Talk:The Heist (Derren Brown special)

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Does anyone have a good link to a serious analysis of how the trick was done? Assuming that the subliminaal mumbo jumbo is the usual Derren Brown fluff, we'd be looking at methods of deceiving the audience of the programme in some way, though he says there are no downright stooges used. So for example the trick could be done by standard hypnotising the subjects just before they do the robbery (without telling the viewer of this), or perhaps by making the environment in the robbery scene look obviously fake, like a film set, so they think it's actually a final simulation/test rather than real life (and again, not telling the TV viewer about this)... someone must have written a nice paper or something about this by now, but I can't seem to find one? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.167.9.246 (talk) 17:32, 24 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Consider the simple answer: many of us are this prone to suggestion.--W☯W ^t/c 21:14, 18 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't seen the show, but your last guess actually sounds reasonable. Consider this, though: Magicians use all kinds of misinformation and tricks to deceive the audience, so when a magician says "there were no camera tricks used" or "there were no stooges used", it may just be a lie to deceive some more. Yet, everybody then believes the magician, because they want to believe.Hg2014 (talk) 01:27, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Derren Brown outright denies using stooges for anything other than a couple in Trick or Treat, and you don't have to believe him but he seems to go to great lengths to point this out. I recall a passage in "Tricks of the Mind" where he pointed out how incredibly expensive it would be to keep a stooge quiet, especially the more famous one gets. There are some cases where his explanations have been lies (*cough*lottery*cough*), but I don't think this is one of them — if it is, explicitly denying the truth over and over and over again is a very risky strategy and could wreck his career if just one stooge goes to the papers. — Bilorv_(talk)^(c)(e) 09:30, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The article mentions that the guard was cued to cross from the Bank of England. I don't think that's correct. The opening of the show (as well as the stunt itself) are filmed in Gresham Street, and based on walking the route myself it looks like the "Steal yourself" advert is hung on a wall on the south side of Gresham Street at the Anthologist bar/restaurant, opposite the junction with Basinghall Street. The van is parked in Ironmonger Lane, and the participants are stopped around King Street and directed into a tent in the Guildhall courtyard. But the Bank of England is bordered by Threadneedle Street, Princes Street, Lothbury, and Bartholomew Lane, a couple of blocks east from there. I think the reference to the Bank of England is artistic licence. Stifle (talk) 10:12, 11 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]