I was reading a yahoo answers thing and some girl said that she was at a derren brown performance where the audience members were asked to think of an object. She said that one of Derren's men (or whatever u call them, who walk around) asked her if she had an object. He then had her describe the object and tell him what it was. Then Derren called on her and of course described the object and said what it was. Do you think this could be a true story? (obviously you don't know for sure, but do you think Derren ever actually did/does this??

I saw one where he "convinced someone he was invisible" and came out in this stupid mask wrap. Then took it off and the guy was trying not to laugh.

So the guy is thinking "ok I tell Darren that I can see him, and he looks stupid as sh*t, then NOT MAKE IT ON THE TV SPECIAL, or tell him IT'S AMAZING I CAN'T SEE YOU DARREN! and be on television".

Hrm... I think I'll be on TV!

So the spectator magically THOUGHT DARREN WAS INVISIBLE!

Does that answer your question?

He's a magician/mentalists.

He uses the tools available to him to entertain and amaze audiences.

Do you "cheat"?

-JT

Agreed. We all use some form of cheating. It's what magicians and mentalists do.

Thanks bucky310. I've adopted this mentality when it comes to any magic on TV, or anytime someone says that a magician "cheated".

Did the magician entertain the audience?
Did the use of method make it any less enjoyable (excluding magicians)?

-JT

This effect was achieved by hypnosis.

Theres a few clips of things changing after a cut, which shows derren uses camera trickery, but there are a lot of explanations for why they'd have to reshoot. Maybe i'm just a strong Derren fan and don't want to accept the fact.

If you really believe that, I have some wonderful "real estate opportunities" for you, haha.

No he's right "*in a hypnotic voice* I will put you on TV if you pretend that I was AMAZING!"

Do you know much of hypnosis?

I've heard conflicting stories when it comes to hypnosis. On the one hand there was a story of a lady who was traumatised by being hypnotised during a stage show – she was made to believe she had lost her left breast and it seemed incredibly real to her; on the other hand, someone told me that they'd been hypnotised and they were perfectly well aware of what was going on and they were just acting.

In "Tricks of the Mind", Derren even says he doesn't know whether the people he hypnotises are genuinely under or if they're acting, but as long as they give you the reaction you're after, who is anyone to complain. It could well depend on the audience member. Like in magic, you get spectators who will go along with anything and suspend their disbelief, and as a result they think genuine magic is going on; you also gets people who are having none of it and don't get affected emotionally by the trick at all, because they choose not to. Same with hypnosis, I guess.

As far as Derren Brown cheating, of course he cheats. But I believe his official stance is to never perform something on TV that couldn't also be performed live with a little extra preparation. He has also used instant stooges in the past, at least in his live show. These are not the same as regular stooges.

Cheating is such an ugly word. Is a DL cheating? Illusions my friend, it's all an illusion.

Actually it could be considered cheating in a gambling demo

Zenn are you referring to false seconds? Like pretending to deal a second but really just doing a DL? In which case it's a card CHEATING demo....

-JT

Nope I meant like a legit DL... I saw a video of a guy who was explaining how a card cheat works. He did a DL showing the person's card, gave him the card and then explained how it can change at any time

Might I ask how that's cheating? To me it just sounds like a bad premise for a card change.

-JT