Derren Brown: Pushed to the Edge

This was shown on Channel Four in 2016... poor Netflix play :/

So I've just watched Derren Brown: The Push... For my fellow social psychology enthusiasts, I can only describe this "documentary" as a 'Thrill-Seeker-Reality-TV show by a modern day Stanley Milgram'.

Seriously, this was a border-lining ethical nightmare. There is such a massive potential of residual psychological distress/damage for the participants... particularly if there is no on-going support or counseling to combat guilt and/or doubt of their core morals and character.

All this under the guise of teaching society to think before blindly following (or believing) the "Man"?

Hmmmmmm.

Derren Brown is incredible at what he does. I am a fan of pretty much anything he has done. This feature is very interesting and entertaining. My only real criticism is that there isn't much of Derren performing his own illusions. He obviously designed the experiment and keeps it on the right track. His job in this is mostly limited to presenting and narrating. You don't really get to see him perform very much. For this reason, I would not say it is his best release. However, the concept of the experiment is very interesting and it is executed very well. He basically figured out a way to do 'Weekend At Bernie's' in real life, which is hilarious. Not only that, he even named the character Bernie and made him wear sunglasses. None of the participants noticed which made it even funnier. This really is very entertaining. Derren is the best.

I am always skeptical of the reality of these experiments, but I must say that there seems to be no fiction in this experiment. People forget that these people were selected after a series of eliminations and they are inclined to obey rules. The ending is shocking because it makes you question your own morality. Are you ethical enough under severe conditions? How can we ignore other people's commands and continue in our own path? Now I am a fan of Derren Brown's experiments. Well-done.

I see many people questioning it's reality and how this affects the contestants psychologically. But i assure everyone that an episode of this scale will not cause any psychological trauma as long as they know it's not real.