The One (TV program)
Encyclopedia
The One is an Australia
n television program broadcast by the Seven Network
, hosted by Andrew Daddo
. The program pits several psychics against one another, participating in trials which challenge their purported abilities in activities such as clairvoyance
, telepathy
and mediumship
to determine who is Australia's top psychic.
The psychics' abilities are observed by a studio audience or at external locations, and are judged by a two-person panel including Stacey Demarco, a psychic, and Richard Saunders
, vice president of Australian Skeptics
.
The show premièred in Australia on Tuesday, 8 July 2008. The program is broadcast with closed captions and is classified PG.
All contestants were honorary life members of the Australian Psychic Association (APA) who each year give awards to publicly recognized psychics who have applied for nomination.
Eliminations were made by the judges, however on the final episode "The One" was chosen by the Australian public voting via a telephone popularity poll.
All of the tests followed conditions discussed with Richard Saunders who was the secretary for The Australian Skeptic Society and a judge on the show. Skeptics and psychics both agree that there was nothing of scientific value in the show. Recently, Saunders has stated that contestants failed 94% of tests. However, it is unclear what parameters are used to attempt to substantiate that statistic, as Richard Saunders acquiesced to the clear the hits that the psychics achieved in the first series in front of a viewing audience in excess of of 1.3 million viewers. (The second series did not rating that highly.)
. The stunt was condemned by Colne Valley MP Kali Mountford, who had worked with the Falconio family, with "Some reality shows are worthwhile and show people having a laugh, but there is nothing funny about such a personal, terrible tragedy." The search for Falconio was additionally criticized by the eventual winner Charmaine Wilson as being "in bad taste".
Shé D'Montford also publicly criticized the show for editing out many of the things that the psychics got right in order to make the show more believable to the general public. Her comments have been published on this in the August 2008 issue of Spheres magazine. Further reports were in The Psychic Directory of that year and Spellcarft magazine as well as on several radio programmes including the following web archive.
2011 Controversy
The 2011 show is attracting controversy once the audience is made to be aware that not all Australian psychics were approached by the producers of the show. The Australian Psychic Association (APA) selects psychics from its own membership, which is a paid subscription for people in Australia and internationally to join. The Australian Psychic Association owned by Mr. Simon Turnbull comes into a lot of criticism because of the failure to have any real independence from the APA. Mr Turnbull has a large psychic company where he employs psychics to work for his http://www.newagesupastore.com psychic chat lines and also produces a monthly psychic magazine. There is also a psychic award voted every year by the APA that isn't selected by the public. This award is voted on by members of the Psychic Association and is highly criticized as being a public relations exercise to promote the APA psychics.
The promotional material of the show claims they are finding the most gifted Australian psychic for 2011. It would be expected that all psychics would be approached to determine their suitability to verify who is the most gifted psychic, if such a thing exists at all.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n television program broadcast by the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
, hosted by Andrew Daddo
Andrew Daddo
Andrew Daddo is an Australian actor, author and television personality.Andrew has been a long time presenter on the Seven Network in Australia and has been involved in hosting many Seven specials...
. The program pits several psychics against one another, participating in trials which challenge their purported abilities in activities such as clairvoyance
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
, telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
and mediumship
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
to determine who is Australia's top psychic.
The psychics' abilities are observed by a studio audience or at external locations, and are judged by a two-person panel including Stacey Demarco, a psychic, and Richard Saunders
Richard Saunders (skeptic)
Richard Saunders is an Australian skeptic, podcaster and professional origamist. He has received recognition by the Australian Skeptics with a Life Membership in 2001 for his contributions to the organisation...
, vice president of Australian Skeptics
Australian Skeptics
The Australian Skeptics is a non-profit organisation based in Australia which investigates paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using scientific methodologies.-History:...
.
The show premièred in Australia on Tuesday, 8 July 2008. The program is broadcast with closed captions and is classified PG.
Season 1 (2008)
The Show featured the seven top Australian psychics, selected via exhaustive testing from over 1500 applicants. All had excellent reputations and were bonafied by The Australian Psychic Association and passed police background checks.Contestants
- Shé D'Montford - Third to be voted off. Was the longest serving Psychic with over 35 years professional experience. This former Queensland business woman of the year is remembered for finding a little boy lost (hidden) on the show in just over 3 minutes.
- Rayleen Kable - Second to be voted off and host of a paranormal radio show on the mid-coast of NSW. Rayleen was the 2nd longest serving psychic with 20 years professional experience.
- Ezio De Angelis - Top Three contestants. A stage medium with over 10 years professional experience.
- Dr. Jason Betts - Fourth to be voted off. Member of MensaMensaMensa meaning table in Latin, may refer to:*Mensa International, an organization for people with high IQs*Mensa , a southern star constellation*Mensa , a term used by geologists to refer to an extraterrestrial mesa...
with a Math degree. Jason also had 20 years professional experience. - Mitchell Combes - First to be voted off and author of 2 books has 7 years professional experience. Mitchell has since gone on to become the regular psychic on Seven's The Morning Show.
- Charmaine Wilson - The winner of Channel Seven's inaugural season of 'The One.' This Australian Medium began working professionally in this field since 2002 and was also honored as Queensland Psychic of the Year in 2008 and Australian Psychic of the Year for 2005 by the Australian Psychic Association.
- Amanda Roussety - Top Three contestants. Housewife and young mother of 3, was the only non-professional psychic to appear on the show.
All contestants were honorary life members of the Australian Psychic Association (APA) who each year give awards to publicly recognized psychics who have applied for nomination.
Eliminations were made by the judges, however on the final episode "The One" was chosen by the Australian public voting via a telephone popularity poll.
All of the tests followed conditions discussed with Richard Saunders who was the secretary for The Australian Skeptic Society and a judge on the show. Skeptics and psychics both agree that there was nothing of scientific value in the show. Recently, Saunders has stated that contestants failed 94% of tests. However, it is unclear what parameters are used to attempt to substantiate that statistic, as Richard Saunders acquiesced to the clear the hits that the psychics achieved in the first series in front of a viewing audience in excess of of 1.3 million viewers. (The second series did not rating that highly.)
Controversy
The show was controversial for content shown in the final episode of the show, featuring a hunt for the body of murder victim Peter FalconioPeter Falconio
Peter Marco Falconio was a British tourist who disappeared in the Australian outback in July 2001, while travelling with girlfriend Joanne Lees and is nowpresumed dead....
. The stunt was condemned by Colne Valley MP Kali Mountford, who had worked with the Falconio family, with "Some reality shows are worthwhile and show people having a laugh, but there is nothing funny about such a personal, terrible tragedy." The search for Falconio was additionally criticized by the eventual winner Charmaine Wilson as being "in bad taste".
Shé D'Montford also publicly criticized the show for editing out many of the things that the psychics got right in order to make the show more believable to the general public. Her comments have been published on this in the August 2008 issue of Spheres magazine. Further reports were in The Psychic Directory of that year and Spellcarft magazine as well as on several radio programmes including the following web archive.
2011 Controversy
The 2011 show is attracting controversy once the audience is made to be aware that not all Australian psychics were approached by the producers of the show. The Australian Psychic Association (APA) selects psychics from its own membership, which is a paid subscription for people in Australia and internationally to join. The Australian Psychic Association owned by Mr. Simon Turnbull comes into a lot of criticism because of the failure to have any real independence from the APA. Mr Turnbull has a large psychic company where he employs psychics to work for his http://www.newagesupastore.com psychic chat lines and also produces a monthly psychic magazine. There is also a psychic award voted every year by the APA that isn't selected by the public. This award is voted on by members of the Psychic Association and is highly criticized as being a public relations exercise to promote the APA psychics.
The promotional material of the show claims they are finding the most gifted Australian psychic for 2011. It would be expected that all psychics would be approached to determine their suitability to verify who is the most gifted psychic, if such a thing exists at all.
Season 2 (2011)
After a long absence, the series returned at 19:30 on the 5th of October 2011. Andrew Daddo returns to host the second series.External links
- http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2008/08/08/falconio-stunt-in-bad-taste-86081-21491819
- http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/209-swift-august-8-2008.html#i4
- Judge Stacey De Marco Interview with Maynard