The System Chatter
After the airing of Derren Browns The System, there has been a lot of chatter in the press, most none too impressed. Here are some of them:
The Times - Brown suffers system malfunction:
As for the infallible winning system, there never was one. Nor was there any point to a programme that raised moral issues in pursuit of cheap drama. As it was, those hoping to glean how to break bookmakers doubtless concluded they should never take seriously a man who can’t even spell his own name.
The Independent - He’s never wrong but Brown fails to frighten the bookies
Basically it was a sham, relying on basic and base human impulses such as greed and vanity. The only “system” was a flood of emails to 7,776 random members of the public who were effectively covering bets on every horse. Only one of them was still winning after five races.
He managed to convince his guinea pig, single mum Kadesha, that she should part with £4,000 on the sixth and final race. She begged and borrowed the money from her father and a loan company. By then there was no reason why the system would still work.
Yet Brown conjured another win. He changed his mind on the way to the betting booth, keeping a distraught Kadesha in the dark as her old nag limped home in fourth place. If there is a system here, it’s the sort that gets television companies into big trouble. Apparently all the 7,775 other punters were fully reimbursed for their outlay. The programme must have been as much at a loss as the bemused viewers.
The Mirror - Brown’s pryamid [sic] yelling
Illusionist Derren Brown successfully demonstrated how easily the gullible public can be conned - by conning us into watching an hour of tripe at the weekend.
I’ve become very disillusioned with illusionists. Me and the missus went to see one in Vegas and after an amazing feat I asked from the audience how he had done it.
“I could tell you, sir,” he said, “But then I’d have to kill you.” “Okay,” I said, “just tell the missus.”
Now I actually enjoyed the show, although it appears I may be the only one. Maybe the show was hyped a bit too much in advance, and viewers expected a REAL system for winning at the horses, but for me it was a big improvement over Trick or Treat: Derren getting back to what he’s good at.
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