User:Pahunkat/sandbox/Derren Brown Plays Russian Roulette Live

Derren Brown Plays Russian Roulette Live was a 2003 television special in which the illusionist Derren Brown took part in a game of Russian roulette. It was broadcast by Channel 4 to close to 3 million viewers.

Background
Derren Brown is a British illusionist. Prior to the television special, he was responsible for the Channel 4 television series Derren Brown: Mind Control in which he demonstrated the concepts of mind control and mind reading.

The programme Derren Brown Plays Russian Roulette Live was broadcast on 5 October 2003 by Channel 4. Total viewership was close to 3 million people.

Synopsis
The first part of the program involved Brown selecting the volunteer who would load the bullet into the gun. Brown made a group of potential volunteers partake in several games, eliminating contestants with each successive round.

A tray of supposedly "live" ammunition was brought into the final room. To demonstrate that live ammunition was being used, a round was loaded into the Smith & Wesson gun and shot at a sandbag producing a puncture. The volunteer then loaded a round into one of the six numbered chambers and returned the gun to Brown. He was asked by Brown to count from one to six.

Controversy
The show was criticised by psychiatrists as potentially promoting suicide, and concerns were raised over its scheduling immediately after a documentary on the suicide of a government official. Complaints were made in this regard to the Broadcasting Standards Commission, but Channel 4 were ultimately cleared of wrongdoing with the regulatory body finding a 15–minute delay on the broadcast would have prevented viewers from seeing Brown being harmed had he shot himself.

Filming of the roulette game took place on Francheville Farm in Grouville, Jersey. This was supposedly due to less restrictive gun laws on the island, however Jersey has laws which are similar to those of the mainland United Kingdom. The States of Jersey Police later confirmed that no live rounds had been used on set; pyrotechnics had been used to simulate the impact of a bullet on the sandbag. Blank rounds were instead loaded into the revolver. Brown defended the use of a blank, a spokesperson arguing that "he would have died anyway" upon making a mistake.