Q: What Did One NBC Star Say to the Other? A: You're a Fraud and a Charlatan

In the interest of full disclosure, the NBC star making the charges was Criss Angel, who will co-host a limited series, "Phenomenon," which begins Oct. 24. The show asks viewers to vote on which of 10 contestants is the best mentalist.

The NBC star on the other end of the allegations is Allison DuBois, who is played by Patricia Arquette on "Medium." The real DuBois (below), after whom the series was modeled, claims to be a psychic who gets messages from the dead. She also serves as an executive producer on "Medium."

And, to be completely honest, although this detracts slightly from the enjoyment of the story, Angel did not say these things to DuBois' face or to any other part of her anatomy.

He said it to a group of TV critics and reporters during a conference call to promote "Phenomenon."

Angel, who models himself after his hero, Harry Houdini, is a master illusionist. He once went on "Oprah" and asked the host to pick a number, any number. Then he told her what it was, and he was right. But whether he's guessing Oprah's number, walking on water or levitating, he never claims to have supernatural powers. It's all art, technique and practice, he says.

But what about the people on and off TV who claim to have supernatural, psychic powers, such as John Edward or the aforementioned Allison DuBois? I asked what he thought of them.

"In my opinion, all that stuff is a bunch of garbage," he replied. "They're trying to take advantage of the vulnerable and give themselves a platform to generate money based on taking advantage of people. Houdini spent pretty much half his life exposing these people."

Houdini, he added, went around "proving that psychics were basically charlatans taking advantage of the vulnerable." Psychics, Angel declared, "are the lowest form of scum in the world."

So why do people fall for it? Angel had two explanations. First, people like DuBois, Edward, Lisa Williams on Lifetime and Mary Ann Winkowski of "Ghost Whisperer" fame are accomplished at what is known as "cold reading." This, said Angel, "is a technique that's been around forever where the spectator, in their desire to know information, actually gives the information indirectly. But it's packaged in a way by the 'psychic' to appear that they are predicting the future and know about their past." (Psychic: "I'm seeing an 'M." Naive subject: "Yes, my mother's name is Mary.")

"When I'm meeting somebody for the first time...I understand just by looking at their mannerisms and the way they dress and the way they speak, I get a sense that I can read somebody. And I also look when I'm picking people out of a crowd who would be the best candidate to do this."

The other reason people swallow this stuff? They fall prey to their own emotions. "People have a tragedy in their life and they're so devastated that they want that connection. So these people (psychics) prey on their vulnerability. It's unfortunate but that's the way it is."

Angel says he loves to expose these frauds and will do so if the opportunity arises on "Phenomenon." "I think the American people--you can't please everybody--but the majority of them will realize that I'm doing that (exposing them) because they're not speaking the truth."

Would David Sarnoff, the late legendary founder of NBC agree with him? Maybe DuBois will tell us.

Posted by Barry Garron

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