Derren Brown's mind trick leaves audience stuck to their seats

TV illusionist Derren Brown's audience were more than just rooted to their seats last night - they were completely stuck.

Brown's latest stunt saw him persuading viewers of his Channel 4 show they were temporarily immobile.

And it seemed to work - a Channel 4 spokeswoman revealed that more than 50,000 people rang the channel within three minutes of the screening to say they were stuck to their chairs.

Of the 4.1million viewers who watched the show, one in four is estimated to have been affected by the stunt.

Brown - who last week claimed to have picked the winning National Lottery numbers - claimed the stunt would work if people were open to it, and said it was due to the power of 'suggestion'.

Viewers were shown a short film and told to sit back in their chair with their feet flat on the floor and their hands on their legs. Brown, who assured viewers the trick had no side effects, then played a 'clearing tone' that he said would 'free' those left stricken.

Several audience members, who watched the film on a giant screen, claimed they could not stand up.

And a series of callers told of their 'bizarre' feelings of being 'stuck'. One said: 'It's just very bizarre. I'm trying hard to get up but I can't.'

But not everyone was convinced - with the show stirring up fierce debate on the MailOnline website.

Betty from Wombwell in Barnsley wrote: 'The people in the audience who 'couldn't get up' were pathetic.

'That was the point of the 'trick': To show how easily some people can be controlled by suggestion, not by subliminal images.'

Another wrote: 'Between the four of us in our house and all our friends on Facebook and Twitter, not one of them 'got stuck'.

'Nor did they know anybody who had. That is probably close to 1000 people.'

But some claimed they had been stuck.

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