Russian roulette was for real, say parents

9:07am Monday 13th October 2003

The parents of Croydon illusionist Derren Brown have rubbished claims that his Russian roulette stunt was faked, saying they are convinced the performance was genuine.

Christine and Robert Brown, of Higher Drive, Purley, held their breath as they watched their 32-year-old son gamble with his life on Sunday night when he pulled the trigger of a loaded handgun held to his head.

His 58-year-old mother said: “I was absolutely terrified but he’s promised me he won’t do anything as risky as that again.” Millions of people tuned in to see if the psychological ‘mind control’ expert could judge which chamber contained the single bullet by supposedly reading the mind of the man who loaded it, someone who had been specially-selected from thousands of entrants.

The event, screened with a short time delay in case the stunt went wrong, has been criticised by police and anti-gun campaign groups who fear copycat attempts. Channel 4 was also criticised for broadcasting the event in a week which saw a spate of shootings across the country.

However, the latest allegation facing the illusionist is that the gun’s only bullet was a blank – a claim his parents have dismissed after they watched him shake and sweat his way through his death-defying performance.

Derren’s father Robert, a 64-year-old swimming coach at Whitgift School, said: “There’s no way that stunt was faked.” Christine, a doctor’s receptionist, said: “He had lots of conversations with me about it and he assured me that that he would not go through with it if he didn’t feel comfortable. He rang me about three hours before the live event and asked me how I was. I think my husband was more terrified than me. We just sat in silence after it was over.

“He knew there was gong to be a bit of controversy but I think the timing of it being screened was very unfortunate.” Former Whigift pupil Derren has become a household name since the success of his Mind Control series on Channel 4 along with a series of live shows across the country.

Christine added: “There’s no doubt that he is just fantastically good at what he does. I don’t know how he does what he does and I don’t want to. I’ve never wanted to know how he does it – I just want to be amazed.”