Society - Derren Brown: The System

The System, a Channel 4 special in which Brown shared his 100 percent guaranteed method for winning on the horses. The show was based around the idea that a system could be developed to guarantee a winner of horse races. Cameras followed a member of the public, Khadisha, as Brown anonymously sent her correct predictions of five races in a row, before encouraging her to place as much money as she could on the sixth race. To demonstrate the system to the viewer, Brown tossed a coin showing ten heads in a row to prove it was not impossible, just highly improbable. After Brown had placed a bet of £4,000 of Khadishas money on a horse in the final race, he explained that The System did not really exist. Brown expressed the opinion that the principle behind The System (essentially confirmation bias or survivorship bias) is what is behind belief in spiritualism or homeopathic and alternative medicine.