Derren Brown: Archive
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From: wayneryder
Date: Mon Feb 17, 2003 2:41pm
Subject: Re: Colin Fry
OK, you asked for it...
Magicians aren't fakes, everyone knows they're being fooled, just not
HOW. These psychics are the most cynically manipulative scum in
circulation since the swindling, bouffe-haired, white-suited
evangelical church ministers seen in the US, and no doubt over here
in droves someday.
If they want to get on TV and/or make people happy, why not just SAY
they're cold-readers out to amaze you with their uncanny knowledge of
YOUR FAMILY! I can only guess it's because no-one would pay to see
them, or maybe fewer people would.
It'd be interesting (though no doubt difficult because of the money
Fry & others make for the studios) to get a show made by fakes,
either openly or by announcing it at the end.
From James Randi's website:
A believer recently sent in a puzzled observation to a "psychic"
website in the UK:
It's my first time here and I just want to say that I think Colin Fry
is brilliant. However, one question that puzzles me & I hope you
people can help! I've just been watching his programme "Sixth Sense"
on TV. He asked a general question to the whole audience but the
camera focused on the person who answered before they made themselves
known. Are the cameramen psychic too? Even the makers of "live" shows
like "Question Time" take a good few seconds to home in onto the
individual! Something not quite right here!!!
Good observation! And I agree with your puzzlement... Another fan
sent in this commentary:
Having been on television quite a lot, I can say from experience that
there is so much that is fake, and I find it very disappointing.
There is no such thing as a truly "live" show, the amount of planning
that goes into live shows is huge, particularly the ones that are
actually trying to be convincing. I could say more but it is probably
not the best thing to do, [libel?] but friends who have been with me
were amazed at how staged it all is.
Reader John Atkinson added:
One of the TV psychics (Edward?) had a good method. A few weeks
before the show was taped, he sent out people into the community to
take a survey. When these survey people were in the house, they'd
take a good look around and also get as many names as they could.
They already had the address. A few days later, an invitation to the
studio would arrive. No one tied the two events together. When these
people were in the studio, unknown to them, they were assigned seats
according to their address. It was now a trivial matter for
the "psychic" to seem to know a lot about them. The fraud was
discovered when a few people switched seats before the show was
started, and that caused a lot of embarrassment for the "star" of the
show.
--- In a previous message lauren_macsporren
wrote:
> Why is everyone so hung up on Colin Fry? So what if he's a fake? He
> makes people happy so what's the problem? Magicians are fakes for
> god's sake.
>
>
> --- In a previous message wayneryder wrote:
> > --- In a previous message dsimon9874 wrote:
> > > I notice our vociferous supporter of Colin Fry never rose to
the
> > challenge of producing us all a transcript to examine and discuss.
> > >
> > > Wonder why?
> >
> > Must look for a Colin Fry discussion group sometime. I'm sure HE
> > must, from time to time.
> > For research purposes, naturally.
> >
> > Don't get me started...
| Replies | Author | Yahoo! ID | Date | Size |
| 2774: Re: Colin Fry | lauren_macsporren | lauren_macsporren | Mon 17/02/2003 | 6 KB |
| 2780: Re: Colin Fry | singhstealth | singhstealth | Mon 17/02/2003 | 7 KB |
| 2782: Re: Colin Fry | wayneryder | wayneryder | Mon 17/02/2003 | 6 KB |
