Derren Brown repeats Randi's Astrology Stunt

Diabolos

Thinker
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
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Derren Brown's new series (Trick of the Mind) started last night in the UK and included the following segment:

DB gets a group of 5 people to each draw an image on a piece of paper around their handprint, write down their date of birth, and place a personal trinket of some sort along with the piece of paper into an envelope, one per person. The envelopes are mixed so DB doesn't know which is which. He then goes into another room for about an hour to prepare a personality profile for each of the participants. This same stunt is performed in the UK, the USA and somewhere foreign (Portugal?).

When they study their own reading they are all staggered at it's accuracy, nearly all of them rating it between 80-99% correct. DB then gets them to swap over the readings when they discover that they are all in fact identical.

It was nicely done, and at least the participants went away saying they would be more cautious about these type of readings in the future.
 
Thats interesting to know James Randi did this too......geniuses think alike!.....I love Derren Brown...i think he is absolutely fascinating..............it is brilliant that he and others like him can help to blow apart the fantasies of new age crap....
Did you see the clown?!....................:boxedin: :yikes: ?!
 
Danish skeptic and magician Niels Krøjgaard did the same experiment in a TV show a few years ago, with a group of hospital people.

It was priceless to see their faces, when they realized that they had been given the same horoscope. :D
 
Is there a longer version of the statement anywhere? The one that DB used seemed quite large.
 
I saw Derren Brown live on Saturday night, brilliant!.

Unlike on his television shows, he publicly declared his loathing of phychics/mediums even bringing a believer onto the stage to prove that he can statistically do better than any supposed phychic can at guessing five cards picked by the believer and in the same order, he advised that the best a phychic has ever done in controlled tests is 1, he then went on to pick all 5 correct, and finished with a warning to believer's not to waste their money on readings etc.

A great show and I don't want to give any spoilers out but he's doing a couple of new stunts now, almost "David Blaine-ish".
 
The Mystery Investigators do this every time we visit a school. Randi himself sent me the chart. It works very, very well with 13 - 17 year old kids really getting the point.
 
You mean there's actually something good on TV?!
You live in the UK and you have missed Derren Brown!
I have even contemplated visiting that island of yours only to see him live, haven’t done it yet though.
 
I described this experiment to my (then) 10-year old girl, and she loved the idea immediately. She wrote up her own horoscope and asked her teacher if she could have some time to present it to the class. She did and got just the results that are described - most of the class thought the horoscope was written especially for them. I was very proud.

One little girl, however, exhibited true woo behavior. She said a "real" horoscope would be more specific. She stated this after the reveal, of course...
 
Much as I love Derren Browns shows, the clown completely freaked me out! Too, too scary - I couldn't watch those segments after about a minute. I swear, if a clown like that sat down next to me, I WOULD run away... {shudder}

Thought the astrology bit was great - classic debunking - not patronising or being heavy-handed about it but letting the penny drop with his audience. He did specifically mention cold reading to them though, just to get the point or connection home.

Was a little bit dissapointed with the Nevada desert section. It seemed a bit understated somehow. Also, the participant looked quite upset, which I personally don't like to see...

He's still the best though...
 
...snip... to prove that he can statistically do better than any supposed phychic can at guessing five cards picked by the believer and in the same order, he advised that the best a phychic has ever done in controlled tests is 1, he then went on to pick all 5 correct

He can do magic tricks statistically better! :)
 
Can someone transcribe this little part referring to Randi,I havent got Real Player and can't be bothered installing it.
 
You live in the UK and you have missed Derren Brown!
I have even contemplated visiting that island of yours only to see him live, haven’t done it yet though.

We saw him live, my hubby even got picked to go on stage [/boast]. We passed him in town the other day, he gave my hubby a really long stare. He either remembered him from the gig, or he's gay.

He's very good live, by the way (Derren, not my hubby), totally worth the trip :)

He's touring at the moment, actually.
 

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