“The Next Uri Geller” 2008 – 4th show: opinion, tricks, explanations

This is about a show from the first German season of “The Next Uri Geller” from early 2008. You can also:
» Show all my reports from the first season.
» Show everything about the second season 2009.
» Show really all articles about Uri Geller.

General reading tips (German): GWUP info page, GWUP special site.

Introductory remarks

• A few days ago, I wrote in this post titled “Magic?” about some thoughts and issues about magic, tricks, mentalists, paranormal abilities, rational explanations as well as dangers of too uncritical thinking, based on the report of a mentalist show attendant.
• A green smilie will be Uri Geller’s successor!
• T-shirts with “Achad Shtaim Shalosh” are available in the ProSieben collection. And if you look at the large capital letters above each other – well, according to the new German orthography, “ASS” is indeed how to write the German word for “ace”, but…

The fourth show from 29 Jan 2008

As always, in general: These are all tricks, no supernatural powers! And we’ll see how good and entertaining today’s tricks are… today, the four “survivors” of the 2nd show performed again.

The smokers’ willpower is to be incited – Geller’s energy and the energy of all viewers is supposed to help. Especially children and adolescents shall help – “more later”. And Verena Wriedt in the telephone central is again happy about her big the big feedback with a few questionable cellphone videos of which Uri thinks they’re real.

Celebrities today: “The most successful female boxer of all times”, Regina Halmich, “Monrose” singer Senna Guemmour and ProSieben presenter Oli Unknown. Erm, unknown to me, I neither understood what he said nor do I want to rewind again. Ah, “Stars on Ice” host. So *google* Oliver Petszokat = Oli P. And three state attorneys from Cologne are lowering theit respectability on the second couch.

Contestant 1: Alexander Hartmann

Don King’s haircut grandson promises for today a performance “with a little more rock’n’roll” – he wants to commit an ice cold murder. In a 240 kilo ice block, his prediction for this “creative murder” is supposed to be frozen into. We should get Veronica Mars – but alas, Kristen Bell isn’t here, so all three celebs are needed. Senna picks one of many (upside-down) postcards to set the location: Sydney. “The Queen” chooses a rolling pin as murder weapon, and Oli P. the culprit: Kermit the frog.

Alexander is glad about his crowbar, hands Oli one, too, put on protective goggles – and under the rocking sounds of “Song 2” by Blur, the ice was smashed into matchwood (erm…). Oli takes the now free steel tube, gives the scroll inside to Alex, who opens it carefully (probably to show he doesn’t manipulate anything now), and of course it says Sydney, polling pin, Kermit.

German explanation on “The Tricks”; in brief: In the box (not a table!) under the ice block, someone was sitting who quickly pushed the paper from below into the (non-massive) ice block.

Geller (in my translation): “The unusual way how you sealed your prediction gives me the feeling that you are controlling the celebrities’ trains of thought.” Huh?!? Offer: If Hartmann cuts his haaaaaair, Geller donates 10,000€ to a charitable organization – the best sentence of the evening!

Contestant 2: Thorsten Strotmann

Today the “highly sensitive mind reader” gets “under the skin” – as lie detector. A small white (flat) stone Regina may put into her thundering boxer fist, she has to look into his eyes and on the fist, and he recognizes the correct fist – multiple times, luckily that about the 100x was just a lame joke. Similarly lame as all of his other gibberish. Well, the stone is big enough to modify the shape of the hand. Did I already use the word “lame”?

Oh, the alibi supervisors, the three state attorneys, may also enter the stage. And Strotmann keeps bending their (and our) ears. ;yawn: They throw three black (thicker, rounder) “stones of lie” into a small bag, Halmich her white one. Everyone draws one at random, and in between Strotmann fumbles the bag so he knows what’s still inside, hoping nobody notices it. Hope this jabberer gets kicked out today.

Geller praises how Thorsten recognizes body language and “psychic energy”.

Contestant 3: Leo Martin

Puts pictures in the heads of the people. Also us at home: think about two simple geometric shapes. But I won’t close my eyes, I have to type. He paints a triangle inside a circle. Raise a hand (in the audience) if you have “received” at least one of these. Oh man, how many – better: how few – simple geometric shapes are there… and applaud to that?

Ayrton Senna shall draw the picture that Leo thinks. And the played “mind transfer” takes time. Takes more time. No-one, not even a camera, should see what she draws while she draws. And he says it were too many possibilities if he just relied on coincidence this time – well, sure, that’s why tricks are used. He scribbles a framed house while standing a few feet before her, while she keeps the cardboard slightly pressed to her chest. Somehow he must have seen (or been told) it anyway, apart from her house being smaller and not framed.

Houses are apparently rather probably if someone is supposed to draw “anything”, especially since simple geometric shapes have been mentioned before and the drawer happens to be moving or looking for a new apartment anyway. Though I rather think there’s more behind it (assistant?), because only relying on probability would be too risky for such a show. See German discussion there – or below in the comments.

Geller: “precise telepathic and psychological manipulation.” “Well done.”

Contestant 4: Farid

Wants to tell where exactly he gets hit by a paintball rifle. Supposedly that’s written inside a box that’s being lowered in a box ring announcer microphone kind of method. Again, all three celebs are needed, who… with many delay… after another… are to shoot at “Mr Cool”. Senna hits in the second attempt with green on his right chest pocket, Regina with blue immediately just to the left of the zipper, Oli with orange in 2nd attempt on the waitsline – “a little too high, sorry”. Haa haa haa.

But where did the misses go to? Nothing seen on the wall. Maybe paint capsules on Farid’s suit, as is usually done in movies when blood should squirt from bullet hits? Update: No, that wasn’t it, they apparently did really shoot. The German “The Tricks” blog explains it in detail – briefly: The sheet with the pretended “predictions” with order, colors and places were put into the little table below the box that has only been brought in at the end.

Geller gabbles again about influencing the celebs and Farid’s “hypnotic look”.

Pre-decision

Geller lets Alexander Hartmann get around the telephone voting into the next show.

Live experiment

The “live experiment” is actually none such: “Stop smoking”. But certainly not just for the rest of the show, hence no real “live experiment”. Well, psychology plays a great role in this, and I can quite well imagine that some people need this little additional “push” to indeed quit smoking. Alledgedly, already hundreds of thousands in Israel and Greece have stopped, and of course a man in the audience with reference to a show a few years ago.

Senna and a few audience members on stage, Uri demonstrates how much smoke from one draw gets stuck to a paper handkerchied – no mental trick this time –, talks at the people, shows prepared lungs of non-smoker (clean) and smoker (ugly dirty). “I’m not a miracle healer, but I need your energy”, especially from children and adolescents.

Luckily, being non-smoker, I don’t need to stare into Geller’s eyes and shout “achad, shtaim, shalosh, I quit”. Throw away the cigarette boxes, onto the stage! (I’d recommend not to try this from home…) Loki and Helmut Schmidt are mentioned too, of course.

The spoon bender needs no “mental abilities” for this, of course, it is sufficient if people believe it – if they believe stuff like that, that is. Uri believes in them, at least… So you basically used the wrong means to achieve a positive result for phyical health – quitting smoking – and a negative result for mental health, i.e. raised Geller belief.

The decision

First briefly Verena’s cleavage, at last! New non-smokers, call! And then, almost on time (+3 minutes), with annoying intermediate commercial: the jabberer Thorsten Strotmann has to leave, as I had “predicted”, erm, hoped. Next week, by the way, all six will perform.

Ratings

Another decrease, compared to last week:

Viewers 3+ years: 3.04 million, 9.2% market share (last week: 3.30/10.1%).
Viewers 14-49 years: 2.15 million, 15.8% market share (last week: 2,40/18,3%).

---

» Take a look here at all my posts about Uri Geller «