A follow-up on my post last week about the new television show Phenomenon, in which I asked the question “does Geller’s appearance on the show signal an unsaid admission that he is ‘just’ a mentalist/magician?” It seems skeptic James ‘The Amazing’ Randi had similar thoughts (surely the big ‘A’ doesn’t read TDG…), as in a new blog entry on his website he ponders whether Geller is preparing to “wriggle out of his fakery”:
There’s obviously been a high degree of panic in the Geller camp since YouTube very effectively revealed that he was using simple sleight-of-hand during his recent television series in Israel titled, “Successor.” One example is seen at youtube.com/watch?v=BJSxsbToLeE. It looks very much as though Geller is now preparing to wriggle out of his fakery. He’s in a very peculiar situation, one in which he deserves to be, and is currently dropping heavy hints in the media that maybe he’s just been joshing about being the real thing.
Skeptics have rightly pointed out that Uri’s repertoire is composed of a pretty small sample of ‘tricks’ that most mentalists or magicians have practiced for some time (though the spoon bending is Uri’s signature piece). The real question I have is about the alleged amazing events that happened in the 1970s, mostly with scientist Andrija Puharich – which are not the sort of thing amenable to simple sleight of hand…although Puharich himself has plenty of questions surrounding him (incidentally, I’m not sure exactly what Randi is trying to imply with his comment that Puharich is “conveniently deceased”…)
I’m quite sure that Uri reads TDG occasionally (from what I’ve heard from certain friends), so I’m open to hearing from the man himself!
