Merged Derren Brown - predicting lottery numbers

Zax63 said:
I follow Derren Brown on twitter and he has been complaining that C4 won't allow him to buy a ticket. I guess having some relative or acquaintance buy the ticket for him wouldn't be good enough. Or maybe he means they won't let him buy a ticket a few seconds before the broadcast.
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Or he might be lying. However the trick works, it definately doesn't work in a way that would allow him to end up with a valid winning lottery ticket.
 
Southwind17 said:
Having a "standard" explanation?!
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Like levitation or sawing a girl in half, I'd expect there are a few different standard methods. Google "glass box prediction," or just go here to buy one of the versions. There's mention of being able to announce one of the predictions on a radio show before the event, dunno, might be something there....

I suspect this video is Derren Brown performing a similar trick, except using a dead animal instead of a glass box, with a bogus explanation edited in at the end, but I dunno.

I have no idea how the newspaper prediction is done, but for a few bucks, apparently anyone could find out, although I'm sure that wouldn't necessarily give them the skill to do it believably on stage.

For me, watching magic is like watching a movie or reading a novel. Yes, I know the lovers will probably get together in the end despite all odds, and the good guy will surely triumph over the bad guy, but that's not the point. The brilliance is in how exciting and unique the author and/or actors can make their particular version of the journey seem, which is Derren Brown's strength. (A dead raccoon instead of a glass box!? LOL)
 
shuttlt said:
Or he might be lying. However the trick works, it definately doesn't work in a way that would allow him to end up with a valid winning lottery ticket.
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I agree. I was being sarcastic about having a relative buy the ticket. I didn't mean to imply that it was anything but a trick.
 
Apparently he will reveal how the trick is done in a second show, to be aired on Friday.
 
Matthew Best said:
Also not available in the UK due to copyright restrictions. Blerg.
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Long story short, Brown asks a couple advertising men to design a campaign for his taxidermy business, but says he also has his own ideas, which he hides in an envelope under a taxidermy raccoon on the table and says he'll reveal them later.

They come up with a campaign and show it to him, and Brown reveals that similar ideas had been sitting in the envelope under the raccoon all along. His "explanation" is that during the admen's ride to the meeting, he subtly planted clues along the street to influence them to choose what they did.
 
volatile said:
Apparently he will reveal how the trick is done in a second show, to be aired on Friday.
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And that explanation, will also be a trick. That's how Derren Brown works. It's always a two-layered trick, one presented as a trick, the other presented as "scientific" explanation, both equally false.

That's what bugs some people about him.
 
David Wong said:
And that explanation, will also be a trick. That's how Derren Brown works. It's always a two-layered trick, one presented as a trick, the other presented as "scientific" explanation, both equally false.

That's what bugs some people about him.
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Not always - I believe his explanation of how he did the betting system trick in a previous series was the correct one.

ETA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown#The_System
 
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Derren Brown

Hi Guys , first time poster. Can I point out that this is the first programme of a new series that Derren Brown is doing and that he will be explaining how he did it on a follow up show on Friday. Don't know what the fuss is about ,it's a TV show. He tells you its a trick and doesn't claim any supernatural powers and then tells you how he did it (or possibly why he failed to do it). Calm down chaps and lets see what he does.
 
vIQleS said:
Not that I'm guessing at methods or anything, but he may have been able to convince the television people to delay the draw for a few seconds...

Watch Jonathan Creek to see how that's done... (On a small scale)
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Or The Sting.

ETA: Welcome to the forum, ad foedera cresco.
 
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ad foedera cresco said:
Hi Guys , first time poster. Can I point out that this is the first programme of a new series that Derren Brown is doing and that he will be explaining how he did it on a follow up show on Friday. Don't know what the fuss is about ,it's a TV show. He tells you its a trick and doesn't claim any supernatural powers and then tells you how he did it (or possibly why he failed to do it). Calm down chaps and lets see what he does.
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He's not above giving explanations that are not absolutely compatible with a slavish commitment to the truth.
 
Zax63 said:
I follow Derren Brown on twitter and he has been complaining that C4 won't allow him to buy a ticket. I guess having some relative or acquaintance buy the ticket for him wouldn't be good enough. Or maybe he means they won't let him buy a ticket a few seconds before the broadcast.
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How would they stop him buying a ticket? If it's anything like the Lotto over here, he could just walk into any newsagent in the country and buy one. It's not like you have to provide ID or anything.


Professor Yaffle said:
Not always - I believe his explanation of how he did the betting system trick in a previous series was the correct one.

ETA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown#The_System
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The coin-tossing trick was pretty lame. Anyone who realizes that there is a one in 1024 chance of getting 10 in a row, and noticed it wasn't a live performance could guess how he did it. The fact that he claimed this as evidence of a special 'system' cost him all credibility with me for the rest of the show.
 
Brian-M said:
The fact that he claimed this as evidence of a special 'system' cost him all credibility with me for the rest of the show.
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As I am on the far left side of the pond I only get to see DB by vicarious means, but I have a strong suspicion that any claims of paranormal ability is accompanied by a strong 'tongue-in-cheek' maneuver.
He is a very good entertainer, and knows his audience. That they are mostly gullible twits is not his fault.
I don't see any indication that he is pushing a woo agenda; quite the contrary actually.

V.
 
Southwind17 said:
If I understand the explanation correctly it means he would need to have had 7,776 film crews simultaneously filming all of the punters for the first race!
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A lot cheaper and easier to just bribe the jockeys, or nobble all but one of the horses in some way.
 
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