'Psychic' Uri Geller Claims Influence on Big Brother
by David Bloomberg
-- 07/10/2002
As if reality TV wasn't strange enough already, now self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller is saying he is influencing the British version of Big Brother. What is he doing with his vast magical powers? Could he help in the U.S.?
As if reality TV shows weren’t strange enough, now the British version of Big Brother is getting an added dose of weirdness. Self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller has decided to use the popular show to once again draw media attention to his favorite topic: Himself. According to a report at Ananova, Geller is claiming that he has kept houseguest Paul around, even though he’s been nominated for eviction four times. Wow! He must have been making a lot of phone calls!
Unlike in the U.S., the British version of the show did not change the rules to make it so fellow contestants vote each other off. They still nominate two contestants and then viewers vote. So Geller is claiming to have somehow changed the votes of millions of viewers. Quite a claim! What does he have to back it up?
In the Ananova article, not a whole lot. As usual, Geller did not appear to have told anybody he was going to do this ahead of time. It’s only now that Paul has stuck around so long that Geller is taking credit (he similarly took credit for temporarily stopping the Olympic torch’s rise in Australia when part of the machinery jammed – again, he made the claim after it occurred). It sure would be a lot more impressive if he would tell people before he did these things. But then he faces the problem that it probably wouldn’t happen.
So what has Geller done to help Paul? He says he’s visited the Big Brother house twice to send Paul “good vibes.” He’s also sending him a telepathic “message to be charming and self-confident.” Oh, well, that’s helpful. How could anybody doubt his awesome powers?
It will be interesting to see what happens the next time Paul is nominated. If I were in the U.K., I have to say I’d be voting against him just to see what kind of excuse Geller comes up with. Alas, the houseguests have no way to know that Geller has made these claims, so they can’t nominate him on that basis.
So, will Geller make the trip to the U.S. to help out with the Big Brother 2 crowd? If anybody could use some psychic healing, it’s this crew. Perhaps Geller could have foreseen Justin’s violent tendencies, or telepathically told Mike that his strategy of nominating Sheryl would backfire. Hey, if he can manage to keep people in Britain from voting off Paul, maybe he could actually get people in the U.S. to watch the show! Oh, wait. Those would have required making statement ahead of time – which doesn’t seem to be in Geller’s game plan. I almost forgot.
It’s interesting to note that the Ananova article doesn’t contain any info on who Geller is predicting will win. You can bet that if Paul manages to do so, Geller will be right there to take credit. If Paul loses, Geller will find a way out. My psychic powers tell me so.
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