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Geller on Australian TV

Hahahaha great. One day I'll have to meet up with some of you Aussie skeptics and have a few :o
 
Richard said:
Geller on Australian TV from the 1980s



BTW. The story behind this clip is at :

http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/2ndcoming/psychics.pdf

Page 8. Confronting Uri Geller
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That was great. Very telling on the video when Uri said, "It made be rich." Richard are you going to make this downloadable?

A quote from the PDF file linked above:

All the best from the Skeptic, 1986–1990 Psychics
"Confronting Uri Geller"
by Ben Harris

It was quite a thrill to be invited to appear on Australia's hard-hitting current affairs program, "Willesee", to confront self-proclaimed psychic, Uri Geller. (The program was broadcast as part of “Willessee” on the 9 Network on November 6, 1986.)

We had come full circle! I had originally approached this program in the late seventies. I was told then, "We have all the proof we need (that he is REAL)".

But here we are, many years later, with the tables turned. It happens too often that assistance is called in after the horse has bolted. I was briefed. It was a set-up. I was to play the part of "Chris Norris, acclaimed psychic". A story was to be shot with me performing Geller's "hit" tricks and then finish with a request for the people at home to concentrate on their cutlery and broken watches. It was well anticipated that immediately after the show went to air, many people would phone the station claiming "In Home Events".

The sequence was shot and was to go to air the following evening. Immediately after this, we were to tape an interview with host, Mike Willesee, Uri Geller and myself. Mike was basically to interview Uri and then turn to me for comment. Unfortunately, I was told that Mike "likes to play his cards close to his chest".

This meant that I could not obtain the list of questions or even the direction of inquiry for the interview. This made mental preparation all the more difficult.

...

BH: "The camera did zoom in a little bit earlier on, I believe."

UG: "Yeah, well ah, I was not in the studio. I was asked to stay outside, to sit outside here."

[Something that could not be proved, then and there to the people at home.]

BH: "I just want to make a point here. Doing something like stopping Big Ben, etc, that doesn't prove a thing. These things can be arranged. I mean, you can always have a secret assistant, and it's been known for years that you have Shipi with you..."

UG: "YES"

BH: "... and it's been rumoured that he peeks in the envelopes, etc. I use the same techniques that you use, I learnt from watching you."

UG: "So, what are you telling me?"

BH: "I am telling you that I use your techniques [to perform the effects that the viewers have already seen at home, a few minutes before]. They are magic tricks and not psychic. And that you are a wonderful, wonderful performer, you are a brilliant magician, however, you are not psychic."

UG: "If you don't believe I'm psychic and want to believe that I am a magician, that's OK with me too!'

MW: "Uri, how are you going with that drawing?"

UG: "Ah, to be very honest with you, and I am honest at this point ... [There's an admission for you] ... I'm not getting it very clearly. If it was clear, I would say, 'Look, this is what I got'."

[Uri is in old form here. Preparing us for a failure and shielding this behind a supposed veil of honesty. Thus, if he fails, that is supposed to convey that he must be genuine as he is being supposedly honest.]

UG: "But it's not coming clearly."

[How come? My beard and jacket came in a flash! Oh, but that was Uri's controlled conditions. This is ours!]

...

UG: [Here it comes] "May I show what I got. First of all I got a boat and that was the first impression. Then I got two circles and something above it. That was my second impression. But it didn't materialise."

[Yes, Uri did a boat, two circles, a triangle and some other wiggly lines. Notice how he is trying to imply that he 'hit' on the circles. Note carefully how he originally announced one sketch, admitted a miss and then gave himself a second attempt. However, we had control over this experiment.]

BH: "I noticed you using a technique there, where you did a basic drawing and several side pieces. A couple of circles, a triangle, etc. That's your technique for covering yourself to claim a partial success."

UG: "Oh no, c'mon Ben! You know, Ben, you sound like a real nice man. Because in my case, it's unusual to have a magician, such a nice, a tender, a soft magician. There are no techniques Ben! Come on, at the end of the day, if I was using tricks and did have chemicals, or sleight of hand, or bugs in my teeth or peeking into envelopes I would have been caught a thousand times before!'

BH: "You have been caught many times, Uri!"
...
[snip]
Click to expand...

From:
http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/2ndcoming/psychics.pdf
 
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Reno said:
The worst thing is though: it did make him rich.
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Coincidentally Geller was on "Europe's Richest People" on Foxtel (the pay TV network in Oz) a night or two ago. Even though I usually watch this show - the vulgarity is awesome - I couldn't this time. To be reminded that he has become very wealthy was too much.
 
keepvid.com will allow you to download the entire video for free - you just need a suitable player for the .fla files, either

FLV-Player or VLC player (do a Google search)

Both free
 
Great vid. that's probably the nearest thing to a confrontation i've seen although Ben Harris missed a trick by saying that abandoned watches etc can often start again by themselves just by being moved and Geller only asked for the "successes" to be reported not the failures. Although I appreciate BH had to think on the spot - The point about the hit/miss side drawings was good. How much did Geller squirm trying to change the subject/appeal to the public?
 
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