This morning I phoned my mom, checking in with her after not having talked to her for a few weeks. I have been busy at work with big projects going into production status, so when I had a few moments to myself today, I decided to give her a quick ring.

After catching up a bit, she told me an old clock that belonged to my grandfather was working again after watching the new Uri Geller show, a clock that was declared irreparable by a clockmaker. While I’m a person who doesn’t really believe in this sort of thing, but my mom does, so I don’t bother with it.

While I am not a believer, it is a fun performance, so I went on Newsleecher and grabbed a few episodes from the net, to check it out. To my surprise, the Dutch pilot was available, so I went on and download it, along with episode 3 and 4 from the German version (aired on Pro Sieben).

The Dutch pilot had a more spectacular version of the hand-impale trick (performed with a sharp combat-knife instead of the normal rusty nail with a paper cup over it).

It also featured a piece that was quite exiting, a ring embedded into the middle of a hollowed out Apple, which is then sealed up again and impaled on a plate. The plate with the apple was placed on the head of a VIP while another holds the plate in place, with his face about 10-20 cm away from the apple. The performer then stands on a rotating plateau, holding bow and arrow (the arrow has an embedded laser pointer, very cool!) and shoots the apple in half, ending up with the golden ring on the arrow.

The last piece that made quite the impression was a transferred touch experience, where two VIPs are places next to each other with a few meters between them. The performer touches one, while they both feel it.

After the 90 minute long show (that’s without breaks!), I was glad I watched. This all changed when I watched the German version, which featured different variations of the exact same stuff, performed by different people… One thing that was a clear fake was a Russian roulette act where a VIP had to load one of 4 revolvers with ammo while the others stayed empty. They were placed in a carousel with the handles pointing clockwise. After loading, the loaded gun pointed counter-clockwise. She even claimed she was now unable to tell which gun was loaded… during the act, the guns get positioned correctly, so that a clear camera shot later shows the loaded gun with an unloaded gun, both handles pointing clockwise. I guess a camera man or someone in the editing room messed up showing the marked guns before they get straightened out.

All in all, it’s fun and entertaining, as long as you make sure you don’t watch the show from different counteries…