Derren Brown

[hobart]

Anyone got any ideas how he does any of his tricks, such as his guessing of exactly what people have in their wallets?

[Tha-Flash]

I am really interested in DB. The show is back on again and I can't wait to watch it.

He uses suggestion / NLP / hypnotism / mis-direction / showmanship.

Probably some other stuff.

NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Processing) is a good thing to learn, I have learned so many of these techniques, but its harder than it sounds actually putting them to use in everyday life.

I don't think Derren uses alot of hypnotism but he can put people in trance easy, when people are in trance, they are more open to suggestion.

Also you can find peoples thinking patterns just by looking at the direction their eyes move. Eye accessing cues.

Generally (not for everyone), people move their eyes in a certain direction, say they are thinking and actually visualising something in their head that they've remembered, you can see that its remembered + visual when they look up and to their left. Usually when they look to their right, it's visual+constructive. Left + Right is usually auditory. Down in one direction is usually kinesthetic (feeling). Down and other direction is usually their own internal dialog.

This is the general rule for alot of people, obviously not everyone, people think in different ways. But when a person is thinking , they will always look in the same direction when they're thinking and moving their eyes.

There are places where you could read it clearer than how i've explained, its real interesting I think though ;]

[Dom Tuk]

Derren Brown uses what is called the gardening technique. He uses plants. Yes plain and simple. He uses plants. So he can embellish the scene by doing it in wierd places asking questions to make it sound as if he is working the psche but in the end he knew all along what was in the pocket as it was put there by him and the bloke recieved a payment for acting out as if he was surprised. Remember his famous Russian Roulette trick....they had to admit it was a fake gun and that the person in front of him was a plant. So look at that trick again bearing in mind that the person is a plant and then you will see how ridiculously easy it is.It is harmless TV con.

[olliesalter1]

I really dont think people get paid to look surprised, cause just think, they could make loads more money by simply going public about their pay-off couldnt they? As if you would keep quiet if you really knew Derren Brown was a total fake and you had proof!

[Dom Tuk]

If that were the case ollie then there would never have been any plants in shows. I think the answer to your query is that plants are paid to keep stumpf. Even if they do go to the newspapers with their story the following happens 1) its not a big story for the newspapers as everybody knows that magicians like Brown use plants 2) those who dont want to believe the story will never will as they are quite happy in the romantic notion that someone has special powers. 3) most of the plants are budding magicians themselves so why will they rock the boat?.

I have much more respect for jugglers (hours of practice) and magicians who use sleight of hand as that is more skilful. To buy someone off to act surprised is just plain conning in my book.

[Dom Tuk]

Furthermore it was widely publicised that the Russian roullette trick which was a specuial one off programme lasting almost an hour was a fake. darren brown and his production company were forced to admit that they had used a fake gun and plants in the show. This was because there were complaints that viewers would try and emulate his trick. Now even after this admission you still do not accept that he uses fake guns and plants in his show. So you see he is on to a winner.yes he is a good showman and makes the whole show interesting. he uses situations that few would dream off. Therein lies his skill. He thinks of the best way to present what is basically a con. So dont be fooled into thinking that he has some speciual powers.

[natalie_1982]

I've just done a quick google and can't find anything to back up what you're saying dom, I don't think 'everyone knows' they use plants.  I didn't think that anyway.  I also don't think he has 'special powers'.  I think he's very clever at what he does, however he does it!  Derren Brown is a fantastic entertainer, it does not mean that he is a cheater.

[Cockney_si]

Some of his stuff was good, like the seance that he proved was faked at the end, just goes to show people can be made to believe what some tell them! - Sorry AB...he he...

I think the one on the underground train was good, where they forgot where they were going, but I think it's because when he asked them where they were heading the second time they stuck the boom microphone in their face, always one to make you v. nervous in a situation like on a packed train!

[Dom Tuk]

natalie 1982, channel 4 the programme makers admitted that a fake gun was used in his landmark russian roullette show. Now what else do you want to confirm that he was faking it. He was not lucky that he picked an empty chamber when he pulled the trigger with the gun to his head. he made a big show of taking deep breaths before he pulled the trigger. His accomplice who was sitting opposite him was earning his moolah with the faces that he was coming up with. remember all this time they both knew that the gun was a fake. Excellent acting i agree, great showmanship i agree but that is all it is. He knew all along it was a con.

[hobart]

I'm not convinced by the "fakes" theory. I went to one of his shows last week, and I vaguely know one of the people who got brought up on stage, as he works in my office (not had chance to talk to him yet, though). I also bumped into one of the other people that had been on stage talking to her friends at the interval, and fron what I overheard she sounded pretty convnicing.

If he does rely entirely on plants, a good chunk of the audience at each show must be in on it, and I'm sure it would have come out pretty publicly by now.

[natalie_1982]

What else do I need?  Well so far i only have your word for it.  Maybe a link from a site where they 'admitted' it?

I never saw the Roullette one, but I did watch the seance show and I thought that was clever, however he does it the tricks he is amazing at it.  It's obvious that it's not magic powers, but I don't think he uses plants in everything.  No TV station in their right mind would televise a show knowing that there is a possibility that someone could get shot, I'm interested in how he makes you believe things by suggestion.

I agree, that I don't think it would be possible to use a plant in every show.  When on tour, he would have to use different plants for every night in every town - if he just toured for one month and had five or six guests up on stage throughout the show you're talking nearly 200 plants.

Hobart, is he worth going to see live?  He's in my town on 1st May and I was debating wheter to go or not.

[Dom Tuk]

Googling Derren Brown Russian fire blank, makes for some funny reading!!

[hobart]

Natalie,

He's definitely worth seeing - a couple of the bits he does are very impressive, and he's only got one chance to get his "guesses" right, so you can see that he's not doing it all by asking 500 different people and only showing the one that he gets right. I did sit there worrying that I'd end up getting dragged on stage though!

The second half of the show is a bit "different" - that's all I'll say about that.