Arkesus wrote:I was disgusted.
Saw it with a layperson, who simply put everything down to "well that guy has an envelope for each outcome and just brings over the right one if it goes right." and laughed her ass off when they had him walk on from backstage (nearly) and hide the tag with the dirty great big envelope, after they had vocally revealed the chosen name.
Thanks to it being a magic trick, you can actually control the outcome which is tantamount to a rigged competition. Think of three shell guys on street corners but on a larger scale.
Hi Arkesus, please undisgust yourself. Your assumption that every part of the game is a con is understandable but wrong:
The independent adjudicator is genuinely just that, an independent adjudicator. His name is Alex Calver, he works for the insurance company and is one of two insurance people on set at all times to make sure that outside of the scope of the challenges there is no cheating from either the punters or the production team.
What you think happened on the dressed up version of John Archers Collared did happen, (of course) but it wasnt Calver who did it. What happened with the envelope was purely an unfortunate side effect of doing the effect with a taxidermied rottweiler instead of a stuffed toy and not having quite enough rehearsal time (ie the damn thing spins round!). I was pi**ed because it took away a lot of the impact of the effect!
There genuinely is only one normal envelope per challenge. Calver does not switch anything. The possible / impossible nature of each challenge has been established with the insurance team at least a week beforehand. If the outcome varies during the show from what they have been told they will pull their cover and potentially cancel that episode.
And just because magicians seem to assume the worst: the end game is also genuine - they are not fancy change boxes, there isnt twenty k in each box and when open it the secret way it is hidden away.
Calver, the envelopes and the end game are all genuine. Obviously there is a way of making the possibles possible but the framework of the show is legit. Nothing is ever possible and then it doesn't happen just to screw up the punters. Aside from not being fair, it would be completely illegal, and I'll let you imagine how hard it would be to persuade a production company, a sponsor and a national broadcaster to get behind a show like thay.
Whether you believe me or not is up to you, its your call not to like the show but we didnt break the law to make it!
Phill Smith
