"Derren Brown and the Lottery- your guess?" Topic

For those who don't know, Derren Brown is what a detective show has christened a 'Mentalist'. He freely admits that there is a trick in what he does- he does not have any 'special' powers, he isn't really a psychic, and part of what he does is to debunk charlatans.

For a week now Trails have been he will predict tonight's lottery live. He had a 10 minute show, to co-incide with the draws, he was going to predict the main 'Lotto' draw. Target was at least 5 out of 6 numbers, ignoring the bonus ball. He got all 6. He will reveal how on Friday 9pm.

So does anyone (especially those who watched it) have any ideas?

Now for legal reasons he said he could only show a small part of the lotto show, switching on his TV just for the 'lotto draw'. He also could not show the prediction until after the official announcement, as the BBC have that legal contract.
If he was lying about this what did he gain?

A wire scam? This is where the grifter arranges a delayed feed that he tells the 'mark' is live, making it look like he can predict stuff- has been used successfully in horse racing (apparently was a big problem with the coming of the telegraph in the US!)
He himself discounted this, and invited people to switch between channels. Too easy to catch with two TV's (I meant to do this, but forgot it was on until the end. However I have a Hard Disk recorder, so could 'time slip it').

Some-one swapping the stand where the balls he had written his prediction on were.
Went through it at 1/4 speed from the point he turned on the TV. They were in sight at all times from before he turned on the TV.

Numbers projected on/Photoshop.
I went through frame by frame (OK not quite – at least as slow as I could- hitting the pause button while paused jogs forward slightly, about 8 per second I think) The projector would have had to follow a precise arc over at least the last 45'. Plus he did touch the balls slightly, to straighten them, jogging the one next to it, and the next one- the numbers moved as they should.

I don't think it's a tech cheat- he is indulging in some clever con. Can't figure out what!

I switched channels between BBC1 and C4 and it seemed in sync.

When he turned the stand – he held it low down (nowhere near the balls)

Just watched the his show after, and the various extra "tricks" he did on that are perhaps even more unbelievable.

Did he predict all 6 numbers before the draw, or one at a time as they were being pulled up?

What was his proof that he had the numbers before they were drawn out? Were they in a sealed envelope or something?

Jana- All 6 were (seemingly) on individual balls on a perspex stand before the show started. After the winning numbers were sorted into order he turned the stand round to show them. Like I say, I went back and watched the whole thing in slow mo, concentrating JUST on this stand, which as Fred said he turned using the 'stand' part, not the rack with the balls on- I could see no contact there.

His usual tricks are obvious 'suggestion'- getting people to say a particular sequence of numbers, draw images, or even playing tic-tac-toe blindfold. He does the shows 'straight'- lots of showmanship "something is coming through", but readily admits it is a lot of woo- a sort of James Randi figure (without the $1m prize).

He once (controversially) held a live seance on TV, then explained how the Victorians did it, going back with different camera angles showing the woman who THOUGHT she had been tied down in a cubical while spirits threw things around had been the one doing it! My favourite 'quick trick' was where he placed a fat wallet on the pavement of a busy London Road and drew a Chalk circle around it. 12 hours later he picked it up- time lapse camera showing it untouched! (Hey, it had a circle drawn round- that makes it 'official' seemed to be the idea)

His tricks are quite frightening actually, because they often seem to defy explanation.

This one we can't see- no human brains to cheat at Lotto HQ, so what did he do. Have to remember to record Friday's!

The only bit that seemed a bit odd – was that after the balls were drawn, there was quite a delay while DB wrote the numbers down in sequence – while looking "shocked" – this did seem to take a while.

But all in all it was a quicker way of presenting the lottery result than the normal BBC dreck.

I found a video on Youtube and watched it several times. My guess is there's some trickery with the ball stand, probably using mirrors. It would be easy to do in the environment he has set up. Notice you only get the single front view shot on the camera. I'd bet it looks quite different from the side.

If he could predict the numbers why didn't he buy a ticket?

I also think that there may have been some time delay between the draw being made and it being shown on the BBC.

The draw is normally done around 8pm – last night it was at 10:30pm. So that gives a very big window to do stuff. I may be wrong in this, though.

He was very specific about the fact it was 'live'. Wednesday draws are usually around that time I think. The mirrors may be a possibility.

I didn't realise he had shows either side, though I've seen them both. Discussing it with people at work we agreed it was easy to get freaked out!

I thought he said it was a "live feed" which is very different to a "live draw".

But a watch the lottery so rarely that have no idea what the normal mid-week time is.

Anyway we find out the answer tonight.