Saturday, 3 October 2009

3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Poor Derren Brown. Three great events that made Friday night TV watchable for the first time in years (aided by Peep Show naturally), and the fourth is the one that everyone remembers.

The man who claims to have beaten the roulette wheel certainly has a wealth of evidence to suggest this is the case, further illustrated by the fact that he is banned from almost every casino in the UK for having a 100% success rate at cards.

At the climax of the month's worth of events, Derren attempted to gamble £5000 of somebody's money on a single number of roulette, hopefully netting £175,000 at odds of 35:1. With an elaborate setup that can't be faulted in terms of unmissable and enthralling TV, Derren ventured to the table in an unknown European casino and chose the number he believed the be the winner, by calculating the trajectory and speed of the ball in a matter of a split-second.

Unfortunately a year of (what I assume to be) intensive study and training, Derren's calculation was one number out, which in the cruel game of roulette is little consolation. What ensued after in the two minutes of airtime remaining in this slot, however, was nothing short of hysterically funny. It was clear that Derren's crew had not factored in that he may miss his calculation, and as the vision mixer scrambled to find a suitable shot that didn't make matters worse, he made an unfortunate selection.

As the two crew members stand outside the trailer where the man now short of £5000 is sitting, one meekly calls 'Ben, Ben, we'll get you your money back'. Next to him, we see a caught-out colleague awkwardly holding a giant cheque, with no hope in fuck of concealing it from the millions watching.



I guess surreptitiously sliding it under the trailer wasn't really an option.

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