“The Next Uri Geller” show 7 (2nd season 2009) – Opinion, tricks, explanations

This is a report about one of the German second season shows from 2009. You may also:
» Display all my reports about this season 2.
» Display everything about the first season 2008.
» Display all articles about Uri Geller.

Gabel betet stehenden Löffel an Luckily, we’re approaching the end of the series – four contestants left in tonight’s seventh show:

Manuel Horeth, Jan Becker – “knows exactly what’s going on in those in front of him” –, Jan Rouven – “dangerous play with fire” – and Ully Loup.

This is already the semifinal – one more show next week, and that’s it. As they said last week, there will be no “battle” against last year’s winner Vincent Raven due to his health status.

Celebrities today: television presenter and former singer Johanna Klum, presenter Aleksandra Bechtel and presenter Christian Clerici. Not much variety here, profession-wise…

According to a “TV Guide” poll (via Pro7), 32% of all Germans believe in supernatural phenomena – well then, may those enjoy being dumbed even more by this show if they really believe these are no tricks or sleights of hand. If there is still any hope for some undecided ones: also the links below will help you.

The show

An “uncanny live experiment” by Uri with afterlife contact is announced. His ancient tricks should have deceased by now, but he’s still using them – so it might actually work…

Contestant 1: Jan Becker

“Today we’ll see the world with different eyes.” Drunk from carnival? Well, I’m not. We “will conjure the poetry of our mind”. Language, images, emotions, love, rituals, studio. Warm-up with the audience: Think the name of someone dear into Jan’s gestured heart, light of love, back → love, blabla. Celebs are told to think about a pretty moment, Aleks is picked. Jan wants her to “transmit” the image of the moment, he then describes it – with each sentence she’s to get one step closer to him. Room, sitting, not alone – 1,2,3 people, child? correct. Man and woman? Aleks shakes her head. Two women? Correct. Cold reading on the way to the stage.

But that wasn’t all, of course – she’s supposed to be his muse for a poem that he’s writing down. He tells her a scenario in which she encounters “blue beings” that would have something to do with a dream of hers. Body gets lighter, hovers, and I’m almost hovering into sleep too. The details of the story with boat and flower and old man are irrelevant. Her dream’s something about rock’n’roll and a proper wedding party that’s yet to come and more, and that’s part of Jan’s poem. :yawn: Well researched what he couldn’t colc-read, or well written afterwards or inserted (could you rerad directly what was on his sheet?).

Geller says: pure mentalism, wonderful, thanks.

Geller’s announcement: It’s about a contact with deceased relatives. So another despicable playing with the feelings of the viewers that believe it. :thumbsdown: And Christian, who likes to be proselytized, quotes Hamlet. :thumbsdown:

Contestant 2: Manuel Horeth

He wants to “influence the masses” today, which he hasn’t done before. “Come with us and dream” – I’m almost doing that – “a movie”. Oh, I see. He says he already got a script locked away on stage. The celebs each fetch an audience member and give them microphones. Hypno gestures for some. Johanna checks that the lock on the hanging safe is locked.

The people are told (with the usual concentration and inner eye talk etc.) to name the details of the movie and write on a board: Western, 1869, murder, 23 million € budget, title “Hang him lower”. Short “hypnosis” for Christian, names number “4401” for the lock – probably a remote-controlled trick lock, greetings to Jan Rouven! Rolled-up paper in glass cylinder in the safe – on a table that wasn’t there before, in which the scroll can have easily been placed –, of course everything’s written on it correctly. The ending scene is drawn, well, scribbled by several viewers in small parts on cardboards. Correctly of course. Everyone probably managed to memorize the simple lines for his part.

Geller: He’d deserve an Oscar.

Geller’s dumbing from the beyondg

verbogen He wants to try something medial which he never did before. The dead shall be asked for an audible sign – a little glass bell stands on his table. We’re to take a handbell, if available, and hold it high, or coins, or keys, maybe put keys on the TV. Be silent and listen for noises. Hold hands. Concentrate and so on. At least his Hebrew 1,2,3 is quiet this time, too. His bell doesn’t move for now, but we’re told to call if something happened, if we could hear something. Probably there were quite a few people who heard something at home – from a carnival party next door, for instance –, wasn’t a very specific requirement.

He of course wants to try again himself, steps at his table and the metal clapper really moves, so he got his magnet moving now nearby or under the table, turned up a compressed-air valve, whatever. Uri plays being really emotianlly touched. But not because he’s ashamed having played with the viewers’ feelings and given them such idiotic ideas.

The only thing that could move here with me would rather be related to Verena in her silver-grey dress…

Contestant 3: Jan Rouven

Wants to “try to influence fate”. 4 canisters, 3 with easily flammable gasoline, 1 (whose blue ribbon he removes) with water. I better ignore that talk about fate and inner voice. He pours a little from each canister into a bowl (I don’t see any difference in color) and puts the canisters then into the middle. The 3 bowls are of course ignited and the torch extinguished in the 4th.

A sheet is singed in a glass and its smoke and ashes used with the celebs’ fists to lengthily select Johanna and Christian (the ash on their hands has been put there by Jan himself, of course, when he touched their hands), who also receive fire-protection jackets. Christian rotates the table with the canisters so one can no longer know directly which is which. They are to be poured over Jan and 3 scarecrows in boilersuits. And as said, if it were done without the babble about concentration, feelings and stuff, the trick probably were both too short and too, well, sensible. Nose clips so they can’t smell which is gasoline and which is water. Or rather to keep them from noticing that none contains gasoline.

And the scarecrows are soaked as well as Jan – “Please don’t try at home!” Aww, they have to spoil all the fun. One torch each for Christian and Johanna, two straw guys ignited at the feet, and they go up in flames quite fast – also starting from each little platform. Then over to Jan and the 3rd scarecrow, and of course Jan doesn’t burn. I’d say in all canisters was water and in and under the scarecrows (and in the 3 bowls) more highly flammable substances.

Geller: Totally crazy, applause from the audience, Uri too is enthused.

Contestant 4: Ully Loup

Gabel betet Löffel an His soul is to leave his body… commercials. And first a few audience reactions, nothing extraordinary, and a video in which a bunch of keys moves in a hand on “shalosh”. That ooooonly could’ve been a spirit, sure.

But now on to Ully Loup and his “tortured soul” that’s to wander around. Tattle about souls and bodies before he leads Aleks by her hand to the stage – to a chair at a table. She’s told to watch him closely. Quite a thing is supposed to happen, she’d feel there were a third person – then she’s to get up, walk to the prop with a black box and take any object and put it in the box. And “something strangely shy” would accompany her, that is Ully’s own self. But don’t be afraid!

Loup lies down on a couch, a broomsick with a flower(?) that he smelled(?) before falls over (can easily be remote-triggered), and Aleks already stands up and walks out. Ully’s face is overlayed in the image of Aleks’ walk – in this sense, he is actually with her. :D She takes a toy car from a shelf on which quite a lot of things are lying. Someone will be whispering that to him. Now if nothing more will happen, that’s the most boring performance of Ully’s so far…

He gets up, says he’ll overcome some inner blocking, takes off his jacket, sits down next to her. His consciousness isn’t able to see what’s inside – how would it –, she’s told to hold her hand above the box. Soul would take a shape by his putting his hands into a box full of clay, or something like that. Was that his blocking? He theatrically works with the clay and shapes a heart. But that’s nothing his soul saw now, but something old, he says, and breaks it in two. Playing for time in a psycho distraction… but given his image, he’s got to do that. Until he forms something that vaguely (but recognizibly) reminds of a car. Had I made something like that decades ago at school, an F would have been inevitable…

Geller’s judgment: dark but impressive.

The decision

No immunity from Geller. Could I choose, I’d vote him out, but there never is a phone number for him. Couldn’t he at least perfom in that Takeshi’s Castle copy that’s announced in the break?

But first to the celebs: Aleks preferred the dark perfomance by Ully, Christian liked Manuel and Johanna Jan Rouven. And Uri liked everything again. Now, finally, and as usually unnecessarily lengthened: Becker and Horeth are told right away, Rouven and Loup must wait longer: Loup is in the next round, Jan Rouven is eliminated. Rather a pity, I’d prefer a little action over those boring things like his namesake did.

Ratings

Given that it was Carnival Tuesday, the decrease is surprisingly low: 1.69 millions total (5.2% market share), 1.15 m aged 14-49 (8.9%).

Farid’s Street Magic: 1.55m (6.1%) / 1.14m (10.5%)

See also:

» Go to all my posts about Uri Geller. «


Photos: shadowvincent/Fotolia, wilhei66/sxc, shadowvincent/Fotolia

8 Comments

  1. A

    Jan Rouven? What’s a pity!

    • c

      I agree – at least he brought some dangerous-looking action into the show, while the other Jan and Manuel only do rather ordinary stuff. Well, my guess is that now Ully Loup will win next week…

  2. d

    Den Trick mit dem Schloss würde ich gar nicht so kompliziert einstufen.
    1. Hat niemand vorher geprüft, ob das Schloss im “Grundzustand” wirklich nicht zu öffnen ist.
    2. Es wurde nur die eine Zahlenkombination verwendet.

    Ich vermute, das Schloss hätte sich auch bei jeder anderen Kombination öffnen lassen.

  3. b

    Kandidat 2:
    bei Western fiel mir spontan auch 1869 ein und Sonnenuntergang incl. Küssen kommt in jedem Frauentraum vor;-)

    Das war das erste und letztemal, dass ich mir das anschaue :)

  4. L

    eine einzige freakshow das ganze. ully loup hat echt probleme und die treuen Pro7-Zuschauer dürfen alle an diesen teilhaben. :D

  5. c

    Und es war bestimmt die vorletzte Freakshow – ich glaub kaum, dass es eine 3. Staffel geben wird, so schlecht wie die Quoten sind…

    Bei der holländischen Show gibt’s einen Vampir und einen Maskierten, Freaks sind also nicht auf Pro7 beschränkt. :)

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