Top 10 Times Psychics Got Exposed On Camera

#10: Ben Zand vs Chris Riley

Investigative journalist Ben Zand decided to dive into the world of online psychics for this 2024 series, filming a few days in the life of social media star Chris Riley, who makes hundreds of thousands of pounds giving psychic readings to strangers. Zand goes in with the aim to debunk, suggesting that Chris is using common cold reading techniques – i.e., guesswork – to perform his readings, because everything he says is so vague. When it’s time for Zand himself to get a reading at the end, he points out that information about him is easily accessible online, or just plain wrong. Chris then asked for the cameras to be turned off and chucked Zand out of his house, accusing him of lying.

#9: Sally Morgan & Deborah Hyde

This isn’t the first time we’ll be seeing Sally Morgan on this list, as she IS the UK’s most famous psychic after the late Derek Acorah. In this memorable moment, she was brought onto “This Morning” to give readings to members of the public over the phone, joined by sceptic Deborah Hyde who was on hand to offer a more rational explanation. Sally asks the woman on the phone whether the bedroom she now occupies in her pub used to have a sink in it, to which she says no. Eamonn Holmes quizzes her about the sink, and she pivots to an explanation that’s borderline nonsense. Deborah finishes by pointing out the obvious: Melissa on the phone is experiencing sleep paralysis.

#8: “George”

Fans of the paranormal will already be familiar with Ciarán O’Keeffe, as “Most Haunted’s” debunker-in-chief. He was enlisted by another well-known supernatural broadcaster, Danny Robins, today best known for “Uncanny”, to investigate some spirit mediums. Back in 2007, Robins wanted to test the skills of a handful of psychics by taking them around an old building; the trick was that he’d planted some incorrect information on the building’s website, and even made up a villainous factory owner. Lo and behold, all of the psychics began to commune with Robins’ imaginary ghost, proving that they’d all done some cursory research and had a look at the internet to prep beforehand.

“Ciarán” = same as Keiran

#7: Gordon Smith & Chris Finch

Like Ciarán O’Keeffe, Chris Finch is another leading parapsychologist who’s made a name for himself debunking paranormal grifters. In this old edition of “This Morning”, he was brought on alongside Gordon Smith, the so-called “Psychic Barber”, to show that Smith is using standard cold reading techniques. Finch also employs cold reading, with the difference being that he’s upfront about it and explains that there’s nothing supernatural going on. Fern Britton then goes through Gordon Smith’s answers one by one and points out how everything he said is very vague and widely applicable to most people. Credit goes to Finch for tirelessly demonstrating the techniques mediums use in their readings.

#6: Maureen Flynn Is Too Vague

Over in the US, James Randi was a professional magician who, like many magicians, had an interest in debunking the claims of psychics and spirit mediums. He was on this side of the pond in 1991, though, to front an ITV programme where he investigated in front of an audience. He brought on psychics, let them do their thing, and then ruthlessly took them down afterwards by grilling the audience about just how specific the questions were. Flynn made wild, vague guesses that the audience didn’t buy, with one even calling her out. Maybe the James she was trying to channel was James Randi himself, who reappeared to accuse her of blindly guessing.

#5: Jayne Wallace Gets Muddled

She’s widely known as a psychic to the stars, the clairvoyant used specifically by Kim Kardashian. So, you’d think she’d be good at knowing who various celebrities are – but that’s not the case. During an appearance on “This Morning”, Wallace was quizzed about her predictions for the future, studying various objects. In hindsight, we know she was wrong by predicting that Holly Willoughby would be pregnant with a girl by early 2013; her third child was actually a boy born in September 2014. But a more obvious blunder was her not knowing who Lionel Blair was, guessing that his watch belonged to a female psychologist.

#4: Sally Cudmore’s Missing People

Former nurse Sally Cudmore tried her hand at mediumship in the late 2010s, until she ended up getting hospitalised due to “stress”, as she claims, after getting chucked out of Katie Price’s house following a reading-gone-wrong. But the previous year, she rocked up onto “Loose Women” to show her supernatural gifts to the panel, predicting the future for Coleen Nolan and Stacey Solomon. However, Jane Moore wasn’t having it. She wanted to know why Sally was so rubbish at helping the police find missing people, and wasn’t satisfied with the answers she got. Cudmore also told Coleen Nolan that she had a guardian angel and incorrectly guessed the gender of Prince William’s third child.

#3: Joe Power vs Derren Brown

In this programme, Derren Brown investigated Liverpudlian psychic Joe Power to expose his tricks. He used his abilities as a non-paranormal mentalist to prove just how much information you can get by cold reading, interviewing Claire Cooper off of “Hollyoaks” with Power observing. Power, meanwhile, asked Cooper whether she drove a Mini, only for the crew to reveal that Power had seen her driving in it earlier. Brown and a psychologist then sit through one of Power’s shows and meticulously explain how he does it. Power later complained about the show, saying it was edited to make him look aggressive and accusing Brown of stitching him up. His career as a medium never really recovered.

#2: Psychic Sally vs Richard Bacon

She’s back! Another Psychic Sally reading gone awry, this time she was being interviewed by Richard Bacon. He got his mum on the phone and they both chatted to Sally, all as a test to see how much she could get right; it’s a lot harder to cold read somebody over the phone, after all. Sally insists that she hasn’t researched Bacon or his family ahead of time, though he makes it clear that he doesn’t believe her because she knows his mother’s name. Then again, she goes on to get absolutely everything wrong, so she probably didn’t bother to google him. She also suggests that maybe they’re wrong about their own family and should do some more research to prove her right.

#1: Kreed Kafer

Of course, the most infamous psychic incident was when the late Derek Acorah was tricked into outing himself as a fraud during an episode of “Most Haunted”. The production crew had long suspected he was being fed information, so they caught him out by planting two fake names, “Kreed Kafer” and “Rik Eedles”, anagrams of “Derek Faker” and “Derek Lies”. He was subsequently sacked from “Most Haunted”, with the crew and Yvette Fielding now convinced that he was a fraud. His career continued, though, with frequent live tours and media appearances. He even at one point said he’d been communing with the ghost of Madeleine McCann, and was then forced to apologise to her parents.

Is your name “Jimmy” or “James”? If so, get in touch in the comments, because we think there are some spirit mediums who want to talk to you.