The New Uri Geller Reality Show!

[DJM]

Hello everyone, greetings from Israel!

Not sure if it has been posted here before, but Uri Geller has a new reality show over here to choose his "heir", in the style of American Idol. Which is a bit of a shame since it's been so many years since he's been on TV here, and now he's having his come back. The good thing is that most of the people in Israel realize he's a fraud and don't take him too seriously, though I'm sad to say there are always those who think everything they see on TV is true. :rolleyes:

Either way, the first episode was tonight and I thought you'd be interested to hear some funny stuff that's going on there. The concept is about Geller watching about 5-6 participants doing their tricks and each week some new ones come along. He's the main judge, like Simon but without the jokes and the sarcasm, and there are 4 more judges who say what they think (3 of them are celebrities that would believe a simple magic trick if they saw one).
They all seem amazed about every trick that the participants show, which are the basic mentalism, reading minds, exploding glasses and all the stuff that you can see a lot of magician do. It's funny how Geller praises each one of them like they do have special powers, while they do exactly the same stuff that he does. He's the one who does the elimination at the end of the show, but this time he enjoyed each one of them so he chose to make them all stay for the next episode.

Anyway, I just thought this show can do him more harm than good, since it's obvious that those people don't have any special talents because no one has ever heard of them before. And if they do the same tricks as he does, then I hope it will only prove that there's nothing special about him either.

By the way, there was this funny thing on the show. There was this one "psychic" who does the trick where someone puts a sharp knife in a cup and he needs to know where extacty it is so he won't hurt himself, while being blindfolded. But before his performance, they show us a video of one of his performances about 3 years ago where he had a mistake and really cut himself with the knife. It went right through his hand, and he has scars all over it! Tonight he tried to do it again live, but I guess this time he actually learned the trick before because it worked. For a second I was sure he would hurt himself again since he seems like he's the worst magician ever.. I think he was the "winner" of this episode, probably because all the judges were relieved that he didn't kill himself on the air! :o

I guess the point of this story is, this show looks more like a regular magic show than anything else, and hopefully it will show the audience that's extactly what he does: nothing but simple magic tricks. ;)

[wahrheit]

I hope it turns out the way you expect - that the audience will step by step realize that Geller does nothing but basic sleight of hand.

Some years ago a friend of mine, who knows Geller personally, told me how impressed he was when Geller bend a spoon for him in a hotel room. Luckily, it took me no more than 10 minutes to convince him what he actually had witnessed.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[Big Les]

I knew it would only be a matter of time before Shirley Ghostman's "Psychic Academy" got made for "real".

[steve s]

By the way, there was this funny thing on the show. There was this one "psychic" who does the trick where someone puts a sharp knife in a cup and he needs to know where extacty it is so he won't hurt himself, while being blindfolded.

I saw a similar trick a while back. There were half a dozen styrofoam cups on a table, all of them upside down. The magician was blindfolded while someone else placed a vertical metal spike under one of the cups. Then the magician started waving his hand over the cups and began smashing them one by one until there was only one left, the one with the spike.

I thought of an easy way to do this trick. Just have a pager in your pocket set to vibrate. When your hand is over the one with the spike an accomplice in the audiance hits the speed dial on his phone to trigger the pager.

Oh, yeah. Welcome to the forum.

Steve S.

[Big Al]

I object to having any show involving Uri associated in any way with the word "reality". :mad:

[DJM]

I thought of an easy way to do this trick. Just have a pager in your pocket set to vibrate. When your hand is over the one with the spike an accomplice in the audiance hits the speed dial on his phone to trigger the pager.


Yeah, it sounds like a good way to the trick. But the weird thing is that he failed completly a few years ago. They showed in the video just how the knife went right through his hand, and it looked the most painful thing ever! He said it caused him major trauma after the accident. The scariest thing would be if he really thought that he had special powers and tried to do it without any help. That's why it was a bit freaky when he tried it again tonight, because he looked very nervous and his hands were shaking badly, and of course it was live on TV. But thankfuly it seems like he finally found out how to do the trick the right way this time... :D


I object to having any show involving Uri associated in any way with the word "reality". :mad:


Well, most of the reality shows are fake anyway, so maybe it's not that strange to describe it as one.. ;)

And thanks guys for the welcome, it's nice to be here!

[Questioninggeller]

I hope some clips show up on youtube.com

Calling teaspoon benders! Geller seeks "heir" on TV
Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:13am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After four decades of bending spoons, halting clocks, reading minds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvoyance), and penning metaphysical thrillers, Uri Geller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uri_Geller) is seeking a paranormal protege.

A reality television show being produced in Israel, where Geller grew up, will feature 10 contestants vying for the title of "heir" to the world-famous celebrity psychic.

"The format will be something like 'American Idol'. We will keep the performances that are most riveting and amazing," Geller told Reuters Wednesday, adding that viewers with "intuitive powers" will also be invited to call in and compete.

Geller, 59, declined to elaborate on what supernatural skills the contestants claim to have, and whether clairvoyants -- who might be assumed to have an edge in predicting judges' votes -- are taking part. He described the prize, simply, as "huge."


Source: Oct 19, 2006 Reuters (http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=peopleNews&storyID=2006-10-19T121329Z_01_L1894593_RTRIDST_0_PEOPLE-GELLER-DC.XML&WTmodLoc=EntNewsPeople_C2_peopleNews-7)

In other Geller nonsense:

Clairvoyant led Americans to Saddam, says Geller
Mon Nov 6, 2006 11:16 AM GMT

HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) - Did a clairvoyant help U.S. commandos ferret Saddam Hussein out of his hiding place in Iraq three years ago?

Israeli-born celebrity psychic Uri Geller, best known for his spoon-bending antics, says the power of the paranormal led U.S. troops to the fugitive Iraqi ex-dictator.

"You remember when they found Saddam Hussein in Iraq? A soldier walked over to a rock, lifted it and then found a trap-door and found him in there," Geller told Reuters.

"Well, I know that that soldier walked over to that rock because he got information from a 'remote viewer' from the United States."

Geller, who says he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War, said his information came from a high-level source involved in U.S. paranormal programmes.



Source: Nov 6, 2006 Reuters (http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-11-06T111647Z_01_L06698651_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-IRAQ-SADDAM-GELLER.XML&WTmodLoc=HP-C13-Oddly-2)

[Zep]

He will do anything for money. Just watch...

[John Jackson]

But the weird thing is that he failed completly a few years ago. They showed in the video just how the knife went right through his hand, and it looked the most painful thing ever!

The video could be a fake of course - all part of the 'set up' to add tension to the trick - sorry, paranormal demonstration.

What I find odd is that psychics use their amazing powers to replicate the things that magicians do!

Why do they do that? :D

[Big Al]

He will do anything for money. Just watch...

No, no, no, Zep: not just watch: watch, spoon, map, picture, media prostitution...

[Drummer]

The video could be a fake of course - all part of the 'set up' to add tension to the trick - sorry, paranormal demonstration.


Could be real. On the Amaz!ing Adventure, Banachek was asked if he knew any magicians doing things he'd consider unscrupulous. He then told us about a British magician who did this trick, only, he was smashing the hand of a volunteer into the cup. And that went very, very wrong one time.


What I find odd is that psychics use their amazing powers to replicate the things that magicians do!

Why do they do that? :D

[DJM]

Well, they had the second episode 2 days ago, the same kind of mentalism stuff that I've seen so many times in magic shows so I won't bore you with that.

But one of the participants did soemthing interesting. He said he could stop his pulse for over 20 seconds, and everyone in the crowd were so scared soemthing would happen to him. They even brought an ambulance to the studio in case something went wrong. But I knew how the trick is done before he even started it, thanks to a video by Randi that I saw awhile ago. He showed there that by putting 2 small sponge balls under the armpits and then moving the arms towards the body, it can make the pulse on the wrist stop for awhile.

The sad thing is that I saw on the news that one kid tried to do it at school because of the show, he tried to hold his breath for about 30 seconds until he lost consciousness. They took him to the hospital, but thankfully nothing serious happened to him. It only goes to show how dangerous it could be for people to believe that stuff. :mad:

Now some people here are more against the show, but I doubt it will change anything..

[Squishua]

I saw a similar trick a while back. There were half a dozen styrofoam cups on a table, all of them upside down. The magician was blindfolded while someone else placed a vertical metal spike under one of the cups. Then the magician started waving his hand over the cups and began smashing them one by one until there was only one left, the one with the spike.

I thought of an easy way to do this trick. Just have a pager in your pocket set to vibrate. When your hand is over the one with the spike an accomplice in the audiance hits the speed dial on his phone to trigger the pager.

I saw Chriss Angel do that trick on TV.

I just assumed one of the people in the audience was a confederate and he signaled to Chriss (using his stance, eye movement, hand placement, etc.), before he smashed the first cup, to let him know which one the knife was under.

-Squish

[Bob Klase]

I know 5 different way this trick can be done (and there are probably at least a few more that I'm not aware of). None of them use an accomplice. Only one is absolutely 100% safe- it's so safe that you couldn't hurt yourself if you tried to.

Banachek.... told us about a British magician who did this trick, only, he was smashing the hand of a volunteer into the cup. And that went very, very wrong one time.

Keith Barry (who's British) did this with celebrities on his US TV special early this year. It didn't go wrong, but I'm familiar with the method he used and there is a slight chance it could go wrong. I agree with Banacheck that, even though the risk is slight, it's inexcusable to subject an audience member to that kind of risk- even worse when they aren't aware of what the risk is.

While I haven't heard of any performer hurting a spectator while doing it, there have been a couple cases where performers actually have hurt themselves. I believe Marc Salem injured his hand doing this trick not long ago.

[SirPhilip]

My head almost imploded when I read this title.

[Zep]

Indeed!

GELLER?...REALITY? I fail to see the connection...

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

Could be real. On the Amaz!ing Adventure, Banachek was asked if he knew any magicians doing things he'd consider unscrupulous. He then told us about a British magician who did this trick, only, he was smashing the hand of a volunteer into the cup. And that went very, very wrong one time.

I've seen a clip of that. i think it was on one of the 'list' programs on Channel 4 or Sky, i.e. the ones where they have a top100 worst tv moments etc. If I remember correctly, it was probably in late 70s/early 80s when we weren't all so politcally correct, and it was probably ok to endanger your audience. Something happened to the magician, in that he had to retire as well due to the stress of it, or something similar.....it's all a bit vague now.

[DJM]

I've seen a clip of that. i think it was on one of the 'list' programs on Channel 4 or Sky, i.e. the ones where they have a top100 worst tv moments etc. If I remember correctly, it was probably in late 70s/early 80s when we weren't all so politcally correct, and it was probably ok to endanger your audience. Something happened to the magician, in that he had to retire as well due to the stress of it, or something similar.....it's all a bit vague now.


I found the video for that:

spikedhumor.com/articles/57399/Magic_Trick_That_Goes_Wrong.html


There are two clips in that video of the same trick. I think the first one is of that magician that I talked about in the first post who got hurt, and the second one is of the volunteer that was mentioned by Banachek. Can anyone explain why the crowd is clapping after that woman just got her hand spiked?! Weird stuff! :confused:

[DJM]

I just heard that on the show tomorrow Geller will be performing for the first time a test that he did at the Stanford Research Institute that shocked the researchers there. That would be interesting to watch...

[wahrheit]

Is this a video from that new show?

-v2vFeg9ef8

*yawn*

[DJM]

Is this a video from that new show?

-v2vFeg9ef8

*yawn*


I think that's an unrelated video taken from the show's website, because the show is all spoken in Hebrew. The show itself is mostly in the studio and it's pretty enjoyable because it's like a magic performance full with mentalism tricks. The only problem is that they promote it as something real, so a lot of people have an issue with that.. But I guess it won't get the same ratings if it was just another regular magic show.. :rolleyes:

I wonder what the shocking test will be tomorrow, and if people will be able to debunk him over it..

[KingMerv00]

Here's hoping that Randi infested the show with "fake" psychics.

[Indolent Wretch]

Yeah, it sounds like a good way to the trick.

I would have thought it a damn sight safer if you use the pager message to indicate safety rather than danger.. otherwise the networks busy and it's stigmata time.

Of course you wouldn't use a pager either but i'm sure the guy had a friend in the audience who was nodding his head or something.

Now what would be funny is if the guy had it on right rather than vibrate..

cup 1 - smashed
cup 2 - smashed
cup 3 - diddle doo do, diddle doo do, diddle doo doo doo!

[ImaginalDisc]

I've seen a clip of that. i think it was on one of the 'list' programs on Channel 4 or Sky, i.e. the ones where they have a top100 worst tv moments etc. If I remember correctly, it was probably in late 70s/early 80s when we weren't all so politcally correct, and it was probably ok to endanger your audience.


Could you maybe explain what safety in magic tricks has to do political correctness?

[DJM]

Well, the amazing test was tonight on the show... dowsing! :rolleyes:

How they did the test? Well like they said, with high security that it's impossible for Geller to know in which box they put a very expensive necklace. They kept saying on the air how reliable the test is.

Just one little problem.. Geller himself is the one that puts the necklace inside the box after holding both of them! What's the point of all the security if he can easily leave a mark with his finger while holding the box? He said this is the same kind of test he did at Stanford, so now it's pretty obvious how he cheated there..

You can see a video over here:

keshet-tv.com/geller/lobbyvideo.aspx


There's a long list there with videos. The one where he is putting the necklace in the box is the last one on the list, there's a picture there of two small boxes. The video where he "finds" the right box is in the second video on the list. It's all in Hebrew, but it's not really a problem to understand what's going on.

Just pathetic...

[wahrheit]

You can see a video over here:

keshet-tv.com/geller/lobbyvideo.aspx

Too bad, seems to work with Windows, only. Though I guess I didn't miss much - you already described it quite clearly what was going on.

[Questioninggeller]

Just one little problem.. Geller himself is the one that puts the necklace inside the box after holding both of them! What's the point of all the security if he can easily leave a mark with his finger while holding the box? He said this is the same kind of test he did at Stanford, so now it's pretty obvious how he cheated there..

You can see a video over here:

http://www.keshet-tv.com/geller/lobbyvideo.aspx


The link didn't work for me... I doubt I'm missing much anyway.