Man Was Willing To Risk Getting A Knife Through His Foot For £500,000

How much is your foot worth? For this guy, it was £500,000 as he was willing to stamp on a number of polystyrene cups believing that one had a sharp knife underneath it in a bid to win the money:

The gambler, called Matt, volunteered himself to take part in one of Derren Brown's tests to see how far fear would increase predictability.

Matt had 20 numbered cups in front of him and he was asked to stamp on 14 of them - leaving six untouched. Brown asked him to name a price, just in case he did step on the knife to which Matt responded in an unsure manner: "Through my foot... umm, at least £500,000."

After explaining what he was required to do, Brown wrote a cheque out for the £500,000 compensation in case he 'failed' the test and then sent him to get a tetanus jab as well as having the soles of his feet sterilised.

Brown went on to explain the premise of the test, saying: "Earlier I placed the knife under a cup whose number I calculated Matt would instinctively avoid.

"If I'm wrong, the paramedics get to do more than stand and watch and Matt gets £500,000 compensation."

Brown was getting someone to do this test in order to prove that he could predict the outcome of the lottery. Or at least it was a 'starting point' to doing that.

With a strong chance of having the blade through his foot, Matt went on to stand on 14 cups without getting injured.

Brown went on to ask whether the six that were left (numbered 1, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 18) were random and decisions Matt made as he was going along.

Then, incredibly, he was asked to look on the back of the cheque that had been written out earlier. Which revealed... you guessed it: the numbers Matt had left.

After doing a Chris Tarrant style 'we don't want to give you that', Brown took the cheque away before going on to ask Matt whether he'd like to risk carrying on.

Matt - who clearly doesn't like his foot - was left believing that the bet still stands and, after Brown randomly stood on number 18, he told his volunteer to stamp on another four.

Which would leave one remaining. Number 13 was left unstamped.

Brown then went on to explain: "I have to admit to you, the only way I could do this and know that you'd be safe, predict the six that you would not stamp on, was to get you into a state of fear."

He then added: "There was no knife under any of the cups. The injection we gave you was not a tetanus, it was just a saline solution. You're fine, you would have never got hurt."

He then went on to explain that 'Jenny' would have got hurt. Who's Jenny, we hear you wonder? Only a tiny little mouse that was trapped underneath.

Bravo, Mr Brown. Bravo.