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Derren Brown Lottery Balls Evokes The Radio Ventriloquist

by | 12th, September 2009

archieHOW did Derren Brown pull off his lottery trick in which the illusionist picked the six winning numbers? How did someone performing on that must trusted of media – the telly – pull of a trick? Derren Brown brings back memories of radio ventriloquists who were great exponents of their art until someone filmed them doing it. Hey, Derren, we can see your lips moving.

Paul Daniels told us before the TV trick:

“He could get it exactly right … [but] it is much better for a mentalist if he gets one wrong. It is more believable. I would be very surprised, however, if he gives away a damn good trick but, even if he does, there are another 99 ways to do it.”

Of course there are 99 says of doing it, Paul, because magic is magick and there is no containing it. One viewer observed Brown’s slight of hand:

Between Derren saying “23” & “28”, the left-hand ball moves upwards! (clearly the moment of mixing from split-screen to full-screen again, after correct-numbered balls have been placed).

As Derren jumps around on his half of the screen and distracts you fwom any wobble, the last word is with Paul Daniels:

He said Brown was unlikely to give away his secret and would instead be vague in his explanation, employing “gobbledegooky” and putting the trick down to something like “neuro-linguistic programming”.

So here’s Brown:

Derren Brown, the illusionist, left viewers with more questions than answers after the programme in which he promised to disclose how he predicted the winning National Lottery numbers.

Here’s Derren Brown to explain to baffled Sun reades:

The illusionist – who had promised to reveal all about his apparent miracle on Channel 4 – claimed he used a technique called the “wisdom of crowds”.

Wisdom? Because a pit full of balls with numbers on them behaves like people do?

Right, Scientologists and horoscope fans?

He told how he got a panel of 24 people to write down their predictions after putting them in a trance-like state. He then added up all the guesses for each ball and divided the total by 24 to get an average. Derren, 38, who said ancients used the ruse to guess the weight of an ox, declared: “All of my 24 people who were there know what happened and the success they had. “But it’s quite possible that many of you simply won’t believe it. So you may choose not to believe any of what I’ve told you. Maybe you’ll still believe that it was some sort of ‘super technology.’ What you choose to believe is up to you.”

Or might it be that magician performing a trick on the telly is like the ventriloquist whose a smash hit on radio? Hey, Derren – we can see your lips moving. Archie Andrews was right.



Posted: 12th, September 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts Comment | TrackBack | Permalink