Derek Acorah's abysmal cold reading on Live TV

[Andrea]

In the UK, on Living TV, we were yet again subjected to 3 hours of Derek Acorahs ramblings and possessions on his show Ghost Towns Live.

I did not bother to watch Ghost Towns Live, I could not subject myself to 3 hours of such rubbish, but we did watch the first half of the Doorstep Divination where Derek did his Keith Cheggers take off by popping into a viewers home in York to do a surprise reading.

Derek did a first class act of a cold reading on Live TV.

In an approximate 5 minute reading, he came up with 2 older ladies (one who had passed of cancer - he did not confirm which type, except that it was a blood condition), and connected with a gentleman. No names were given for any of these communicators.

Derek then went on to list 8 names, only 2 of which the sitter could recognise.

We had the usual list.

John (which then Derek changed to Jack, when the sitter did not recognise this)
William or Bill - not accepted
Mary - accepted (the sitter related this to a daughter who had just lost her mother.
Paul - not accepted
Lil / Lillian - not accepted.

He then went on to rattle on about the usual house hold appliances, telling the sitter that the spirits had been responsible for some water problems with the toilet. Then moved on to the kitchen fridge, telling the sitter that the spirits were telling him this would have to be replaced.

Derek then described the sitter hearing footsteps up the stairs, sitter then stated that she thought she had heard something, failed to state when, then good old Derek jumps in and assures her this definitely was footsteps of spirits.

Then we had the animal reference, Derek mentioned the dog that had to be put down, and that he was running the legs of the spirits on the other side?

Oh and the other bit of evidence was reference to a child having difficulty at school, he did not come out and say directly it was the sitters child, only mentioned he thought it was a daughter, and then got all excited when the sitter confirmed it was a girl.

This is supposed to be one of the country's most "gifted mediums", there was not one accurate piece of information in this reading, in fact it was an abysmal attempt at cold reading, on live tv.

Did anyone else watch this part of the show?

[Azrael 5]

Cannot bring myself to watch Acorah!! But talking to a couple of punters ,who had seen him on his UK tour ,it seems his act is winning no friends.At the end of the night Degsy has a Q and A session.One wag stood and asked him "Derek why are you such a wan**r?!"
Highlight of the night apparently.
:D

[Nucular]

He then went on to rattle on about the usual house hold appliances, telling the sitter that the spirits had been responsible for some water problems with the toilet. Then moved on to the kitchen fridge, telling the sitter that the spirits were telling him this would have to be replaced.
Wow, life after death sounds so great! An eternity living in a magical spiritual realm close to God, and the spirits choose to mess about with someone's toilet and advise them on the correct care of their fridge.

This sounds pretty poor, even for Derek.

I hope I never die. But if I ever do, I'm staying away from Derek and his inevitable future clones - I'd rather pass on no message at all than send postcards along the lines of

Dear relative,
Your U-bend in the kitchen is becoming blocked. Scrape food off plates before you wash them.
Love from
Someone who's name began with W or T

[Andrea]

Cannot bring myself to watch Acorah!! But talking to a couple of punters ,who had seen him on his UK tour ,it seems his act is winning no friends.At the end of the night Degsy has a Q and A session.One wag stood and asked him "Derek why are you such a wan**r?!"
Highlight of the night apparently.
:D

Says it all really, do you know which show this was?

[Andrea]

Wow, life after death sounds so great! An eternity living in a magical spiritual realm close to God, and the spirits choose to mess about with someone's toilet and advise them on the correct care of their fridge.

This sounds pretty poor, even for Derek.

I hope I never die. But if I ever do, I'm staying away from Derek and his inevitable future clones - I'd rather pass on no message at all than send postcards along the lines of

Dear relative,
Your U-bend in the kitchen is becoming blocked. Scrape food off plates before you wash them.
Love from
Someone who's name began with W or T

There is another 3 hours of this tonight and tomorrow. I will tape the last hour of the show, to see if there are any more doorstep divinations, it will be interesting to see if there are any more house hold appliances on the blink. What is it with mediums & toilets??????

[brodski]

What is it with mediums & toilets??????

they can relate, they're both full of crap. :D

[Nucular]

And anybody who uses either is really scraping the bottom...

[Andrea]

they can relate, they're both full of crap. :D

Brilliant! :D:D:D

[Andrea]

Wow, life after death sounds so great! An eternity living in a magical spiritual realm close to God, and the spirits choose to mess about with someone's toilet and advise them on the correct care of their fridge.

This sounds pretty poor, even for Derek.

I hope I never die. But if I ever do, I'm staying away from Derek and his inevitable future clones - I'd rather pass on no message at all than send postcards along the lines of

Dear relative,
Your U-bend in the kitchen is becoming blocked. Scrape food off plates before you wash them.
Love from
Someone who's name began with W or T

I am sure tonight we will have VCRs, DVDs, TVs and popping light bulbs, with the usual I have a woman (grandmother) and older man rubbish. Then there will be a mention of the animals - does your dog growl or cat do strange things. Oh, and they are telling me that you sense spirit, see spirit light, and so and so is always popping in for a visit.

[Mojo]

Cannot bring myself to watch Acorah!! But talking to a couple of punters ,who had seen him on his UK tour ,it seems his act is winning no friends.At the end of the night Degsy has a Q and A session.One wag stood and asked him "Derek why are you such a wan**r?!"
Highlight of the night apparently. Didn't he also throw a wobbly at the end of one show when someone asked him about Kreed Kafer? I think there was a thread about it.

ETA: http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=48369

[Azrael 5]

Andrea it was in Manchester,a couple of weeks ago. :D

[voidx]

Posted by Andrea
Then moved on to the kitchen fridge, telling the sitter that the spirits were telling him this would have to be replaced.

Honestly, this is just ridiculous. How does it make any sense that spirits have any affinity or connection to...appliances.

Perhaps fridges are giving off telepathic vibrations that us mere mortals simply cannot detect.

However far fetched, I can at least see, with some alcohol and a severe beating how people can buy into spirits having the lowdown on the recently "passed" or your troubled teen or your pet peacock. But your toaster? Come on.

What does a spirit see about your fridge that a good ole repairman couldn't?

Is it me, or do spirits seem like the noisest nitpicks that ever existed. I envision a bunch of spirits sitting around watching MortalVision, and one spirit simply beside himself at the state of disrepair of your fridge and yelling out:

"Hey a**hole, fix your bloody fridge already!"

The other part that strikes me is that spirits don't actually have anything to say. They merely toss out clues, just so you know their there. It's like an annoying kid tapping you on the shoulder going:

"H...He....Helen"
"No wait....Heather, bloody psychic, get it right!"
"Cancer OF THE BLOOD"
"Remember that time, at band camp, when Helen/Heather/Herbert ate the flute!"

Until finally you turn around and go:
"Oh, hey Tim, is that you? Did you have something important to tell me?"

Tim then goes *poof* and trails off saying:
"Nope, just letting you know I'm still here............fix the toaster!"

Dumb.

[echolima]

If anyone's interested I've just uploaded an extremely revealing review of last weekend's Ghost Towns Live, complete with clips. I didn't bother watching the show itself - I had the raw footage to work from, which is much more entertaining :D You can find it at www.doublexposure.co.uk/ghost_towns_live.htm

If you don't like it, I'm sure you'll let me know, but if you enjoy it, why don't you tell your friends, the bleevers, your newspapers, your local radio station - especially if it's on his circuit? :)

Emma

[eyes_in_the_sky]

Brilliant expose' Emma..................

And I have a feeling there's even more to come !

How on earth can Acorah continue to function when its so obvious he makes it all up.

I especially like the sequence when he prattles on about being psychically drawn to a particular house......

Classic :cool:

[NeilC]

Wow, that's a good expose.

How can Derek continue to work? When has being wrong, a cheat and poor at cold-reading ever been a barrier to a working psychic?

[monoman]

If anyone's interested I've just uploaded an extremely revealing review of last weekend's Ghost Towns Live, complete with clips. I didn't bother watching the show itself - I had the raw footage to work from, which is much more entertaining :D You can find it at www.doublexposure.co.uk/ghost_towns_live.htm (http://www.doublexposure.co.uk/ghost_towns_live.htm)

If you don't like it, I'm sure you'll let me know, but if you enjoy it, why don't you tell your friends, the bleevers, your newspapers, your local radio station - especially if it's on his circuit? :)

Emma

Hi Emma,

Have the tapes been sent to a tabloid paper aswell?

[Andrea]

Echolima - I think it was a good article, I think we all are of the same opinion.

[Shaun from Scotland]

I have tried on numerous occassions to question Deggsy when he has been on the James Whale Show on Talksport but they tell me outright Deggsy will not answer questions from skeptics....


I wonder why.................?

And it never ceases to amaze me just how piss-poor a cold reader he is.......

[monoman]

I have tried on numerous occassions to question Deggsy when he has been on the James Whale Show on Talksport but they tell me outright Deggsy will not answer questions from skeptics....


I wonder why.................?

And it never ceases to amaze me just how piss-poor a cold reader he is.......

Jesus, does James Whale still have him on his show??

[Shaun from Scotland]

Jesus, does James Whale still have him on his show??


He is on now and again. Colin Fry has also turned up and impressed us with his cold readings..

The Unexplained show, also on Talksport, on Saturday at 8pm (bad timing) has also had Colin Fry on, along with other assorted loonies. Vague predictions, nutjob conspiracy theoroies, live seances, UFO's and all the usuall woo-woo bunk. Its an interesting 3 hours usually. Randi was on it once apparantely but I missed that one. I phone in quite regularly. Its gets me in the mood for the pub!

[Darat]

If anyone's interested I've just uploaded an extremely revealing review of last weekend's Ghost Towns Live, complete with clips. I didn't bother watching the show itself - I had the raw footage to work from, which is much more entertaining :D You can find it at www.doublexposure.co.uk/ghost_towns_live.htm

If you don't like it, I'm sure you'll let me know, but if you enjoy it, why don't you tell your friends, the bleevers, your newspapers, your local radio station - especially if it's on his circuit? :)

Emma

Brilliant - thanks!

[monoman]

He is on now and again. Colin Fry has also turned up and impressed us with his cold readings..

The Unexplained show, also on Talksport, on Saturday at 8pm (bad timing) has also had Colin Fry on, along with other assorted loonies. Vague predictions, nutjob conspiracy theoroies, live seances, UFO's and all the usuall woo-woo bunk. Its an interesting 3 hours usually. Randi was on it once apparantely but I missed that one. I phone in quite regularly. Its gets me in the mood for the pub!

That's dissapointing. He's (James) always been a bit of a prat but was, in the past, quite critical in his thinking.
I seem to remember that he went a bit woo after his cancer scare.

The Saturday night phone ins sound fun. Maybe i'll listen in sometime.

[Shaun from Scotland]

That's dissapointing. He's (James) always been a bit of a prat but was, in the past, quite critical in his thinking.
I seem to remember that he went a bit woo after his cancer scare.

The Saturday night phone ins sound fun. Maybe i'll listen in sometime.

He gives organised religion a hard time but he believes there is "a higher purpose to life". I think he went a bit mystical after his cancer scare like you say. But I wouldn't classify him as a woo. I just think Degsy et al simply wont come on if they get a hard time. And the phones are mental when Degsy goes on so he brings in a big audience.

Definitely try and catch the unexplained and phone in. The presenter is quite fair minded and takes calls from skeptics (usually - they didn't let me on to ask Uri Geller about Randi). It can be a real hoot! If you are not in the UK its broadcast on the web at www.talksport.net, Saturday 8pm UK time.

[richardm]

www.doublexposure.co.uk/ghost_towns_live.htm (http://www.doublexposure.co.uk/ghost_towns_live.htm)

If you don't like it, I'm sure you'll let me know, but if you enjoy it, why don't you tell your friends, the bleevers, your newspapers, your local radio station - especially if it's on his circuit? :)


Unfortunately for Acorah, he can only have seen the name written down, as he proclaimed him ‘Agri Cola’ !

I can see I'm going to have to start watching the show :D Nice job, Emma - I'll pass the link on.

[Azrael 5]

Another looney radio station show,similiar to Unexplained is this one:
http://phantomorfraud.bizland.com/radio/presenters/rossh.shtml

Ive emailed questions a couple of times to various mediums.

[Shaun from Scotland]

Another looney radio station show,similiar to Unexplained is this one:
http://phantomorfraud.bizland.com/radio/presenters/rossh.shtml

Ive emailed questions a couple of times to various mediums.

Arooga!! Its Art Bell on steroids!!

[echolima]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. No, the tapes haven't been sent to the media, but several journalists have read the article, so ....

Having read your comments about James Whale, maybe I should send him the link to the article? Does anyone have his email address, by any chance?

The article has only been 'advertised' on three forums, including this one and my own, and the response has been fantastic.

If anyone has ideas on how to spread the word even further, then I'd be very interested to hear them.

Thanks
Emma

[Shaun from Scotland]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. No, the tapes haven't been sent to the media, but several journalists have read the article, so ....

Having read your comments about James Whale, maybe I should send him the link to the article? Does anyone have his email address, by any chance?

The article has only been 'advertised' on three forums, including this one and my own, and the response has been fantastic.

If anyone has ideas on how to spread the word even further, then I'd be very interested to hear them.

Thanks
Emma

I'd bet a pound to a penny he would, at best, read it and throw it in the bin. Talksport want ratings and nothing else...........

[monoman]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. No, the tapes haven't been sent to the media, but several journalists have read the article, so ....

Having read your comments about James Whale, maybe I should send him the link to the article? Does anyone have his email address, by any chance?

The article has only been 'advertised' on three forums, including this one and my own, and the response has been fantastic.

If anyone has ideas on how to spread the word even further, then I'd be very interested to hear them.

Thanks
Emma

Hi,

Here's his profile page at talksport.net

http://www.talksport.net/content/69.chtml

As far as i can see, there's just a general contact address

http://www.talksport.net/contact

Good luck!