Derren's Brown's lottery prediction: How did he do it?

Thu Sep 10 11:00AM by TV Editor

Derren Brown

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Derren Brown appeared to pull off his biggest stunt so far last night when he successfully predicted the National Lottery results.

The illusionist claimed to have printed his prediction on six white balls earlier in the day and these remained in shot, but facing away from the camera, throughout the programme.

After watching the live lottery announcement on BBC One, Derren walked across to the six white balls and turned them around to reveal the correct numbers.

So, how did he do it?

Discussion boards are already rife with theories and speculation about how he managed to pull off the trick.

One popular suggestion is that there was a slight time delay in the BBC's broadcast of the lottery draw and someone had given Derren the numbers just ahead of the broadcast.

Others believe that the programme used a split screen effect which allowed someone to arrange the correct balls once the result had been announced.

Or, perhaps the balls were sitting on a special device which printed the numbers onto them as soon as they were revealed on the BBC show?

Derren claims to have spent a year working on this latest trick - did he simply work out a system where he could predict the numbers? And how can we get our hands on this information??

All will be revealed - apparently - in a special programme at 9pm on Friday night on Channel 4. In the meantime, we have our own theory about how we think he did it but we are interested to hear what you think. Watch it again on the clip below and then let us know...

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User comments

  • (1)

    7 11 12 49 33 8

    Posted by: richardboo on Thu Sep 10 11:24AM | Report abuse
  • (2)

    He's the devil and knew all along! :-)

    Posted by: sammarcwhite on Thu Sep 10 11:35AM | Report abuse
  • (3)

    I was completely shocked when the numbers were revealed. Looking forward to the program tomorrow night to see how he did it. I just hope he bought a ticket with those numbers too... ;-)

    Posted by: krisnebroso on Thu Sep 10 11:36AM | Report abuse
  • (4)

    there is a 12 second delay from the moment things are filmed to when they hit your screen. Someone could quite easily ring him & tell the numbers.

    Posted by: koosh_dee on Thu Sep 10 11:36AM | Report abuse
  • (5)

    It's just a trick.... a good one but not exactly rocket science..... but he is a good entertainer nonetheless..

    Posted by: angulimala28 on Thu Sep 10 11:39AM | Report abuse
  • (6)

    Split screen without doubt. It's just an illusion.

    Posted by: ricky_a_wilmott on Thu Sep 10 11:39AM | Report abuse
  • (7)

    If he really claimed to know the numbers why didnt he buy a ticket!? silly boy

    Posted by: annmariebaker2679 on Thu Sep 10 11:40AM | Report abuse
  • (8)

    i think that he looked at a large amount of previous lottery draws, and came up with the numbers which have been drawn the most.

    Posted by: gozkan03 on Thu Sep 10 11:40AM | Report abuse
  • (9)

    It must of been a time delay, there is no way on this earth that someone could predict the lottery numbers, if he did print the numbers on the balls did he buy a ticket for the draw with those numbers on them???

    Posted by: billystephen2002 on Thu Sep 10 11:41AM | Report abuse
  • (10)

    whoop

    Posted by: dominic.usher on Thu Sep 10 11:42AM | Report abuse