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.
Intoductory remarks
First, a little poem of mine:
so you say that – achad! –
real powers he got?
these “powers” are – shtaim! –
not worth a mere dime
is it mystic? – shalosh! –
no way, golly gosh!
achad, shtaim, shalosh: Hebrew for 1, 2, 3
And a perfectly matching current cartoon by xkcd:
(via BA)
The show from 22 Jan 2008
General reading tips (German): GWUP info page, GWUP special site.
The contestants’ contracts
Skeptiker (GWUP) and Stern report about the contracts – among other things, the contestants would originally have had to sign that they “have distinct mental and intuitive abilities, such as mind reading, telekinesis, sugestion or autosuggestion”.
» More (in German) at Stern!
The contestants’ web sites
In my first show’s summary, I was wondering:
The question is how much the contestants are behind the “real powers” balderdash which also was clearly shown in the short films introducing them – or if they rather submitted to the show’s demands.
And checked their websites. I should do this for the other five contestants, too, of course (my translations):
- Dr. Lord Jack Nasher, “Management Psychology”, also gives courses. „Jack Nashers Mind Mysteries are demonstrations of human perception deception. […] a performance with psychology, knowledge of human nature and pure deception – not forgetting irony.“ The lord didn’t even give a basis of paranormal for ProSieben’s short texts.
- Alexander Hartmann: „In my show I do things that seem inexplicable to most people to create extraordinary moments. My goal is exclusively to offer good entertainment – not to claim or prove the possession of any supernatural abilities.“
- Farid (by the way, are there any clearly laid out pages on MySpace?) writes: “Farid has already entertained his audience with professional magic when he was 10. […] A new and modern kind of magic.” Not really extensive, but for itself, it doesn’t sound bad. But if he really stands behind what the ProSieben website says that he has said: “I remember it clearly: as a little child, I was raised out of my bed one night like by ghost hand”, then:
- Thorsten Strotmann Magic Entertainment: A “magician, magic artist, entertainer, infotainer, host”, who, on the one hand, presents himself quite businesslike, on the other hand unfortunately also writes: „Mental magic: thoughts are energy. […] As a child, he already recognized that he has a special gift and can grab energy and thoughs on another level. […] As well, he can influence energetically “charge” objects by the power of his mind.“
- Leo Martin, “staged communication”: “[…] suggestive communication, perception deception and attention guiding. He creates illusions in the heads of the people and makes them do things that they wouldn’t have considered possible beforen.” Sounds rather psychological and magic-artistical than supernatural. ProSieben, by the way, writes “…have been able to before.” You can read this as a small but relevent difference towards more balderdash…
And I still think: In any case, a magician who doesn’t think too lowly of himself should not have applied for such a show in the first place.
Geller about his powers
On the one hand in an interview of the Berliner Kurier (all my translations):
“? So you do have telepathic abilities?
! Without a doubt.
[…]
I beleive I had been given an extraordinary paranormal energy.”
On the other habd in the Magische Welt (magic world), the independent German magazine for magic artists:
“I don’t claim anymore that I have supernatural powers. I am an entertainer, I want to do a good show. My entire character has changed.”
Now what? 
The show from 15 Jan
At the beginning, press reactions are mentioned and shown in the background – only briefly and only positive ones, there must be a relation. And did Geller really say, “we don’t claim to have supernatural powers, we just want to enjoy it”? So really the new, more conservative line, if you will? (Cf. above.) Well, hopefully not the most interesting thing this evening…
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Or he’s trying to. For a “general public”, a “broad mass”, which corresponds to the target audience of the private TV stations and tabloid papers, this may hold true. Thanks to the internet, and YouTube & co. in particular, he can’t keep up his hard course that included many unfounded lawsuits against critics.
Uri raves about the many “normal” people that thanked him for their smokelessness.
