The Derren Brown Experiment – The Secret of Luck

Last night I watched a fascinating TV program called “Derren Brown: The Experiments” which is a BBC series on DSTV.

In this particular episode Derren who is a world famous illusionist wanted to do an experiment on what makes some people lucky while others attracted misfortune.

The subject of this experiment was to be an entire town in west Yorkshire England called Todmodern.

The experiment was to last 3 months to discover how people can make themselves luckier.

The experiment starts with a statue of a dog in the town local park.

 Derren decides to start a process he employs a reporter called Dawn and a film crew to go around the town and tell the residents that they are doing a documentary on luck and ask them if they have heard of the lucky dog statue anywhere in the town.

He also decides to put hidden cameras around the chosen dog statue to see if his rumour will show any interested in the lucky dog statue by the town residents.

Dawn quickly finds out that no one has ever heard of a lucky dog statue in the town.

The next step was to select 7 residents and film them touching the dog to see if it would change their luck. The 7 chosen residents Jeana who own a hair salon and Tony a pagan.

After a couple of weeks had passed Dawn the reporter and the film crew went back to the 7 residents and asked them if they had any luck since touching the dog statue.

Mike said that just after touching the lucky dog statue a lady brought him a very unique toy for him to sell in his shop, which he considered as very lucky. When asked did he contribute his luck to touching the dog he felt touching the dog did have something to do with his recent luck.

Sally the artist had a few small lotto winnings and got a job the same day she touched the dog that she applied for a couple of days before.

Tony found that new work opportunities opened up for him.

Beryl also won a small amount on the lotto.

So did Jeana the hair dresser who also won some money on the lotto.

Wayne the unlucky butcher had no luck at all since touching the dog statue; in fact he had more bad luck.

So Derren decided to see if he could help Wayne find some luck, as he believes that Wayne was just missing some good opportunities.

To help Wayne out they made up a scratch card and put it in his letter box with some other leaflets to see if he would scratch the card. If he did scratch the card he would win a new TV.

Dawn and the film crew returned to the butcher in a week’s time to see if Wayne had had any luck after touching the dog over the last week.

He said he still had no luck.

So they thought they would even be bolder and set up another potential lucky opportunity to see if he would take it.

A lady would stand in the street and ask various different people walking by if they would take part in a survey. If they said yes, she would ask them if they could name five different meat cuts and if they got the five questions right she gave them £20.00.

Many stopped and participated in the survey and received £20.00 for answering the questions right.

When Wayne came walking past the lady approached him to see if he would participated in the survey. Unfortunately Wayne was in a hurry and said he can’t wait, but he will come back in 5 minutes, which he never did.

Then they thought let’s make it even more simple for Wayne.

 Let’s put a £50.00 note on the pavement right in front of Wayne’s path, surely he will see it as he walks past, but he did not, he could not see what was right in front of him.

The hidden camera around the lucky dog statue started to show that there was more and more interest being shown in the dog statue, more and more people where coming to touch and rub it.

The next step in the experiment was to take five of the seven residents to the Blackpool arcade games after they touch the dog to see if it would improve their luck. Wayne the butcher and Tony the pagan where exclude.

Derren was in disguise so no one could notice him as he observed the five people playing the games. He was quite surprised to see that they were wining more than the average amount of winnings.

He believed this lucky streak of the five people was somehow connected to touching the dog and that the dog was creating a state of mind of the five people which was making them win more than average; Derren said he was astonished.

Another part of the experiment that I enjoyed so much was the part when they asked Jason Manfred, a well known British comedian to pretend that he had a flat tyre in the middle of the town.

The idea was that he would approach two different pub owners at different intervals as they passed his car and ask them if they can help him with the flat tyre.

The pub owner who stopped to help him would earn themselves a free Jason Manfred show at their pub.

The first landlord who they interview early at the lucky dog statue said he did not really believe in luck. While the second pub owner said she was a luck believer.

The first pub owner wasn’t really willing to help Jason with his flat tyre and recommended a garage around the corner that could help him.

The second pub owner, a lady took the time and went to get someone to help him change the tyre even though she was not able to change it herself.

You could clearly see the difference in the two pub owner’s personalities. One was open, bubbly and friendly. The other closed off and frustrated as he could not wait to get away, as he said he had to go open his pub.

Needless to say her pub was full to the brim the night Jason gave his free show; they could hardly keep up with serving drinks to all the customers.

The conclusion: both had the same opportunity, but because both had different personalities and views on life, only one got the prize.

Derren decide to give Wayne a final attempt to have a chance of luck.

 He got a huge bill board trailer and wrote on it with huge letters.

         “WAYNE CALL THIS NUMBER 0800 328 2009”

He then got someone to drive the billboard trailer past him and after a few attempts of getting him to notice the bill board. Wayne finally sees it and says to himself “is that for me” and decides to call the number.

Because he called the number Derren decided to go and see him to show him all the footage of all the failed attempts of them trying to put luck his way. During the experiment Wayne had told Dawn all the negative things that happened to him. The pipes in his house burst; he was open he broke his wrist etc.

 Derren explained to him his outlook in life was making him miss all the lucky opportunities that were coming his way.

As time passed the lucky dog statue was now the talk of the town, it was on the front page of the newspaper and discussed on the local radio station where numerous people phoned in to tell of the luck they had after touching the lucky dog statue.

 Even Mike the toy store owner called in to say he had one of the best weeks ever in his toy shop and made more money in one week than he had ever done before in a week.

In the final week Derren rumour that he started.

He decided that he would at the same time test the lucky dog statue to see how lucky it had become with everyone focus on it.

So he held an event in the local town hall to confess to the towns people what he had done and at the same time he would get the locals to build a contraption where someone could roll down a dice and if the dice came up with the correct number he would give that person 5 times the amount of money that they would be willing to bet.  

The contraption that was designed and built by the locals residents, looked like a crooked drain pipe coming down from a second story building to the floor where a plastic dish laid to catch the rolled dice.

He advertised the rolling of the dice experiment throughout the town and said in the advert that the person who would be prepared to bet the most money on rolling a dice to a certain number would become the contender for the prize and if they did not succeed to roll the dice to the specific chosen number they would lose all their money.

He was quite worried rumour and there was no such thing as the lucky dog statue, the people might turn negative.

 When he addressed the audience to tell them what he had done, he explained that even though there was no lucky dog statue before he started the rumour he was quite amazed by the results everyone was getting and it was like the dog statue actually became lucky for some people.

But he went on to say that all the statue really did was in some strange way change the people’s state of mind and believe of luck that would enable them to see the world in a different way, a more positive way. Thus find the good opportunities that they were always missing.

In other words you create your own luck by what your state of mind is; or as I call it your state of being.

And this is exactly what had happened to the people that believed in the dog so much. 

They were creating their own new experiences from their new state of being which was affected by their belief in the lucky dog statue.

What you put out is what you get back, this is a golden rule of manifestation and I don’t mean what you ask for is what you get back.

Your desires must be incomplete alignment with your state of being, the inner you, the real you, not the ego persona that sometimes projects itself as a false, confident, happy & positive person when nothing can be further from the truth at its core.

When you are truly immersed in something that you want and you behave and react to life situations from that state of being – that is in alignment with what you want, you will get it.

All it takes is work to change the way you act and respond to life situations.

 Look at the pub owner who won the free show with Jason, she believed in luck and was a friendly and open genuine person, while the other pub owner was the exact opposite.

And look how behaviour, thoughts and emotions at our inner state of being.

Anyone can change.

Who do you thing put the highest bid in the town for the dice roll prize of 5 times as much as you bet.

You would not believe it, it was Wayne the butcher.

 After Derren spoke to him and showed him that by the way he looks at the world he is missing all his great opportunities. During the talk with Derren he decided to change his outlook and take his opportunity when it comes by.

Thus the highest bet of £1 000.00 for the dice roll prize that he made, he added on his paper ballot that it was all his life savings.

To cut a long story short, with the process of elimination the number four was selected by the audience as the most popular number after Darren asked them to think of a number between 1and 6 and then reveal the number they were thinking of by a show of hands as he mentioned each number.

Then Wayne is asked when would he like the dice to roll a four, the first, the second, the third or the not on the third roll of the dice he rolled a four and Wayne luck changed forever.

 Now I know Derren is an illusionist, mentalist and brilliant hypnotist and there showman ship in these shows, but a whole town started to change over the three months and a lot of good life experiences came out of it.

Was it just luck that caused Wayne to win the money or was it some trick, if it was the latter.   

Then I don’t know how he pulled it off.

The dice was supplied by Mike the toy shop owner and was handed over to Wayne at the show just before he rolled it. Derren never touched the dice and the contraption that the dice was rolled down was designed and built by the local residents.

The audience chose the number to be rolled and Wayne chose which roll between 1 and four the dice will roll four.

During the three months Derren did not even come in contact with the residents until the last couple of days.

That would be a good trick for sure.

I agree with Derren it is a change in state of mind or what I prefer to call it a change in the person state of being that makes you see and be available for good opportunities to come you.  

If we would only focus more on our state of being and react to our daily outer experiences in a more positive, friendly and happy way, our world and our experiences will become better and more enjoyable.

As it always is in this world you get to believe in what you want to believe in.

 It is always your choice and what you believe in will become your reality.

This is what I believe in for sure; luck is made by who you are at your core of your being and just like Wayne I have constantly seen this philosophy played out in my life.

About the Author:  My name is Paul Birnie, and I am the creator of ‘The Secret of Manifestation”.  I appreciate that you have taken the time to read this article. Please feel free to share this article, as The Secret of Manifestation is dedicated to sharing information on spiritual awakening subjects. I am also the creator of the Oneness Pendant and writer of the book “The Secret of Manifestation’ that can be purchased at http://www.onenesspendants.com

Tags: Manifesting