Tonight I watched a man play russian roulette.

Tonight I watched a man play russian roulette.

: dean_r; October 5th, 2003

Derren Brown: aimed to pull the trigger five times with a gun at his head, the sixth shot (where the bullet was) away from him. In the end he got 4 out of 5 attempts correct. He seemed to believe the gun was in the chamber that was fired third. He aimed this bullet away, as was the plan for the chamber with the bullet in. End result: click. No bullet fired.

The guy shook. This was not planned, I'd bet. He looked on for a few minutes, trying to get his composure back. He put the gun to his head one last time, to find nothing, before firing the bullet away from him, correctly this time.

Not your usual Sunday evening television, I guess.

This stunt has obviously caught people's imagination: his website, derrenbrown.co.uk, is ironically dead from too many people trying to access it, I bet.

8 comments — :

( 8 comments — Leave a comment )

radiodave

2003-10-05 03:49 pm (UTC)

It was bloody amazing.

I can access his site fine, by the way.

worryfox

2003-10-06 12:22 am (UTC)

I had my eyes covered, I couldn't watch! I was terrified that he'd splat his brains out. :-( I hated the massive pause after he aimed the gun away the first time and found that nothing was in it.

hovis

2003-10-06 02:03 am (UTC)

The most nail-biting piece of television I've ever seen. Though, I think he knew exactly where the bullet was, which is why he started on the third chamber. The pause after the third attempt was there for dramatic effect. He's a showman, after all.

Then again, I may be wrong.

dean_r

2003-10-06 02:14 pm (UTC)

I don't know. I think there was a subliminal moment. I think I'm going to stand corrected.

Remember when there were lots of bullets, and he got the guy to pick "one, just one, only one". Possible link?

hovis

2003-10-07 12:43 am (UTC)

Was the bullet in the first or second chamber? I thought it was the second, but I can't remember how many times he pulled the trigger after his pause before chamber six. Did he put it to his head, pull it and then put it down before the final two, or did he just point it at his head and then at the sack?

dean_r

2003-10-07 01:32 am (UTC)

Chamber #1. He put it to his head, pulled it, then turned it straight to the sack and fired.

hovis

2003-10-09 01:08 am (UTC)

Aha, I think you might be onto something, then.