Another ‘One’ Bites The Dust – The Finale Of ‘The One’

Channel 7 -- a thought:

If you’re going to pre-record all three psychics responding to the claim that they ‘won the show’, don’t you think that perhaps one of them could have said something in their original predictions?

“Daddo -- it’s kind of pointless us writing in sooper-sekrit envelopes about who really is the winner. You’re going to get the viewing audience to do a phone-in poll, a handful of skeptics will be smart arses and text in the word ‘Richard’ and you’ll fail to actually show a compared tally of who is the winner, something like:

• Headless Chook -- 12
• Poster Girl for Tylenol -- 10.5 (because someone texted ‘da chik wi stomach cramps‘)
• Spiritual Postman -- 2 (smarm ain’t charm -- as Rove may as well said)
  
• Richard -- 25 (Channel 7 executives smack their heads on the table and destroy all evidence before the TV show Media Watch find out about it)

But never fear, oh strong-stomached readers! This entertainment masquerading as some sort of reality TV is finally over! And I don’t have much more to add that the Thinking Is Real blog hasn’t covered already (with a very nice tally of votes, that Richard Saunders skewered during the show too). But, what the hell, perhaps you’d like to get at least one laugh out of this train-wreak.

We can certainly demonstrate that such a program cannot escape the scrutiny of online commentators - Australia’s Next Top want to be a Psychic (ANTP) indeed bites the dust when it comes to sites and message-boards uncovering the aspects that are dodgy, dubious or just plain bad editing practices. In fact, in many ways, it’s rather like what the great blog ‘Bland Canyon‘ demonstrated with their run-down of the most recent Australia’s Next Top Model: the more you flail with conviction that you’re , the more fail you bring to the photoshoot.

Cue footage of Alex Girdwood, ‘Australia’s Next Top Not The Biggest Bully On the Show’, demonstrating via mime Richard ‘boo, skeptic!’ Saunders‘ mental state when he has to listen to Stacey ‘spookier than all the leatherwear that the contestants favour’ DeMarco yap on about how magical everyone is.

The show took a short break from a montage of events earlier in the series…

… to ask everyone whether they believe in death.

Spiritual Postman replies ‘of course, otherwise I’d be out of a job, stupid’.

Now, Thinking Is Real Blog featured the following summation of the ANTP’s revealing ‘who did we think would be the winner’ hidden envelopes that they did at the start of all this malarky:

Richard tells us that, with a one in thirty five chance, the odds aren’t that long that someone would guess it correctly. I’d argue the odds are slightly better than the raw probability since there is form to consider. It was apparent in week one, even to those of us who knew nothing of the contestants beforehand, that some were not especially good performers. We should assume the contestants had some prior knowledge of the strengths of their opponents so, if we take just two of the worst performers out of the calculation, the odds of picking the final three close to just one in ten with a one in sixty chance of getting them in the right order too.

I personally would add my own theory to the mix -- which is probably best reflected by this card trick by Penn and Teller:

That no matter WHAT happens, producers of ‘The One‘ would make a big thing that someone got ‘close to’ or chose at least one out of the final three… and certainly, the fact that most people were putting themselves first would help with the smug-factor of ‘gosh, I’m pretty good at this sort of thing, ain’t I’.

And we briskly cut to -- hark! Is that more cold-reading? Personally, I found this the most dull and repetitive aspect of the program throughout, because the ever-present thought of ‘yes, but how much was edited out?’ kept popping up in my mind. Nettiemoore’s audience notes from the episode reflect how much of the psychic readings” were ‘prepared for audience consumption, so you’d swallow it a bit better’.

As Thinking Is Real Blog points out --

In the studio, however, each contestant performed multiple reads. From nettiemoore’s notes we can see that [Spiritual Postman] did FOUR readings before he produced enough positive material to put to air (we saw read number four. The first three were binned.) Even [Headless Chook's] amazing “Sandra” guess was on her second reading, not her first… sitters were advised to answer at least yes or no rather than provide no feedback. I’ve often wondered why the spirits need the sitter to confirm their stories though.

Moments like this, I refer to an extract from the foreword to M.Lamar Keene’s The Psychic Mafia:

In my pastoral ministry, as a priest with a profound belief in the importance of psychic experience for religion, I quickly learned how vulnerable the bereaved are to any promise of reassurance that their beloved dead still live. People who have lost one they cherished will travel anywhere, pay anything, believe anything, it seems, to hear again that voice that is stilled.

In the case of Channel 7 -- GET HELICOPTER RIDES!!

Yes, the three remaining ANTP’s zipping round the flats of the Northern Territory, waving maps and talking about stomach cramps (everyone, take a drink) in order to get in touch with the spirit of missing traveller, Peter Falconio, who was killed in 2001 on the Stuart Highway just north of Alice Springs. Information about the show leaked to the news ahead of time, resulting in some backlash before it was even broadcast:

“This Is Horrible Exploitation Of A Young Man’s Tragic Demise For The Sake Of Ratings, And I Am Thoroughly Disgusted.” -- Defamer.com.au.

Australia’s Next Top Want To Be A Disgusting, Exploiter of Misery and Tragic Demise Of A Young Man For Channel 7′s Ratings doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, I guess.

In fact, if you do a bit of a Google, you’ll find that Headless Chook had something to say about it too - ‘Falconio Stunt In Bad Taste‘:

A MEDIUM involved in a bizarre Australian TV stunt to hunt for the body of murder victim Peter Falconio admitted: “It was in bad taste.” …She joined two other mediums in a supposed hunt for the body of the murdered Huddersfield backpacker in the Outback.

Williams, who was declared winner of the show, said: “To be honest I thought it was in bad taste. I feel for the bereaved family.”

The stunt was condemned by Colne Valley MP Kali Mountford, who has worked with the Falconio family since the death of their son.

Huh. But bad taste is apparently in the eye of the broadcaster, because we’re still getting programs like this, this and this. So, colour me confused, as well as bewildered, as to why they would drop off the ANTP’s in various parts of the Australian bush, claiming that they found Falconio’s final resting place -- when they’re not willing to pitch in and start digging for confirmation that their ‘feelings’ had some validity? What, that’s just too gross? After they were already willing to indulge in the bad taste act in the first place??

To be absolutely frank, the whole gruesome outback adventure seemed to be more like dancersizing than making an effort to find the body and was one quantity that didn’t need surveying by this sort of show, ever.

As a final note on this entire show, I previously mentioned that there has been a significant amount of discussion online through fellow bloggers and message board posts, producing evidence to fairly break down the claims and point out (more often than not) particular gaps and misses that were revealed. Of course, this was very difficult without actually being there to see what was edited out and the final product is what many of us are left with.

But there continues to be opportunities to use this TV show for future reference. Richard Saunders, for example, is probably the very first Australian who has become the ‘token skeptic’ on a national TV show -- making the name a valued and recognisable element. So I commend Channel 7 for taking that step.

Finally -- there’s always an opportunity for further work to be done -- and I hope you enjoy ‘The T Guy’s breakdown of some of the show here ‘Not So Very Psychic‘:

And maybe one day, we’ll have a regular equivalent that indicates the need for proper, respectful testing of paranormal claims that have a scientific focus, that will become mainstream viewing and promote discussion amongst both skeptics and believers, without acrimony. Eh, I can dream.

Tagged as: Alex Girdwood, Andrew Daddo, Australia, Australia's next top model, Australian, BBC, Bland Canyon, Channel 7, comedy, con artists, defamer, final episode, fundraiser, ghostbusters, haunted, Hugh Laurie, humor, Hustle, M Lamar Keene, Magic, Penn and Teller, Peter Falconio, psychic, psychic blindfold, psychic reading, psychic readings, psychic show, psychics, Richard Saunders, rock, serial killer, Stacey Demarco, Stephen Fry, Teller, The One, The Psychic Mafia, Thinking Is Real, TV show, YouTube