I wanted to wait until Derren Brown’s tour, “Mind Reader – An Evening of Wonders”, was over before blogging this, just in case anyone reading this was going to the show. This was my 3rd time seeing Derren live in Glasgow and it was, once again, an excellent show. This time, I went with my friends Kate, Nicola and Bea. It’s not every day that I get to go out to dinner and then to a show with 3 beautiful ladies!
Kate, Nicola and Bea after getting their stuff signed by Derren Brown
I must admit that I didn’t think it was as good as his last tour, “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, but it was an excellent show nevertheless. There was, however, one thing in the show that fooled the hell out of me. Here’s what happened…
Derren asked for a member of the audience who knew they could phone a man that would probably be able to answer the phone there and then. Kate had her hand up like a rocket – well, she’s always had a soft spot for Mr Brown – knowing she could phone Ray. A few other hands went up around the auditorium and DB threw out 3 frisbees – one of which landed next to our Kate. That was her, she was off like a shot on her way to the stage. When she got there, DB wrote a 3 digit number – 734 – up on a board saying that was what he was going to try to get Ray to say these numbers, in any order, via Kate. If he was wrong, Derren would give Kate £10. Kate dialled Ray’s number and was fed a series of questions by DB then asked to give a 3 digit number. Ray, being the adventurous sort, said 123. A groan from the audience. A few more questions and another 3 digit number was given. This time 386. Well, that didn’t work. DB spoke to Ray for a moment, then hung up and gave Kate her £10 prize.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Near the stairs to the stage, DB called Kate back and under the ever watchful eye of the camera, slowly opened up the £10 note that he had given her a moment ago. There, written in thick black marker pen was “I WILL MAKE HIM SAY THIS NUMBER” with an arrow pointing to the serial number – 123368!!!
The tenner in question!
Now, this fooled me really badly, but it got worse when Kate got back to her seat and I got hold of the tenner. There it was! The 6 numbers that Ray had just called out! This freaked me out so badly it hurt. I couldn’t wait for the intermission so I could talk to some others about it. Fortunately, I got some information that allowed me to sleep that night, but that really did nail me badly. Probably more so because it was Kate that was involved in the routine.
As I said, an enjoyable show and this was my personal highlight.
Speak soon.
The Cardman 🙂
hmmm stumped me too.. and still having sleepless nights… I did a I think the note prediction was something (unless I\’m being stupid) that is still bothering me.. everything else was fairly ok to work out.. I agree I think I liked his previous stage shows rather than this one.. but I did take about 20 people up with (I was the only magician) and they all loved it… I\’ve heard things about the note.. but looking at yours, they look like red herrings..
Hii just finished watching the recorded show of derren brown.I would have loved to see it live but I\’m from far away.I think I have an idea how he did that trick.derren didn\’t really call the guy right ? was it was a fake call ?
No, he really made the phonecall. As I said in the post, when he did it in Glasgow 2 years ago, he called my friend\’s fiancee (now her husband!). Great piece!