Russian roulette game on TV sparks debate

LONDON -- More than 3 million people in Britain watched on live television as Derren Brown held a gun to his head and fired three times, then turned the weapon away and appeared to blow a hole in a sandbag with the next round.

Brown, who claims to be a mind control expert, said he could read the thoughts of the volunteer who placed the gun's single bullet in a numbered chamber. But police say his game of Russian roulette wasn't what it seemed -- special effects were used and the gun held only a blank.

On the island of Jersey in the English Channel, where the show was made, Deputy Chief Officer Lenny Harper said Britain's Channel 4 television informed his department of the stunt in advance and used a prop gun that did not contain any real bullets.

"Whether or not we approve or condone that sort of TV is not our business," he said. "We knew and we were satisfied that no one was in danger and it was simply a magical illusion."

While some blank ammunition can kill if fired close enough to the body, Harper said the blank Brown used did not pose any danger.

"There is absolutely no way that the States of Jersey police would allow anybody to put themselves at risk and shoot themselves dead," Harper said. "This program was made by a TV company very experienced in pyrotechnics, in making smoke and bullet holes appear. It was no different to film which uses special effects."

Channel 4 had said it staged the stunt in Jersey because gun laws would have made it illegal in England. Jersey, which has its own legislature, is part of the Channel Islands -- self-governing territories of the British Crown, and not part of the United Kingdom.

"This was part of the ploy," said Harper, explaining that while laws on real guns were looser in Jersey, the prop gun would have been legal in both places.

Brown's spokesman, Greg Day, declined to comment.

Channel 4 said in a statement that it "was very mindful of its responsibility to ensure the safety of all involved, and liaised with the Jersey police in advance of filming there to ensure that no offenses were committed."

A spokeswoman would not say whether there had been a real bullet in the gun..

Even before the police statement, many were angered by Sunday's broadcast of "Derren Brown Plays Russian Roulette Live," saying the program glamorized guns and suicide and could prompt children to play Russian roulette.

"It sends entirely the wrong message," said Rick Naylor, chief superintendent of the South Yorkshire police and vice president of the Police Superintendents' Association. "You're going to get copycat kids doing this and we're possibly going to end up with some tragedies."

Channel 4 said on its Web site that Brown had picked the volunteer who supposedly placed the bullet in his gun from among 12,000 applicants.

Reviewer Victor Lewis-Smith slammed Sunday's program in London's Evening Standard as "empty, vulgar and distasteful theatricality."

"Channel 4's hypocritical 'don't try this at home kids' warnings couldn't disguise the ghoulish glee with which they were dangling the prospect of ... (a) 'you'll never get those stains out of the carpet' moment before viewers, in the name of light entertainment."