Derren Brown's latest stunt has been criticised by a road deaths charity.

[joko]

"The illusionist hypnotised Julie Simm, a woman who rarely wore a seatbelt, making her believe that she had been killed in a car accident for new show Trick Or Treat. Producers have claimed that the programme has "public service value" as the incident made Simm vow to wear a seatbelt from now on."

What you guys think of this? on one hand i think its hilarious, clever and will make people think, on the other i think, wow, imagine being that woman...?
i assume he wiped the memory afterwards, so no lasting harm done, but still, imagine the footage...

[Dom Tuk]

It is a scam.The woman is part of his team. She is a good actress. he did not make her believe anything. She did not think she was dead. she was play acting. The whole thing is a sham.
remember his russian roulette trick. he was forced to admit that the gun had no bullets. he went thru a great big rigmarole but the bottom line was that there were no bullets in the gun. It was a fake.

Same theory applies here. there is no hyposis of the woman. She is part of his team an actress. pure and simple.

[joko]

i am aware that is a possibility - but i'd rather have actual evidence of that, i have only seen reports saying its true, so can you give me your source dom?

[stokeace]

well i guess there are thousands of people on the roads who dont wear seat belts and if this illusion has a shock effect on those very people and it saves lives then it doesnt matter if that woman was an actress does it?very clever i think.

[scruffscat]

Im curious dom, how do you know this is a scam,have you got proof?

[Philtaz]

The guy has pointed her in the direction of a decision that may well save her life at any time in the future.

She must be brain dead not to wear one anyway. He's proved that she has recovered the power to use at least half of what brain she has got left.

[Whickerman]

Can I just point to a chapter in his latest book where he deals with hypnotism - he specifically states that there is no such thing, and that anything after a point where someone agrees to go into a hypnotised state is basically play-acting on their behalf?

Draw your own conclusions from that.

[Mousie22]

Not a scam - she is a friend of mine and the whole newspaper article was a misquote - she was joking about the whole not wearing a seatbelt thing cos they put a camera in a car, so kidded around by saying does that mean she has to drive properly and wear a seatbelt now?! Looking forward to seeing it however...not sure bout the 'public service' slant though.