Blapsing_Beard wrote:you'll find that he never once states that he uses NLP, people just interpret what he does as NLP
I think what he was getting at was that Derren Brown confesses to it all being trickery, misdirection and illusion and thus kills off the "magical" quality.
I personally, being a sceptic, prefer it this way. It's still incredibly impressive to watch in awe as he performs any one of his number of feats, and in a way, its like he's showing you a little more respect by not trying to convince you its magic, when we know its not.
Plus, Derren says that when the audience focuses harder on what you're doing, they're more likely to miss the trick of it, so by telling you outright that he's performing a trick, and not magic, you are perhaps more likely to pay attention and look for the trick part.
Although for performers who say it is magic, as part of the act, thats fine too. If everyone did it the same, it'd be a very boring world.