Comments on: Derren Brown: System

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:10:35 +0000

I don’t believe they bet on every horse.
Seems unlikely.

Far more likely is that Derren bet on her horse, hoping that by some fluke it would win (and thus have an amazing end to the show)
But as an “out”, in the more likely chance that her horse wouldn’t win,
He paid a booky to accept whatever slip he was given, and hand over some prize money that the production company had set aside.

If her horse HAD one, production company looses no money whatsoever.
If not, then production company simply pays out a decent prize.

The alternative of betting on each horse would ALWAYS be more expensive regardless of the outcome. And producers being what they are, will of course choose the cheaper option.

By: colinr

colinr — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:01:59 +0000

I gave up on Derren Brown long ago but was interested to read your summary of the show (It saved me a the extra fifty minutes it would have taken to watch and be pissed off by it!)

I can see why you would be upset by that ending – it does undo all the good work as it still ends up rewarding someone for their blind following instinct. I would have no objections to giving the person back the £4000 she bet as a kind gesture to go along with the cautionary tale (and maybe even give her a few hundred quid on top as payment for participating in their TV show!) but to let her win the top prize is only rewarding her for her stupidity in getting conned in the first place!

By: always_black

always_black — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:49:39 +0000

Why go to all that trouble and expense if you can just use actors, fake the whole thing and proclaim statistics as the new magic?

The problem with double-double-double-bluffing is eventually people will just tell you to fuck off.

By: ImperialCreed

ImperialCreed — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:41:46 +0000

“Clearly this joke isn’t going anywhere, but I find it peculiar that I can spend hundreds of words enthusing about a programme, celebrating all the good it did, and be a curmudgeon because I was let down by the end. But hey ho.”

Truly, Mr. Walker, your cross is a terrible one to bear.

By: Willem100

Willem100 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:36:50 +0000

“slag of”?

Something smells fishy, methinks.

By: John

John — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:15:27 +0000

Clearly this joke isn’t going anywhere, but I find it peculiar that I can spend hundreds of words enthusing about a programme, celebrating all the good it did, and be a curmudgeon because I was let down by the end. But hey ho.

By: Rev. S Campbell

Rev. S Campbell — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:57:10 +0000

Is it that you’re a big curmudgeon?

By: John

John — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:56:21 +0000

It’s interesting how people are considering this final moment of the episode in exactly the way Brown was pointing out people think about situations. “I knew it was a trick, and therefore everyone knows it was a trick.”

There was a lesson to be learned from that programme, and everyone’s avoiding it.

By: Rev. S Campbell

Rev. S Campbell — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:53:33 +0000

That’s exactly the sort of humourless hairsplitting thing a curmudgeon would say.

By: John

John — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:52:39 +0000

When Eastenders spends its half hour explaining to camera that it’s a documentary, evidencing this, and only existing because of this purpose, then containing a scene of pure fiction, your moronic comment will become relevant!