In the show that I saw, every single person sat in a preassigned seat. The possibilities for exploitation with this set up are endless.
You might want to email Mark Edward (Skeptic/mentalist) and see if he's got any ideas. Coincidentally enough, his latest blog entry describes a similar circumstance.
I almost hate to suggest it, RemieV, but who else knew you were going? Is it possible that someone leaked your plans to go to the show to Edwards?
I really, really hope not![]()
RemieV saw Liam's ticket, and he paid cash.
I said 'checking in' as in checking in at the hotel, not buying a ticket. When the minion saw him in line for the show, bingo! A simple stroke of luck, that's why the 'feat' wasn't repeated.
Choices . . .
(1) John Edward is a genuine psychic that can talk to the dead.
(2) John Edward is a liar and cheat with no genuine psychic abilities.
Points to consider . . .
(1) Edward can only provide people with information they already know like their name etc.
(2) Edward chooses to use this amazing ability to make money from entertainment shows but he never uses it for any worthwhile purpose like finding lost bodies, solving crimes, etc.
(3) There are many known and demonstrated ways known information can be gained by non-psychic means.
(4) There are no known or demonstrated ways known or unknown information can be gain by psychic means or that such means even exist.
(5) Strange that only Liam’s “reading” was unbelievable accurate.
Either Liam was a plant or Edward got his information from some source like - Accommodation check-in, rental car hire, relative or friend travelling with Liam, Any other source that contained information about Liam. Perhaps someone picked Liam’s pocket, got information from wallet then replaced it. However unlikely any non-psychic means is it’s infinitely more likely than psychic ability (but you already know that).
You spoke to no-one except Liam, Liam spoke to no-one except you. You work(ed) for the JREF, Edward is desperate for validation. You've been suckered mate.
So Edwards pointed to a section of the audience and said a pretty common name, and at that point "Liam" voluntarily got up and associated himself with it?
What if "Liam" had not moved or responded? It would have been a miss, no confirmation bias possible. When "Liam" volunteered himself, he just gave Edwards a bunch of info: that he really did know someone named Joshua, that because he didn't spontaneously say something like "that's my dead father!" it was more apt to be him, and then when Edwards said, "I'm getting that it's you," "Liam" probably confirmed that with a gesture, nod, or other facial expression. From there Edwards would have been on a roll.
Still guessing and cold-reading.
Get someone to attend one of his shows and make information about that person somehow available to Edward and his minions then see if they take the bait. Not easy to do (or even legal perhaps) but would love to bug the “green room“ of these liars to find out what‘s said behind stage before their performances.I do know all of this.
I ask because I'd like to trick him and catch him, and it's much easier to do that when I already have an idea what the mechanism IS. Otherwise I'm just blowing hundreds of dollars on tickets that get me nowhere - which I've already repeatedly done.![]()
Get someone to attend one of his shows and make information about that person somehow available to Edward and his minions then see if they take the bait. Not easy to do (or even legal perhaps) but would love to bug the “green room“ of these liars to find out what‘s said behind stage before their performances.
Perhaps it was too obvious a set-up. Being a liar doesn’t make him stupid.Ah, but as I said, I did that the second time around. I attended under someone else's identity (which, no, is not legal), bought the ticket far in advance, and additionally e-mailed Edward's staff and told them all KINDS of things to see if it would make them call on me during the readings.
No dice.
Perhaps it was too obvious a set-up. Being a liar doesn’t make him stupid.
She also said that he wasn't staying at the same hotel where the show was held.

You must think Edward has some seriously extraordinary eyesight.
Liam was in the lowest tier of tickets - which meant that he was the furthest from the stage. You expect a performer who has lights in his eyes to see (and correctly read to that extent) the facial expressions of an audience member from at least sixty feet away?
Additionally, Edward instructs his audience not to say anything at all. Liam's not saying, "That's my dead father!" was par for the course in that respect. No one responded with that when Edward said things unless he asked them a direct question.
If I were Edward or any other “entertainment psychic” the biggest fear I would have would be being exposed. I would therefore only use cold reading or hot reading I was fully in control of and could completely trust. Forget the law (as you already have) and bug his green room.Depends on how you look at it. By all appearances, I was just another fan wanting to reach out to my dead... I can't remember what I said. I think it was sister.
By the by, the audiences at these things go HYSTERICAL. There were some incredibly serious tragedies in that audience, and people were sobbing all over the place by the end of it. Quite depressing, really, that they believe in him so much.
There are a bunch of good choices here for how it could have happened. I gave you a couple more options; it seems like you're discounting them all. Seems like either you have an alternative rational explanation that you're holding onto, or you want to believe he's psychic.