Derren Brown Ambigram

01 May 2007

So, we are three episodes into the new Derren Brown TV series Trick or Treat. I must say I've been a little disappointed. As you know I am a big fan of Derren's but I am just finding this series a little too gimmicky. He's relying too much on the hypnosis side of his act for my taste, and I can't help thinking that the subjects of his tricks and treats are just playing along. I've always been a bit suspicious of hypnosis generally, and my gut feeling is that a mixture of "wanting to please" and "expected social behaviour" accounts for a lot. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the contract that the subjects sign at the beginning of each episode actually says "just play along with me will you, and I'll put you on the telly"; this after all is a technique Derren has been known to use before (see the description in the chapter on Zamiels Card in Derren's pre-fame book Pure Effect - a must read for all Derren fans). It's not all bad news though, the bits where he plays tricks on the celebrities has been great, I particularly liked the League of Gentlemen versus Razor-bladed chocolate rolls, and the general styling of the show is superb.

And so onto the ambigram. I thought the way Derren was forcing the Trick or Treat cards was really obvious, but I've read several times on t'internet how people are totally puzzled by it. One post was saying that he'd frozen the video several times, and was convinced the Treat card was picked. I don't feel I'm ruining the surprise with this one in saying that each card is actually an ambigram (or more correctly a perceptual shift ambigram) allowing Derren to show each card as either a Trick or a Treat. Derren will no doubt come clean on this trick before the series ends, as he can't expect us not to notice.

Hello. My name is Roy. I live in rural Oxfordshire.

This is my blog. I write about things that interest me, make me laugh or that I want to remember.