Thought Control David Meade: Make Believe

Nothing like that's ever happened before.

Wow, yeah, it's blew me away a little.

Oh, my...!

He's amazing.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Hello!

-Hello, there, how are you?

-CHEERING

Welcome! Good evening!

Thank you SO much for coming.

This evening is all about control.

ALL: Woo!

For that reason, I have invited a room full of people

who spend their entire day controlling people -

no, not politicians or prison wardens,

we've got teachers in the house! Let's hear it for teachers!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I'm really excited to have you all here, but before we continue,

let's have a look on what's coming up on the show -

we will be working with the incredible Chelsee Healey!

Oh, my...! Oh, my God, no!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And we'll be playing a really interesting game

of David Meade feng shui.

I can't believe it. Serious.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Before any of that, there's a bit of housekeeping I need to let you know about.

On this screen, throughout the night, you will see a red dot.

Any time that red dot does appear

it is essential that you pay attention to it.

You must not take your eyes off it

and if anything else appears on the screen,

you must also not look at what appears on the screen.

You must only look at the red dot for me. Only look at the red dot.

Now, before we continue, I think it's only fair,

in the spirit of teaching,

that I play a little game of compliance and control

that I used to play with my own students.

Everyone at home, you can play this at home as well.

All you need do is follow my instructions.

Now, everyone in the room do exactly as I say.

Now, shake out your hands for me, shake out your hands.

Turn your hands so your thumbs are pointing downwards for me.

Do this at home as well, please.

Then I want you to take your right hand

and place it on top of your left for me, right on top of your left,

and then I want you to interlock your fingers for me.

Interlock your fingers so that they are tied together,

thereby binding them tightly together.

Now, the final rule is that you must keep your arms absolutely straight.

So, do keep them perfectly straight, out from the front of your body -

like a shelf.

If you don't keep them straight, please bear in mind that

-I can make you wet the bed, that's one of my things.

-LAUGHTER

So, in the spirit of compliance,

all I want you to do is follow my instructions.

I want you to turn your hands so your thumbs are pointing upwards.

MURMURING AND LAUGHTER

Keep trying, keep trying!

And you can give yourself a round of applause. Good job.

APPLAUSE

Before we continue I think it's only fair that I should share with you

a few little snaps from my burgeoning modelling portfolio.

Take a look at these.

-Oh, yes! Don't make fun of my face, please!

-LAUGHTER

I will be selling a calendar after the show as well,

in case anyone's interested.

Only look for the dots, only look for the dots.

Don't look around the dots, search for the dots.

Your eyes will naturally gravitate towards the dots.

Now, I think it's time for a simple guessing game.

All I'm going to ask everyone in the room to do

is think of a three-digit number.

For those of you at home, as well,

I want you to think of a three-digit number.

I think...

I think I will go with...

Now, can you just pick up that number, there?

Excellent. All right, so, time to make your guesses

and we will start with this lady, here.

-What is your name?

-Samantha.

Samantha. Samantha, you're very welcome.

-Samantha, what is your three-digit number?

-529.

-529, OK.

-If I can ask this lady, here. What's your name?

-Gemma.

-Hello, Gemma, a three-digit number, Gemma, any one you like.

-369.

-369.

This lady here with, is that a bow in your hair, madam?

-Yeah.

-What's your name?

-Megan.

-Megan. OK, a three-digit number, Megan.

-235.

235. This lady here. madam, what's your name?

-Jo.

-Hello, Jo, you're very welcome.

Jo, three-digit number.

-675.

-675. OK. We've had quite a good spread, there.

Disappointingly, we didn't get anyone who got it absolutely spot-on

so let's see just who got closest. My number was 366.

-So, who got closest to 366?

-Yeah!

-Were you closest?

-369.

-What was your name?

-Gemma.

-Your name was Gemma.

-Gemma, have we ever met before?

-No.

-Gemma, have we set anything up?

-No.

-Gemma, have I paid you just to agree with me?

-No.

-I've got the wrong Gemma. Is there another Gemma...?

-LAUGHTER

-Give Gemma a round of applause as she makes her way to the stage.

-APPLAUSE

So, Gemma, now, you were quite close, there.

-You were off by how many?

-By three.

OK, so, go ahead and open that up for me, will you, please?

Just to see... Cos I had a sense of the type of people

that would come to this evening's show

and the type of way they might behave.

And read, in a nice clear voice, from the very top.

"I have a feeling that the most compliant person will be a female."

Close enough, I would say.

-"At first glance, at least!"

-Yeah, you see what I mean!

-LAUGHTER

-"She should be aged between 20 and 70."

-Well, we're...

-LAUGHTER

..probably at the very top end of that one, Gemma.

-"With dark, shoulder-length hair."

-I'd say that's gone quite well.

-A white, short-sleeved top.

-I think that probably covers that.

"A necklace with a star-shaped pendant."

-ALL:

-Ooh!

-Ah, bless, Elizabeth Duke, lovely(!)

-LAUGHTER

-"Skinny, dark jeans."

-I think so, yeah.

-Oh, maybe they are jeggings, are they?

-Er...

You are fierce, Gemma!

LAUGHTER

-"Chunky, colourful bracelet."

-Oh, look at that, yeah, excellent.

-"And shoes with white bows."

-Shoes with white bows!

-"I also think that her guess will be off by three."

-Off by three, Gemma?

366-369? Gemma, did you feel controlled?

Yes. Oh, no!

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

Oh! Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for Gemma.

-Give Gemma a round of applause.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Now, Gemma, you shouldn't feel bad that that worked SO well with you.

It's because you're, in the business, what we call "easy".

LAUGHTER

But the fact is, every single time we leave the house

people are trying to persuade us, they're trying to control us

to do what they want us to do.

Even logos are designed to make an emotion

and make you feel a certain way when you see things.

My logo, for instance, is designed to make Gemma feel sick.

Shops, in particular, are always trying to persuade you.

The stores are laid out to make you spend the most money possible.

It was an incredible realisation

when I, kind of, picked that up and I thought to myself,

"Well, what if I was to take over a restaurant or a cafe,

"and if I was able to control every single piece of the stimuli in that place."

Would I be able to control someone? Meet Sharon.

Morning Sharon, you're very welcome. I really appreciate you taking part.

'As always, my ideal participant is someone with an open mind

'and Sharon here has a mind that's open to anything.'

I do believe in angels.

Whenever you see a white feather where you wouldn't expect to see a white feather,

definitely, I think there's a guardian angel with me.

I'm playing with more than angelic inspiration, though.

Unknown to Sharon, I have arranged this room

so she will sit precisely where I want her to.

Take a look, which chair are you being drawn towards?

I'm going to ask you to pick any chair you like.

Now, what's important is that you know

that your choice of chair is totally random.

Have a wander and choose the chair you like.

And if you think that I've made you pick a chair

-or influenced you to pick a chair then just change your mind.

-OK.

-I'm going to get you a drink. Tea or coffee?

-Tea, please.

-How do you like it?

-White with one sugar.

-OK.

Go ahead, choose a chair. Any one that you like.

'I'm being careful not to pressurise Sharon

'so she feels like she is making a totally free choice.

'Mind you, I may have to force her to drink this tea!'

The pot...

I'll be Mum.

Now, there we go.

-So, it did you feel like you've been controlled here today?

-No.

-Not at all?

-Not at all.

-Random choices?

-Yeah.

-We haven't set anything up?

-No.

What's unusual is that

you could have sat on any one of nearly 100 chairs in this room

but you didn't, you sat on this chair.

I need to show you why that's important

because you could have sat here, but you didn't.

And you could have sat here... but you didn't.

In fact, you could have sat...here.

Here, here, here...but you didn't.

You could have sat here...

here, here... But you didn't, Sharon,

-you didn't sit on any of those chairs. Free choice, Sharon?

-Yeah.

-How many times did you change your mind?

-Four times.

-All right.

So, you didn't sit there, you didn't sit there,

-you didn't sit there, Sharon. Could have gone anywhere?

-Yeah.

You didn't sit here, not even there. We have nearly, what?

-About 100 Xs in the room? But, Sharon, you sat there.

-Yeah.

Would you like to...take a little look for me?

Green tick. Of all the places that you could have sat

-and that was a random choice?

-Brilliant.

-Genuinely.

-Yes.

What are the chances, do you think, of that working?

-As much as winning the lottery?

-Well, maybe!

Well, we should probably do a ticket!

But maybe it was possible, after you sat down,

that I distracted you somehow and maybe changed the little arrow

because, after all, it is only stuck on with blue tack.

Maybe I stuck that on somehow, when you were looking out of the window,

when I was taking my tea but I didn't want you to think that

that was the case so, to make sure it wasn't the case, I did this.

Sharon, a floor plan of the entire room.

Didn't sit there, didn't sit there, didn't sit there, didn't sit there -

the only one with a tick on it, right beside the window,

right beside the lamp and right beside this stage

was the one chair that you sat on.

-On all of the chairs that you could have sat on!

-My God!

Sharon, from the minute that you came into this room

every single thing has been designed to make you sit

where I needed you to sit.

You could have sat anywhere, it felt like a free choice

but my job is to control the way that you make decisions.

You could have sat anywhere...

and, of all the places that you could have sat,

you were drawn to one chair more than any other

and, Sharon, that chair...

was the one and only chair that I wanted you to sit on

in the entire room.

Every single thing in this room has been designed to make you sit there.

How did you do it?

-Does it feel strange?

-Brilliant.

-You did an amazing job.

Thank you so much, you were brilliant. Thank you so much.

I really, really appreciate it.

Whenever I come in, there was a few times I was going to pick a hard chair or soft chair,

but I was drawn to that particular chair.

Serious.

Absolutely fantastic.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Let's hear it for Sharon. Sharon's here with us this evening!

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Truthfully, that would've worked with absolutely anyone.

Even you, folks.

In fact, let's try it, actually.

I'm going to work with every single one of you in the room, now,

but, also, those of you at home. You can take part in this.

So, series of questions, folks.

I'm going to ask you to think of a number in a moment.

Now, this number must be from one to 50.

A two-digit number

and I want you to make sure that both digits are different,

and that both of the digits are odd as well.

Think of a number now. Has everyone got one, yes?

Everyone got one? How many of you went for 37?

It won't work with everyone. How many of you? Up you go!

Oh, right, OK. So, like, 60, 70% of people in the room?

I want you to think of another two-digit number.

This time from 50 to 100 and make both of the digits different,

but make both the digits even this time, all right?

-Think of that right now. Has everyone got one?

-ALL: Yes.

Now, how many of you went for 68? Raise your hands. Raise your hands.

Oh, much more. 75-ish%? How many went for 86, though?

How many went for 68 or 86? Raise your hands, raise your hands.

Oh, an awful lot of sweaty armpits, how excruciating!

All right, let's keep going. Think of a playing card.

Any playing card in the deck. Has everyone got one?

-ALL: Yes.

-Queen of hearts, ace of spades?

Raise your hands, raise your hands! Oh, almost everyone!

-You really are all simple!

-LAUGHTER

OK.

-Repeat after me, "For one to end."

-ALL: "For one to end."

-"One must first begin."

-ALL: "One must first begin."

And I want you to repeat this at home as well.

-"For one to end."

-ALL: "For one to end."

-"One must first begin."

-ALL: "One must first begin."

-Now, louder! "For one to end."

-ALL: "For one to end."

-"One must first begin."

-ALL: "One must first begin."

Now, the whole thing! "For one to..." go!

ALL: "For one to end, one must first begin."

Now, quickly, choose a number.

Has everyone got one, yes? Was it three?

-ALL: Yes!

-Hurray!

APPLAUSE

But why does that work? Well, I'll tell you why that works.

If we go all the way back, look at what I said.

"For one to end," think about that.

Four, one, two -

the only number that you didn't hear was the number three.

So, that one seems super sexy, number three.

It seems really attractive.

"Totally, that's a totally free choice that I'm going to number three."

The fact is that anyone can do this.

We're all being controlled every moment of every day

and my job is a little bit like a writer writing a script for all of you,

but you don't know that you're already playing a part in it.

So I thought, "Wouldn't it be interesting

"if I could work with an individual

"who has their mind controlled by scripts all the time."

Check this out.

The person I've chosen is actress Chelsee Healey.

Chelsee has appeared in Waterloo Road and Hollyoaks,

but today she's not playing a part - she's being herself.

If someone got one over on me I would be kind of fuming

and I wouldn't be able to control my actions!

SHE GIGGLES

I've already written the script

for what I think is going to happen today,

my job will be to control their thoughts

to the point that they do everything that's in that script -

even though they've never seen it before.

Chelsee perfected her Paso Doble on Strictly Come Dancing,

but fancy footwork won't cut it here. This is all about mental agility.

To be honest, I doubt that he's going to get one over on me

and I'm a very clever and smart girl, so I'll spot it a mile off.

'The real Chelsee is tougher than any character she's played on TV.

'This could be tricky.'

Chelsee, thank you so much for coming.

I can't thank you enough and I know you're a bit tired.

-You're just off a flight. Where have you been?

-I've been to Ibiza.

You lucky duck!

You're the type of actress that really takes on a role

and gets inside, to the point where you feel like you

are the character, as opposed to just playing the character.

I wanted to try something along that control theme. All we're going to do is play a guessing game.

It's important we double check you have no idea what's about to happen.

-I haven't a clue.

-OK, good.

I'm going to take my watch and I'm going to set it to a time,

a time that isn't the time right now.

-What time do you have there?

-Um...

-I'm not sure whether this is still Ibiza time.

-That's all right.

-3:40.

Let me see your watch. It just says "party".

All right, so I want you to imagine for a moment that you can see

an hour hand spinning around on a clock.

What hour does that hour hand stop on?

-Three.

-Now I want you to imagine the minute hand is spinning around,

so this is how many minutes past three we're thinking about.

-So what is the time you're thinking of?

-3:30.

-That was a random choice.

-Yeah.

-Did you feel controlled?

-No.

You want to take a look at the time?

Oh, my...

-3:30.

-Oh, my gosh!

-I'm going to try one more thing with you.

-Yeah.

I want to say right now from the very start that I've got something

for you here, so your job is to make sure that I don't take that off you.

In fact, you can put your hand on it.

So I want you to imagine now that maybe I've written a script for you.

And in that script, you're going somewhere in the world.

To a country, a country that I couldn't possibly know.

-A secret country. That just feels right, right now.

-OK.

-So, where was it you wanted to travel to?

-Marbella.

-Marbella? OK.

-Marbella. Have you ever been to Marbella before?

-Yes.

-All right.

-Did you like it?

-I loved it.

-OK. So let's try something else.

This time, I want you, in your head, to think of a date. A date that...

It can either be a random date, any point in the future,

or in the past, and whenever you're ready, what's your date?

The sixth of the eighth, 1988.

Is that a random...really random one, or does it mean something to you?

-It means something.

-These are popping into your head?

-Yes.

-OK.

This time, think of a celebrity. Any celebrity in the world.

It can be someone that you know, someone you don't know,

a stranger, someone that's a great friend.

Whenever you're ready, go ahead and name the person that you're thinking of.

Dappy.

-Dappy from...?

-N-Dubz.

-N-Dubz.

Do you know, it hasn't quite... Look, thank you so much.

-You've been brilliant.

-OK.

-It's my fault, not yours.

-Are you sure?

I really appreciate it. But you should probably open that up there.

I don't want you breaking your nails. We're not insured. They cost the price of my house!

Thank you for this.

You're OK, not at all.

I should probably be a bit more honest with you now, this isn't

a voucher, this is a script I've written six weeks ago for today.

-Oh.

-Could you go ahead and read it out loud for me?

"David and Chelsee are sitting at a table beside some clocks.

"Chelsee's like, totally amazed and really blown away by how awesome David is."

-That's kind of awkward, but never mind.

-No, it's true.

"She continues reading from the script,

"which has been in an envelope, which she has had the whole time.

"David is going to control my thoughts and make me think of Marbella..."

Oh, my God!

-Oh, God! It's on this piece of paper!

-It's all right.

"The sixth of August 1988 and Const..."

-I can't pronounce his name.

-That's OK.

"..Also known as Dappy."

I'm going to think of 3:30. Oh, my...

"Chelsee is even more amazed and before she claps and cheers loudly, Chelsee kisses David."

Oh, well! Awkward! Chelsee... Oh, well. If you want to.

Mwah! Wow!

-You're bloody good! I'm speechless, like.

-You need a rest now.

-For goodness' sake.

-I do.

I said Marbella because it's one of my favourite holiday destinations.

I said the sixth of August because that's my birthday.

And Dappy because I love his music.

Oh, my gosh!

That's freaked me out a lot. He's amazing.

Gosh!

APPLAUSE

All right, all right. There's no need to patronise me.

Folks, you've seen me working with individuals all night.

The fact is, and I'll be honest with you, it's an awful lot easier for me to work one-to-one.

It's much more difficult to do it with an entire room. So that's what I'm going to do now. OK?

The main part are these. Anyone know what these are? Teachers?

-Acetates.

-Acetates.

-No, these are your union rights.

-LAUGHTER

-So I'm going to pass a few of them out.

Actually, could you pass some of these out for me as well?

My friend, Ellen, here is also passing out some markers.

So if you have a blank page and a pen, please wave them

in the air for me. Wave them in the air.

All right, excellent. Sounds like it's raining!

So in a moment, I'm going to ask you to make a drawing on that.

But I don't want it to be a detailed drawing.

I want it to be something simple. And it shouldn't be obvious when I'm looking at it exactly what it is.

Get drawing. Now, there will be a little piece of audio here for you to listen to.

-RECORDING PLAYS BACKWARDS

-This is just to open up your subconscious

and to help distract you from the obvious things

that are around you that you may wish to draw.

Allow the sound to get into your head, it should get into your head.

OK, and I think we will stop there, folks. Stop there.

Now, if you could form a nice orderly line, please.

And place them on this table. One at a time, form a nice orderly line. On you go.

OK, we're getting quite a collection.

We've got some really interesting examples, I have to say.

I'm going to take a look at all of these and see what it tells me about each of you.

In the interest of fairness, I think we should probably have Gemma up again. Where's Gemma?

-Ladies and gentlemen, let's get Gemma up to give us a hand.

-APPLAUSE

OK, Gemma. Now I need to ask you seriously, do you feel controlled?

-No.

-Not at all. So all free choice.

-Yes.

-Excellent. Let's see what these free choices say about us.

Your job is to make sure nothing gets switched,

that I don't add anything here and also that I don't add any

little marks with any hidden markers or anything like that.

I'm just going to take, Gemma, a quick look at some of these.

So some of these are a lot smaller than others. And some, erm...

I predict, I could be wrong... I feel a man drew this.

LAUGHTER

Own up. Who drew this? Hands up.

LAUGHTER

-Ah, of course it was. And what's your name?

-Eoin.

Why are you so angry about that, Eoin?

Bearing in mind I'm a mind-reader, and you can try and lie if you like, what is this?

It's a bairn, the top of a bairn.

AUDIENCE: Aah!

Did you hear that, Eoin? That was a unison of "Oh, aye!"

LAUGHTER

OK, this is interesting. I mentioned a leaf and someone has drawn a leaf.

-Who is this? Oh, it's you. And what is this?

-It's an ear.

-A rabbit's ear.

-Right! OK!

Now, bearing in mind,

almost all these things that I do,

there's a good chance that a great deal of it can, at times, go wrong.

And I want you to know, given that this is a live studio audience,

and for the people at home it may seem like some of this is set up.

If it was set up, it would be working right now.

LAUGHTER

Who's drawn this one? Hands up who's drawn this one. Hello.

-What's your name?

-Julie.

-Julie, what is this?

-It's the head of a rake.

Oh, Julie...

You are a rock'n'roll kinda girl! LAUGHTER

This person has clearly drawn a leaf,

because I mentioned a leaf, and there are a few leaf-type...

type shapes...

Well, now...

I know somebody who you should get together with.

LAUGHTER

Look, the rabbit's having a carrot!

HE "MUNCHES"

OK, we're going to have to rattle through some of these.

No, it's not quite...

There's a big balloon.

Um...

Oh, my gosh.

Who... Who did "Bum"?

LAUGHTER

Who did "bum"?

Oh, well done.

Yes, you should look so proud of yourself!

I'll put that in the middle,

so it doesn't... It still looks like an arse, OK.

It still looks like an arse.

Now, if maybe...

Look at some of these...

See if I can get these closer.

Slightly closer together?

AUDIENCE: Ohhhh!

Now...

See again, your job is to make sure

I don't switch or add or take away anything.

Are we, um...

Are we seeing anything?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

Are we seeing anything?

APPLAUSE

Are we seeing anything?

Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for Gemma!

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Now...

I know what you're all thinking.

That seems impossible, but it isn't impossible if you think about it.

I'm the writer here. I've controlled everything.

Every single moment that you've taken part in in this room,

everything has been designed

to make you do exactly as I wanted you to do.

Let me tell you how,

or at least how it might have been done.

The first thing, this logo has been on this screen the entire time you've been here.

This logo, I even pointed it out deliberately at the top of the show.

I said my logo was to make Gemma sick and it worked - she's rotten!

But the interesting thing is that you could not ignore that logo.

It was in your face the entire time.

But apart from that, remember when you were doing your drawings?

I played a piece of audio?

It sounded weird and garbled. Listen to it again.

AUDIO PLAYED BACKWARDS

That's it backwards. Can we listen to it forwards?

'Draw my logo. Draw my logo.'

'Draw my logo.'

You had to draw the logo!

There was no other option for everyone in this room but to draw the logo.

But I didn't want to leave it at that.

I didn't want to leave it to chance.

Every one of you when you entered this room got a stamp.

So that has been on your hand.

You've been looking at it all evening!

But more importantly,

stick out your hands for me.

That is not the only part of this stamp. Look what it says.

"DRAW THIS"

"DRAW THIS" Lots of hands.

Look, "DRAW THIS".

Every single one of you.

In ultraviolet - "DRAW THIS".

Every single one of you had to draw the logo!

But it didn't stop there. There's one more thing.

I needed to make absolutely sure that this would work.

Do you remember this red dot that's been on the screen the entire time?

Can we get that a little bit bigger, please?

"DRAW THIS" You had to do it!

Everyone had to draw the logo.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for coming out this evening.

So what do you think, folks?

Did I really control everyone's mind? Can I control yours as well?

Or is it all just make-believe?

Thank you and good night.

CHEERING AND WHOOPING

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd