Russian Rouletto

Did anyone catch that Magick programme on directly afterwards? Seems like somebody's been watching their Jam DVDs a little too closely.

I stayed up till nearly 1am watching the 50 greatest magic tricks programme with Adam and Joe and Mark Heap and Reese Shearsmith and Nicholas Parsons (telling Penn and Teller to STUFF themselves - controversy!!)

That Magick thing afterwards was shit. "Watch as we make all the people who tuned into Channel 4 to see Derren Brown disappear."

I reckon he was just pretening to have messed up. but Derren Brown MASTER OF MIND CONTROL DOESN'T MESS UP!!!!

I didn't think it was an anti-climax because I'd forgotten that there was a 10 second time delay, and I kept getting images of melons being smashed in slow-mo in my minds eye every time he pressed the gun to his head.

I prefer to see any copycats as part of a Stupid People cull.

Nickie is lying. She has done way, way worse.

The Deer Hunter would not seem quite so edgy anymore?

http://www.mindmagic.co.uk/2000_derrenbrown.jpg

He has his own pretty popular Channel 4 show called Mind Games, wherein he does all manner of mental trickery, mindreading, influencing people into doing things, etc etc etc.

About five months ago Channel 4 ran a trailer asking for people to assist him in his biggest stunt yet: live Russian roulette.

So a load of people write in, and he whittles them down to one person, who loads a live round into a gun which Mr Brown then proceeds to... well, as the rest of the thread explains.

Not quite Christopher Walken:

http://ilxor.petfield.com/images/derren.jpg

The whole article can be found here.

I certainly believed he was shitting himself after he fired the empty chamber into the sandbag even if it did seem convenient given the rise in tension this brought. The look on his face was fascinating and it was the most memorable piece of tv I've seen in a while. Not sure I would have watched it though had it not been obvious that there was no way Ch4 were ever going to broadcast the thing if it went wrong.

I liked it & the long pause added to the tension either way. I didn't mind (& quite enjoyed) spending an hour on a sunday evening watching it.

He looks a bit like Justin Timberland in that report if you half close your eyes.

I suspect what he did was pick someone that he knew would go for an odd number, thus starting on chamber three which meant he only had to make two choices. Once it was clear it wasn't in chamber five - and he shot this straight at the sand bag, he then knew it was in chamber one. So shot six into the head on an even number and shot one - live round into the sandbag. easy as pie.

There's no sign of it here but in real life I've found some people believe so much of the hype and show that it makes them assume it's ALL sham, rather than a less fantabulous but nonetheless real stunt. Ie people say Derren is faking it because they think "it" is "magic wand psychotic reality defiance" rather than "science of reading peoples reactions" or whatever. No matter how many times he stresses it is reading reactions, people still attack him as if he's claiming he read anyones mind like a billboard.

Sorry for all that but guess who's had to sit through alot of this kind of thing recently.

Three million viewers saw Brown fire a gun, said to contain a live bullet, at his temple.

But police in Jersey, where the programme took place, said the stunt was a fake.

"There was no live ammunition involved and at no time was anyone at risk," said Lenny Harper, Detective Chief Officer for the States of Jersey police.

"A prop company brought a number of props to the island and they included a quantity of blank ammunition. There is absolutely no way that the States of Jersey police would allow anybody to put themselves at risk and shoot themselves dead.

"This programme was made by a TV company very experienced in pyrotechnics, in making smoke and bullet holes appear. It was no different to film which uses special effects. This was just an illusion - the question of whether it was in dubious taste is another matter."

Brown had claimed the stunt needed to be filmed at a secret foreign location to bypass Britain's strict gun laws - but the laws in Jersey are just as strict.

Channel 4 would only say: "In making and broadcasting this programme, Channel 4 was very mindful of its responsibility to ensure the safety of all involved, and liaised with the Jersey police in advance of filming there to ensure that no offences were committed."

A spokesman for Brown declined to comment but said if the illusionist had fired a blank round into his head he would have died anyway.

i thought it was a really good stunt,i have to admit i didn't know there was a ten second delay and i was hiding behind the couch,so to speak,as i was watching it...

i interpreted the big delay as being because he realised he had fucked it up and got the wrong number,but he thought that if that wasn't that one he knew which one it must be,but at the same time if he had been wrong once,he was having his doubts...thus he was almost certain which one it was,and was trying to work up the courage/decide for sure,knowing he'd look foolish if he just stopped...maybe i'm just naive and gullible though...
anyway,i enjoyed the program,and i actually quite like the guy who does it,he seems fairly easy going and unpretentious,he certainly doesn't annoy me the way david blaine does...