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I love Derren Brown but this is not anything close to his best work. The video starts with a staring competition. Outdoors. On a sunny day. Where Derren is faci

I love Derren Brown but this is not anything close to his best work. The video starts with a staring competition. Outdoors. On a sunny day. Where Derren is facing away from the sun and the opponent is facing into it. Some of his other shows are more entertaining - for example he has one where he plays 14 chess grandmasters simultaneously and beats five, draws with four and loses to five. After the masters are duly impressed, he makes it clear that all he did was play the first master’s move against the second, the second against the third, and so on. It’s an ibvious trick but he does it so well, no one seems to notice at the time. Or he has another where he goes horse racing and convinces the cashier at a bookies to give him money for a losing ticket. The person involved is so clearly confused and shocked that they gave money away (and is clearly not an actor) that the whole piece is pretty compelling - I just don’t believe anyone is both good enough to act like that on cue and at the same time has never appeared in any other work I’ve seen before or since.

ineptech 5y ago
Whoops, I've updated the link to point to the bit I meant to link to, thanks.
zeroonetwothree 5y ago
I suspect there was some editing involved with the chess example to make it seem more impressive, since it should be obvious to a competent player that this is what you are doing (because of the delay in which you make moves by having to check another board first). Additionally simultaneous exhibitions almost always have you playing the same color on every board, so it would be immediately suspicious.
xorfish 5y ago
> After the masters are duly impressed, he makes it clear that all he did was play the first master’s move against the second, the second against the third, and so on. It’s an ibvious trick but he does it so well, no one seems to notice at the time. That strategy doesn't work.
- alasdair_ 5y ago
  There is extensive video evidence of his doing this. Can you please explain why it doesn’t work?
  - xorfish 5y ago
    Because the other players will react differently to the same moves and you get different boards after the first few moves.

ineptech 5y ago

Whoops, I've updated the link to point to the bit I meant to link to, thanks.

zeroonetwothree 5y ago

I suspect there was some editing involved with the chess example to make it seem more impressive, since it should be obvious to a competent player that this is what you are doing (because of the delay in which you make moves by having to check another board first). Additionally simultaneous exhibitions almost always have you playing the same color on every board, so it would be immediately suspicious.

xorfish 5y ago

> After the masters are duly impressed, he makes it clear that all he did was play the first master’s move against the second, the second against the third, and so on. It’s an ibvious trick but he does it so well, no one seems to notice at the time. That strategy doesn't work.

alasdair_ 5y ago
There is extensive video evidence of his doing this. Can you please explain why it doesn’t work?
- xorfish 5y ago
  Because the other players will react differently to the same moves and you get different boards after the first few moves.