'How did you do that?' - Derren Brown's incredible mind trick amazes Chris Evans

Virgin Radio

1 Dec 2023, 09:51

When Derren Brown visited Virgin Radio, he left Chris Evans in shock with an incredible mind-trick that was a year in the making.

The mentalist and illusionist joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch to chat about creating a new show, Unbelievable, which is currently playing at London’s Criterion Theatre. During their chat, Chris said to him: “Yesterday, I was thinking about you coming on the show. Because I want it to be good for you, I want you to enjoy yourself, and I want to ask the right questions. And then I was thinking about a scenario. 

“I imagined that you asked me a question yesterday afternoon, and I came up with the answer.”

Chris continued: “I’ll tell you what the question was, ‘Think of two cards’. And I thought, I wonder if last time you were in, you hypnotised me to think of this, a year ago, and here we are now. This is the denouement.”

Derren - who last visited Virgin Radio in December - said: “That's the sort of thing I do.” 

Chris asked him: “Would you like to guess what the cards are?”

“Two of Diamonds and the Three of Spades,” the showman said, with absolute certainty.

This prompted Chris to say: “NO WAY!”

“Yeah, I know what I'm doing. Play the long-term game,” Derren told him.

When Chris asked: “How did you do that?”, the magic man replied: “I kind of do it wherever I go.”

“I haven't written it down, I should have written it down,” Chris lamented. “They were the two cards. Those were the two cards. How did you do that? That was a year ago. That is amazing.”

Derren told him: “It's just planting an idea. We do it all the time in life. It's just, it's just how our minds work.”

Watch the moment here: 

Derren told Chris: “Another long term game that I've done for myself over the years is with selfies, when people take selfies. And for years, I've been coding to my future self, because people show me the pictures years later. So I've been using sign language in my selfies to code to my future self the name of the person that I'm having the photograph with, because I can hold my fingers in such a way.

“American Sign Language, you can do it with one hand. So they can show me a picture, and I go, ‘I remember you. Yes, your name is so and so.’”

Derren Brown also chatted about creating a brand new show, Unbelievable, which features a cast of non-magicians. Read about it here.

He also shared his tips for a better night’s sleep. Read more here.

Unbelievable runs at The Criterion Theatre until 7th January. Tickets are available via unbelievablelive.com.

For more great interviews listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.