before giving precise details of how - using weighted balls - he could have achieved that. He said: "That concludes the tale of how we reached Wednesday night. All of my 24 people who were there know what happened and the success they had. But it's quite possible that many of you simply won't believe it. So you may choose not to believe any of what I've told you. Maybe you'll still believe that it was some sort of 'super technology', What you choose to believe is up to you."

2009-09-10 14:02:00 Author: Leather-Monkey Posts: 2266

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HAHA darren brown, you lil' nincompoop, youve done it again! jkjk lol

2009-09-10 15:01:00 Author: Voodeedoo Posts: 724

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Derren brown is awesome <3 One of my favourite people on tv! I can't wait to see how he did this, and i can't wait for the other events either

2009-09-10 16:26:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Can't wait for tomorrow if he's doing the solution (it had better be on 4OD) - that's what makes me respect him so much. Watching "The Heist" and his step-by-step explanation of his methods was just mind-blowing. I don't see how this one is anything but faked though - he's a psychologist / hypnotist and manipulator of people, predicting the lottery seems well outside of what he does, there are no human factors for him to influence / read... or are there?

2009-09-10 16:33:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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If I had to guess. Im going with heat sensitive ink on the balls (like the ink on cashier receipts) and either tiny things inside the ball heats it as required or some sort of laser is used to apply it from afar. Sounds far fetched I know but I think it could be possible. And Derren Bown would have the buget to rig something like this, especially as its an advert for his new series.

2009-09-10 16:44:00 Author: wexfordian Posts: 1904

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I can't imagine he'd rig it he's not really like that. He wouldn't hype something up that much, tell everyone that he'll explain how they can predict the lottery and then tell them it was all faked. I really can't imagine how he did it though

2009-09-10 16:46:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Oh it's gotta be faked, but laser printing doesn't sound like the kind of faking he'd do. It's just not smart enough (sorry wex, I honestly didn't mean it like that, it's just he is very, very smart lol) - it would be a real anticlimax if it turned out to be something that mundane.

2009-09-10 16:49:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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He would've bought a ticket, were it real. I had to listen to the head of my year talk about how he wished he was Derren Brown I also had to sit through about a hundred facebook updates of "OMG how'd he doo that?!"

2009-09-10 22:57:00 Author: dawesbr Posts: 3280

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I had to listen to the head of my year talk about how he wished he was Derren Brown Does he know Derren Brown is g-ay?

2009-09-11 00:35:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Does he know Derren Brown is g-ay? Fancying dudes doesn't stop the man being cool.

2009-09-11 08:18:00 Author: wexfordian Posts: 1904

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Didn't that guy have a show on Sci-Fi in America? Mind Control or something. I watched every episode, that show blew my freaking mind.

2009-09-11 11:46:00 Author: TripleTremelo Posts: 490

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I think the left of the screen gets replaced with an image, someone walks in, writes on the balls, walks away, then the image is taken away. Look how much the camera wobbles to begin with, then it stops as if it were being placed on a tripod and the camera needed to be in that exact place for the image to fit in.

2009-09-11 15:19:00 Author: Leather-Monkey Posts: 2266

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Fancying dudes doesn't stop the man being cool. I know but most men are still hate the idea of being *** Or maybe it's just my friends :/

2009-09-11 19:46:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Apparently we're about to find out the secret... Channel 4 guys, now.

2009-09-11 21:41:00 Author: ARD Posts: 4291

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Wow that was really interesting. He completly ruined it at the end with all the "did we rig the machine?" but i can't of imagined a better theory for predicting the lottery. Even if it isn't 100% believable it's better than "the balls were computer generated" or anything similar. Did anyone see the ad at the end though for his next project? It's called 'How to control the nation' and he's apparently going to hypnotise everyone through their tv screens. Sound kind of dangerous to me, i don't know whether to be scared or excited about watching it xD *is hyped up for it!*

2009-09-11 22:45:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Wow that was really interesting. He completly ruined it at the end with all the "did we rig the machine?" but i can't of imagined a better theory for predicting the lottery. Just something things to keep in mind ... 1) I am rather confident that Derren is a rational skeptic. YouTube - Derren Brown Interview (6/6) - Richard Dawkins 2) Derren is confident enough in his abilities to take at least apparent risks. YouTube - Derren Brown Russian roulette

2009-09-11 23:04:00 Author: Jagrevi Posts: 1154

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With loads of other Derren Brown shows appearing each friday on channel 4, I think i'll turn this into a Derren Brown thread. So does anyone think he really did rig the machine? I don't personally and i too got rather annoyed when he mentioned it at the end. I'm looking foward to being 'glued' to my seat next week, literally.

2009-09-11 23:17:00 Author: Leather-Monkey Posts: 2266

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I'm quite confident that he didn't rig it but i hate that he brought up the possibility xD I'm looking foward to being 'glued' to my seat next week, literally. I thought it was illegal to use subliminal messages, i'm surprised they gave him permission! Really looking forward to it anyway (it'll probably just be Derren sneaking into your house with a tube of superglue)

2009-09-11 23:19:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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With loads of other Derren Brown shows appearing each friday on channel 4, I think i'll turn this into a Derren Brown thread. So does anyone think he really did rig the machine? I don't personally and i too got rather annoyed when he mentioned it at the end. Do I think he committed a crime to accomplish this? Not necessarily, and I'm definitely not accusing him of that. I do think it's worth noting though that the assumption he made in the "what it would take to rig it" is that the lottery would oppose him outright in a stunt that, admittedly, is likely to increase the number of tickets sold for the next lottery. My question would be - is there anyway that lottery officials could have been complicit without breaking any laws? (What laws are in place regarding the lottery anyways?) Without our assumptions, the events we witnessed were rather unremarkable. Some numbers were chosen by "ball-drop", and a man then revealed that same set of numbers. The thing that gives it the lasting impression is simply our assumptions about the event in question - the lottery ... making the first thing I'm suspicious of those very assumptions. I don't claim to know how the trick is done, I'm just saying that it is undoubtedly a trick and these are the lines I would pursue if attempting to deduce an answer.

2009-09-12 00:30:00 Author: Jagrevi Posts: 1154

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That flashy colour part of the advert is really getting to me, it's like my brain is being overloaded with information when i watch it xD WATCH EAT BREATH IN RELAX BREATH OUT

2009-09-12 01:47:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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That flashy colour part of the advert is really getting to me, it's like my brain is being overloaded with information when i watch it xD WATCH EAT BREATH IN RELAX BREATH OUT Which advert? Hopefully not one in the second video I posted - if so, I apologize, I didn't think it had any obnoxious ads - I suspect you're talking about something else though that I am currently unaware of.

2009-09-12 01:51:00 Author: Jagrevi Posts: 1154

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It's the How to Control the Nation preview that appears at the end of the lottery thing A bunch of colourful screens flash up for like half a second each with instructions on them like "RELAX" and "BREATH IN". I think it's meant to overload you a little bit because you automatically try to do what the colourful flashy bold screen tells you to do but by the time you've put any consious thought into breathing or relaxing you've already been given another 10 instructions. I guess they go straight to your subconscious that way... clever

2009-09-12 02:01:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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How can we see this advert?

2009-09-12 11:07:00 Author: ARD Posts: 4291

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The lotto thing... is a fake.

2009-09-12 11:12:00 Author: Adam9001 Posts: 744

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How can we see this advert? I'm not sure it was only shown at the end of 'How to Win the Lottery'. Kind of waiting for someone to upload it to youtube.

2009-09-12 12:40:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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The lotto thing... is a fake. *gasp* Are you implying that a professional and admitted trickster ... tricked us? Professionally? And didn't actually reveal the trick? How bold.

2009-09-12 13:33:00 Author: Jagrevi Posts: 1154

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I found Dex's ad at the end of the show on 4OD...not that impressive after all Anyway, I predicted tonight's lotto numbers after watching the show yeasterday: 18, 24, 3, 15, 33, 26 If I'm right, I get a cookie

2009-09-12 13:36:00 Author: ARD Posts: 4291

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It was a very interesting theory, and personally, I love the way he explained the way he would have done it if he was going to rig it. Very excited about next Friday, it looks fantastic.

2009-09-12 14:27:00 Author: Killian Posts: 2575

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I was considering the possibility that he'll use a placebo effect to hypnotise everyone next friday because putting the real thing on tv sounds kind of dangerous. We all know he likes to take risks though so who knows that could happen :3

2009-09-12 14:49:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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I was considering the possibility that he'll use a placebo effect to hypnotise everyone next friday because putting the real thing on tv sounds kind of dangerous. We all know he likes to take risks though so who knows that could happen :3 I was thinking the same thing. Still, I've always wanted to be hypnotised.

2009-09-12 14:54:00 Author: Killian Posts: 2575

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*gasp* Are you implying that a professional and admitted trickster ... tricked us? Professionally? And didn't actually reveal the trick? How bold. Duh, There's no trick on winning the lottery. It's 100% chance. Someone can easily switch the balls around, and he didn't look to shocked when he got the balls in the exactly order.

2009-09-12 15:04:00 Author: Adam9001 Posts: 744

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Duh, There's no trick on winning the lottery. It's 100% chance. Someone can easily switch the balls around, and he didn't look to shocked when he got the balls in the exactly order. Didn't look too shocked? Yes he did! There is no way this was 100% chance. Its almost impossible.

2009-09-12 15:08:00 Author: Leather-Monkey Posts: 2266

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Duh, There's no trick on winning the lottery. It's 100% chance. Someone can easily switch the balls around, and he didn't look to shocked when he got the balls in the exactly order. He's like the greatest psychologist ever, if he went crazy with excitement we would of known straight away that he got them right. With that in mind he still seemed really nervous and then excited.

2009-09-12 15:08:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Didn't look too shocked? Yes he did! He's a professional entertainer, I'm sure he can look shocked at the appropriate moment. Obviously he was expecting to *probably* get it correct at the very least - otherwise he wouldn't televise it. There is no way this was 100% chance. Its almost impossible. I'm pretty sure he's not implying that he did. Again, I would assume and hope that we all understand it's a trick. I've seen people apparently catch bullets with their teeth, teleport massive objects, and so forth. I don't think any of us presume for a second that they actually did these things.

2009-09-12 15:58:00 Author: Jagrevi Posts: 1154

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Lemme get this right (I didn't actually watch the explanation, just read about it), he got 24 people to predict (randomly guess) what the results would be and then he used "maths" to extrapolate from a sample of random guesses to calculate the corect answer in advance? Is anyone supposed to believe that? I'd rather he just put on a wizard costume and said "oh I can see the future, woooaaahhhoooohhhh" and did a little dance. I'd probably take him more seriously if he did that. Actually I'd be more inclined to belive him as well! BTW he has televised stuff in the past that went nearly but not quite right, so if there was some doubt in this one (maybe his mathematical formula wasn't 100% ), then some of the suprise could have been real.

2009-09-12 16:05:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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Lemme get this right (I didn't actually watch the explanation, just read about it), he got 24 people to predict (randomly guess) what the results would be and then he used "maths" to extrapolate from a sample of random guesses to calculate the corect answer in advance? Is anyone supposed to believe that? Are some people "suppose to"? Yes. Should they? No, obviously not. Again - he's a rational skeptic and admits that everything he does is a trick. He has no special powers and does not claim them. BTW he has televised stuff in the past that went nearly but not quite right, so if there was some doubt in this one (maybe his mathematical formula wasn't 100% ), then some of the suprise could have been real. I agree that he might not have been 100% it would work - but I still don't think he was "shocked" that it did. Perhaps "relieved" might be the better word.

2009-09-12 16:09:00 Author: Jagrevi Posts: 1154

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I think he gave the best explanation possible. It's based on the 'phenomenon' that the guesses from a crowd of people can be averaged to find the correct answer or something similar. It's not 100% believable but i'd much rather he said something like that then tell us it was faked.

2009-09-12 16:15:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Is anyone supposed to believe that? I'd rather he just put on a wizard costume and said "oh I can see the future, woooaaahhhoooohhhh" and did a little dance. I'd probably take him more seriously if he did that. Actually I'd be more inclined to belive him as well! That would be awesome if he put a wizard costume on and a funny voice every show!

2009-09-12 16:20:00 Author: Adam9001 Posts: 744

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Again - he's a rational skeptic and admits that everything he does is a trick. He has no special powers and does not claim them. I know this, but his explanations are normally at least realistic. This is not. He's lying to us. I am always impressed by him because he gives explanations that are based around real psychology and real mathematics etc. If he's stopped doing that and is just fobbing people off then I'll lose all interest in him. It's based on the 'phenomenon' that the guesses from a crowd of people can be averaged to find the correct answer or something similar. In some cases, perhaps where intuition or small amounts of logical deduction are relevent, then yes I'm sure this phenomenon exists. But with the lottery you have people simply guessing a combination of numbers. The only way that their guesses prior to the event could have any significance if if we assume that they have some small precognitive ability. I'm not willing to assume this. You have a group of people randomly guessing at a random 1:14000000 event.

2009-09-12 16:24:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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I know this, but his explanations are normally at least realistic. This is not. He's lying to us. I am always impressed by him because he gives explanations that are based around real psychology and real mathematics etc. If he's stopped doing that and is just fobbing people off then I'll lose all interest in him. I agree with and understand your position - but it should be noted that he did give one rational explanation at the end. I think that's why he gave an obvious "BS" answer, to slyly suggest that the only rational way he could of done it was more scandalous. I'm not claiming that he did rig it - but I think he gave an obvious BS answer out front to make it seem like he had to have. I think he gave the best explanation possible. It's based on the 'phenomenon' that the guesses from a crowd of people can be averaged to find the correct answer or something similar. It's not 100% believable... Seriously? It's not 1% believable. Basic probability. This is not a recognized "phenomenon" in situations like this - it's bulling people over with pseudo-science. If this actually worked, why don't we just win every lottery this way? Or get the passwords to the world's most secure systems?

2009-09-12 16:34:00 Author: Jagrevi Posts: 1154

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No matter what numbers you have written down before hand - unless the ball-device is "unfair", that sequence has the same probability of coming up as any other sequence.

2009-09-12 16:37:00 Author: Jagrevi Posts: 1154

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I'm not claiming that he did rig it - but I think he gave an obvious BS answer out front to make it seem like he had to have. I want the real answers though The explanation of the heist was awesome and when he took on 13 chess grand masters simultaneously and beat over half of them was brilliant. I laughed so hard at that one. What always set him apart from others in my book was the fact that he could happily divulge the methods, because whilst anyone could reproduce them, almost no-one has the knowledge and skill and training to actually pull it off. This... Meh. See what else he does I guess.

2009-09-12 16:53:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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This was a seriously lame explanation. 24 people asked to pick random numbers and the average is 2? this means all 24 people simultaniously decided to all pick 1's 2's and 3's enough to average out at the number 2? cmon........

2009-09-12 17:09:00 Author: wexfordian Posts: 1904

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Well whatever he did it worked Any explanation is better than "the machine was rigged" or "the balls were cgi" or anything like that. I know his explanation wasn't realistic but maybe it's just something we don't understand properly. Besides it's kind of fun to think that we could collectively have some psychic powers too

2009-09-12 17:32:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Any explanation is better than ... Let me stop you right there. A bad explanation is NOT superior to where we're starting at, which is no explanation at all. And secondly, the explanation in question is actually worse than the rigged explanation - because at least the 'rigged' explanation, while improbable, is based in reality. If I tell you what Brad Pitt will say in an interview that airs tomorrow, and I give you two explanations: 1) "I was hiding in the background" or 2) "I have magic powers" #1, while incredibly suspicious and unlikely, is actually a far better explanation simply based on the fact that #2 is not an explanation at all. It does not explain anything. Besides it's kind of fun to think that we could collectively have some psychic powers too In a day and age where people are scammed by genuine con-artists left and right, children die due to "alternative medicines and faith healing", and vast numbers of people make very bad decisions simply on misunderstandings of probability, I think we need to be very clear about what is reality and what is fantasy. Imagine and pretend all you want - in fact, this is a forum dedicated to a video-game about people made of sack - but don't knowingly put forth your fantasy as genuine or probable. Well whatever he did it worked Well, obviously.

2009-09-12 18:01:00 Author: Jagrevi Posts: 1154

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I'm just saying don't be so disappointed, any explanation for predicting the lottery is bound to be unrealistic. A bad explanation is better than a worse one and at least he actually attempted to give us one instead of just leaving us in the dark about how he did it.

2009-09-12 18:30:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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This looks like a good explaination. EDIT: My video disappeared... YouTube - Derren Brown Lottery Numbers THE REAL WAY HE DID THE TRICK!

2009-09-13 13:55:00 Author: S-A-S--G-U-N-R Posts: 1606

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YouTube - Derren Brown Lottery Numbers THE REAL WAY HE DID THE TRICK! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00NtrF2Uuoc) This looks like a good explaination. Thats what I thought at first!

2009-09-13 14:10:00 Author: Leather-Monkey Posts: 2266

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Yeah, seeing that the camera shaking does look faked.

2009-09-13 14:10:00 Author: ARD Posts: 4291

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I think the guy who created that vid might be reading into it a bit too much, but seeing that abrupt freeze just before derren moves to the side does make it seem a bit suspiscious.

2009-09-13 14:58:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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After he failed to blow his brains out on live TV I've refused to watch any of his shows.

2009-09-18 12:34:00 Author: Rabid-Coot Posts: 6728

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Hmm, it didn't work for me. I'm going to watch that part again on +1 really concentrate.

2009-09-18 21:58:00 Author: Killian Posts: 2575

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Did it work on anyone? I said even before it happened that I thought it was pretty obvious how it worked - the same way most of his stuff does. Suggestion - the whole point of the show beforehand worked to convince the viewer that it would work. I think the fact that those gullible enough in the audience to believe it all had different reactions - can't feel their legs, feel heavy, etc. - shows how they believe it should have felt.

2009-09-19 12:04:00 Author: dawesbr Posts: 3280

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It worked for me i was really freaked out by it all but it was a great experience. I really couldn't move my legs of the sofa no matter how hard i tried i would just get pulled down twice as hard

2009-09-19 12:45:00 Author: robotiod Posts: 2662

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I watched it on 4od earlier with my friend and it didn't work on us, but we both felt really weird after watching it even though we didn't follow the instructions properly. I'm going to try watching it again later by myself to see if i can get a better result

2009-09-19 15:03:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Nah didnt work... should be Derren Brown- The Unevents

2009-09-19 17:56:00 Author: ladylyn1 Posts: 836

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I consider Derren Brown to be one of the best entertainers in the business, but this series has been pretty poor I'm sorry to say.

2009-09-19 18:25:00 Author: Matt 82 Posts: 1096

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It didn't work for me and I watched it twice! I was laughing my head off the first time though.

2009-09-19 18:32:00 Author: Leather-Monkey Posts: 2266

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