23 April 2014

ITV's This Morning to do a segment on Psychic Fraud next week. Asks me for help

I was recently contacted by a researcher from ITV representing the show This Morning.

I often get contacted by such representatives and have done for over a decade. I usually help out, but I am so sick and tired of what they put out there I decided to reply and hopefully make a dent in the minds of the program makers, I doubt it will make a difference, as it never does, but you never know.

I know that the ITV researcher also contacted various other skeptic groups, who I am sure are climbing over each other to help in the hope of 5 minutes of TV fame, or to get their name on the telly, but that's not my game, never has been. This is BadPsychics, and the message from us is that Mediumship is wrong, it is not real, it is fraud. And if you don't like that then PROVE ME WRONG!

Here is the email with various bits redacted like email address and names etc, afterall dont want to get into any trouble, although I am sure I will get told to remove it soon.

Hi, I work on This Morning and I'm getting in touch to pick your brains about an item for next week. We are doing an item on psychic fraud and are desperately trying to find a case study.  

What I'm finding is that while there is no shortage of fake psychics, no one wants to go on the record to talk about being conned.  

Is there anyone you know of who might work?  
Thanks, much appreciated, 
####NAME REMOVED####
And here is my response.

Hi ####NAME REMOVED####, 
Unfortunately you are unlikely to find anyone, why would anyone want to go on the record and admit they were conned by such a ridiculous scam, it is humiliating, embarrassing and the last thing anyone would want to do is go on TV and advertise the fact they were made to look a fool! 

Lets add to the fact you will undoubtedly trot out some fake psychic/medium to be on the segment as well, and give them airtime to publicise their own fraud. And I am sure you have Paul Zenon or someone similar to represent the sane minded, but he'll get a 10th of the time given to the fake psychic, and its the same old story on ITV. 

I've seen it so many times, you treat the subject as if it is legitimate, instead of treating it like the vile crime it is. 

And even if you do present an intelligent segment breaking down how these frauds work, after a few weeks you will have some Astrology segment, or a dog psychic on the couch for a free 5 minute advertisement of their fraud. 

I know a lot of people who have been conned by psychics, I HELP them, I go to trading standards, the ASA, I go direct to the psychic and encourage them to refund in full the person who was conned. I go out of my way to help those who have suffered, I damn sure don't embarrass them, or allow them to be humiliated on TV in front of thousands of viewers. 

Sorry ####NAME REMOVED####, I have been in this business over a decade, I know how TV works, I know you guys are only interested in a 5 minute segment, and I simply cant see you changing what you have done every single time the subject is brought up on This Morning. 

Instead of doing what you always do, why don't you try and do something original like presenting a 10 minute segment breaking down exactly how these frauds work, and the steps in which people can fight back, what people should do when they are conned by a psychic. Have a lawyer on the show to explain your legal rights, and to explain the consumer protection act. Have Paul Zenon explain the tricks, expose the tricks. 

Do a consumer help segment instead of some dumb humiliating interview whereby a poor woman has to admit she was fooled by someone pretending to talk to her dead daughter. 

Be responsible, and make good television, instead of looking for stories to sensationalize 

Regards 
Jon Donnis 
BadPsychics


So what do you think? Was I too harsh? Should i have helped. Leave your comments below.



19 comments:

Unknown said...

Not too harsh mate but you should say to them that you would only go on if you could show and explain how the con works after the so called psychic does the party trick you and Paul z could work together on this what a way to really blow this out the water

JD said...

I'd never go on a TV show like that, although meeting Holly Willoughby would be a dream come true!

I would much rather see them go all out and expose it, EVERY time they have a psychic on the couch they always get more airtime

Unknown said...

Well instead of going on the show see if you could pair up with Paul z and do you own segment On the matter and see if this morning would do proper time on your exposure

JD said...

I doubt Paul would care to work with me in that matter, as he is a magician so will be very doubtful to want to actually expose any tricks of the psychics in detail.

Unknown said...

You don't know until you ask mate see if you can get it to happen if it does not well you tried down that route it's a pity that you could not get the master of it all derren Brown

DRW said...

Firstly, Jon I friggin love you - perfect response. I've barely stopped CRINGING and having my toes curl to breaking point after ITV put Uri Geller on their show (in 2014 - can you honestly believe it) - so I share your exasperation with them.

I think you may be wrong about Paul Zenon however, I'd love to see a segment such as that, but like you said - they appeal to the true lowest common denominator - exposing a lot of their viewers as idiots for believing in this type of thing would not be the best way to boost ratings eh? Especially after Schofield et al. were encouraging people to put spoons on their TV's during Uri Geller's segment only a day or two ago.

Keep fighting the good fight I'm a huge admirer and big fan of the site.

JD said...

Thanks LOL.
Keep in mind the Uri Geller thing was not what they were contacting me about!
How can they expect me to help them when you just know they will have a dumb segment like that on the air within weeks of a so called serious segment!

I like Paul Zenon, but again he is a magician and perfect to expose psychic tricks like Uri Geller performs, but when it comes to mediums he is completely unqualified to show how they do it, he and Randi etc always go down the astrology type route which is very different to what mediums do. Derren Brown is someone a bit better to cover such a thing

Anonymous said...

phone are bad to. Psychic Source is also a scam. only paid 20 dollars, but they lied about everything. some psychics are real, but the prices are ridiculous. some will charge you up to 600 dollars for just 30 minutes. people think its a good amount of time, but believe me its not. not everyone is rich. most psychics only help upper class people like James van Praagh, Sylvia brown, And even John Edwards. psychics are given this gift for a reason. to help people, not to get rich. I would never pay a psychic that kind of money to care about me. who do they think they are. think about it. these psychics say they get their information for the spirits, or our deceased loved ones and that is how they give us our messages. well why should we pay the psychics. the spirits should get the money lol. but if it were up to the spirits.they wouldn't charge us nothing. maybe one day heavenly father will put some psychics down here to care for the pour as well.

JD said...

Hi Angela, I was a bit hesitant to allow your post to appear, but its not spam so I had too.
My issue is that on one side you know there is a scam, but then naively say there are real psychics too.

There simply isn't, mediumship is impossible, this is a scientific and historically proven fact.

If you know of any real mediums/psychics, please tell me, so I can arrange for them to receive the nobel prize, and the worlds scientists can start to re-write the laws of physics and so on.

There are no spirits, no ghosts, no God, nothing. Sorry but there is simply no evidence for any of those things, in fact there is more evidence that the Loch Ness Monster exists.

Unknown said...

Get Colin Fry on there and expose him publicly! I personally hate crossing over. Possibly THE single most boring programme ever made! Possibly with the exception of songs of praise. That's boring too. Yeugh! Can't Any1 make decent TV without all this bloody fakery, drudgery and scams? No offence to the church or BBC. But if it offended Colin then cross over yourself! Keep the blog alive Jon. I only just discovered it.

JD said...

Colin Fry was exposed by his own peers before he even became famous!
Have a read of
http://badpsychics.blogspot.gr/2013/02/colin-fry-trumpet-incident-news-report.html

As for Crossing over and John Edwards, again he was also exposed long ago too.
Have a read of http://www.csicop.org/si/show/john_edward_hustling_the_bereaved/

And no, there is not a single paranormal investigative show in history that was totally legit, there may have been ones that started out honest, but when ratings tank, they ALWAYS end up faking stuff to keep the show alive.

Also worth noting that ghosts do not exist so any such show is always gonna have a problem, much like the ridiculous Bigfoot shows currently doing the rounds in the US

Anonymous said...

first of all. I never said anything NAIVELY, I respect how you feel, but you don't have to be rude. I used to be just like you. I kinda still don't believe in God, cause if there was a God, then maybe people like yourself, would not be so rude to me or judge me. I wouldn't of went through all the pain I went through as a child. getting raped and beat up all my child life if there was a GOD.The only reason I KIND OF believe in psychic is cause 3 of them told me I was going to get a lot of money and I did. plus a psychic told me that my Ex was cheating and he was. I have also had other experiences with psychics and they were right about everything. but I still have a lot against them. I completely understand why you feel this way and I certainly would never want to change your mine. I could never judge you and you shouldn't judge me. Hell you could of been the person that changed my life when it comes to psychic, but the way you come at people is not fare. Some of us are just a little confused.

JD said...

You see yourself at the end of the journey of knowledge.
I would love nothing more than to be shown cast iron proof psychics were real, but i just cant see it happening, and all of science being wrong.

I am sorry if I was rude, but you must understand I have heard so many anecdotes of these so called real psychics, yet none of them ever truly prove themselves outside of the business empire they place themselves in.

I dont judge you and I can understand that because of your life experiences and challenges that you have needed to put faith in magic and fantasy as a way to cope, that is ok with me as the harsh realities of life are sometimes hard to take.

It is this simple, you give me the name of a psychic you consider real, and I will show you how they are a fraud.

Also if you have any recording or transcript of a psychic reading that convinced you, I take up the challenge of showing you exactly how they have done it

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much Jon. I sorry too. U make so much since and Im going to take your advice. if you every get a chance. just email me some imfo of these stupid psychics. I would love to learn more about it please.

JD said...

Best place to ask questions, read and learn is the forum http://moh2005.proboards.com/

Unknown said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZM3t9JpGjw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVEsvQT4wxQ

real or fake,

even though you ignored my last post lol
guess you can only battle women

JD said...

Fake, old magic tricks. Sorry I never replied before, its hard to keep up, if you post on the forum I will always reply as easier there. http://moh2005.proboards.com

Mediumship and psychic abilities are impossible, so any and all videos apparently showing this will be fake.

If someone really had such abilities they wouldnt post it on youtune they would take it to the world news organisations, to top University scientists and so on, that way they would win a Nobel prize and instantly force science to be rewritten,

Unknown said...

no,i do not agree with you,some culture are very seltered such as the monks in sholin ,and not everyone want to prove themselves to make money or just plain "show off"

some people just consider it secret, and if you looked at the first vid its a old footage before youtube even existed, only thing I can think of is either he has quick hands and a pyromaniac or its just legit.

im a believer of the laws of physics as much or maybe more then you,but I have witnessed a "few" strange events,
my mother seen hell hounds, even wish (my mom is creditable, although she may have been drunk lol )
but are bodies can do more then we know, its has been proven (super human strength, speed, calculations, pain, foresight ) its not all fake,we only use 1/10 of our potential

sometimes some things are hard to believe until we see it for ourselves

JD said...

Shaolin fake stuff too, they do silly magic tricks wrapped up as some kind of martial arts magic mind over matter nonsense, and they make a lot of money from their shows and the tourist industry.

How can you be a believer of the laws of physics more than me, its not a faith you know, the laws of physics are what they are, you cant believe in it one minute then say you believe in ghosts as thats just silly.

You have a long way to go Sean, but do your research, look at both sides and truly try to understand the claims put to you and in the end you will arive at the same conclusions that not only I have but modern science has too!

No such thing as ghosts, mediumship is impossible and psychics are just failed magicians

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