Russian roulette anyone?

**paul adams** · October 6th, 2003, 09:32 PM

Did anyone watch Derran Brown last night?
I found myself sucked into it, it felt quite distasteful to watch at times...but....what a stunt...if the man was acting he would have to have been one of the world's best actors in order to pull off the emotions sweeping across his face during his ordeal.
Phew

39416314 derren203

And for those that missed it:

Brown's performance was expertly calculated. Having selected his gun-loader from among a shortlist of 100 volunteers, he seated himself at an austere wooden table and stared at the weapon. One chamber contained a bullet that could kill him. Only James, the volunteer, knew which one it was. Brown claimed to be able to deduce the critical information by listening to James count from one to six.

He raised the gun to his temple, declared that he was confident that chamber three was empty, and pulled the trigger. There was a click. Next he declared chamber four to be safe: another click. Then came a moment of nerve-jangling indecision. Brown pointed the gun away from himself and pulled the trigger on chamber five. He had guessed wrong. The fifth chamber did not contain a live round.

Even if Brown was deploying hidden techniques more certain than his claimed ability to use intuitive psychology to determine which chamber contained the bullet, this moment appeared agonisingly realistic. Would he have the nerve to point the weapon at his head again having already demonstrated that his first guess was wrong? After an elongated period of apparent mental torment, he did. Brown fired chamber six at his head, proving that it was empty, and then instantly pointed the gun at a sand bag and fired the live round into it.

Stephanie Marriott, of the Media Research Institute at Stirling University, says: "It did the business. That was a moment when I felt completely gripped. The last seven minutes were pure white knuckle. One got completely sucked into the sense that even television did not know what was going to happen."

That, of course, was the intention. Despite numerous warnings to viewers not to copy Brown's antics, Channel 4 maintained throughout the suggestion that he really was risking his life.

And from the Evening Standard:

Illusionist Derren Brown's mother has revealed her fear as she watched him hold a loaded pistol to his head and pull the trigger in front of millions of television viewers.

Christine Brown sat with husband, Robert, on a sofa at their home in Purley as the magician, 32, played Russian Roulette live on Channel 4. She said: "I felt sick, dry-mouthed, and I flinched when he squeezed the trigger.

"I could not eat and I could not drink," added Mrs Brown. "I was just glued to the television."

The performance, which was shown with a short time delay in case of tragedy, has been roundly criticised by senior police officers and campaign groups fearing copycat stunts.

Brown fired the fifth chamber away from his head thinking it was loaded, but it was empty. He had made a mistake, and there was a long pause.

Mrs Brown added: "I could see him shaking, sweating and his breathing was shallow. I could see his vulnerability. He was trying to calm himself, to retain control. And at that point I was really very, very nervous.

"I thought to myself he's not going to do it and I was willing him to do the right thing. I felt sure he would not pull the trigger if he did not feel comfortable. "Then he picked up the gun, and did it." Mrs Brown leaped from her seat and shouted "Yes".

"It was a feeling of absolute, overwhelming relief," she said. "Fantastic. Amazing." During yesterday afternoon, Mr Brown, 64, a swimming coach at Whitgift School, had taken his mind off the event by washing his convertible Ford car.

Mrs Brown, 58, a doctor's receptionist, paced around the house and garden with nervous energy.

They settled in the living room at 6pm. On top of the widescreen television was a gold-framed sepia photograph of Derren, aged 23, when he was a long-haired student in Bristol.

Mrs Brown said: "We spent months, weeks and days, counting down to this moment and now suddenly, it all seems extremely real." At 6.20pm, her son called. Mrs Brown said: "I told him 'You will be careful, won't you' and he said 'Yes, don't worry'." Mr Brown, meanwhile, was itching to go to the pub.

Mrs Brown said: "He really wasn't looking forward to it at all. He just tried to detach himself from the reality of it and sat in silence. But he had a wry smile at the end."

Mr and Mrs Brown said their son's skills were not something he possessed from a young age, but rather a craft he had perfected over a long period. Now, as he continues to stretch himself, they find themselves wary spectators.

"We have just about got used to seeing him on television but this was a bit different," said Mrs Brown. "We would never get in the way of what Derren wanted, but I'm not sure I could take him doing it again.

"I can't imagine how he can top it and I hope he doesn't try. He's completely mad to put himself through that in the first place."

<font color="#990000" size="1">[ October 06, 2003 06:34 PM: Message edited by: paul adams ]</font>

**stingger** · October 7th, 2003, 02:58 PM

I have seen him do a similair stunt, ie picking up on peoples stress and voice patterns.

He had a guy in a control room giving him directions...forward, left, right. He himself was in a dark room with a maze of planks layed out to form only one true path to the end. Where a mattress was placed in one of 3 locations.
some of the planks had barb-wire on them and the guy in the control box was allowed to lie.
He made it to the end ok .... but the next bit was the wierd strange bit ..... he choose where he thought the mattress was without asking any questions and fell onto it backwards.