Philip Escoffey Q&A
Star of our brand new gameshow popped in to tell us more about the show.
He's been called 'mind reading’s enfant terrible' but Philip Escoffey is one of the genuine "mentalists", combining in a talent for reading people and entertaining them in equal measure. He's spent the last ten years travelling the world, leaving everyone intrigued at his sell-out theatre show.
Presenting our brand new gameshow, Impossible? Philip reveals a bit more about what to expect.
There are lots of descriptions of what you do: psychic illusionist, mind-reader, master of misdirection, what would you class yourself as?
An entertainer, really.
My show is all about what label do you put on something like me. On the posters when I’m doing my theatre shows, it says, ‘Mind reader or conman? You decide’. I am very interested in the psychology of belief and need, and why psychics in the US invoice for $6 billion last year.
It’s huge business. It’s fascinating because we’ve all been to school, we’re all educated and yet there is this overarching psychological need in the vast majority of us, to, at worse, subjugate our will by passing it into the hands of a spiritual adviser, your star signs, your Reiki healer and say ‘can you run my life please?’
So that’s where my genuine and sincere interest is.
I am a ‘mentalist’ in true parlance. But I’m not claiming any psychic or psychological abilities.
Who in the industry, your peers, do think does a great job?
I think Derren Brown does a brilliant job. He's not just done a brilliant job, but it’s that consistently for 10 years he's stayed at the top of his game. And that’s hugely enviable.
Tell us a little about your new show and what to expect.
The format is quite a simple one. Each week one couple gets presented with five challenges. For each challenge they have a decision to make. And that’s whether the claim I’m making is ‘possible’ or impossible’.
So having established that the challenge either is possible or impossible with our independent adjudicator, so we can’t be ‘tricksy’ about it, or change our behaviour, it’s ‘locked in’ before we start.
We then embark on the challenge up until a critical moment, where we pause the action at a point the couple have enough information to understand what the claim is. They then have to work out whether the claim is true or not.
The couple can win £40,000. Can you tell if a couple is going to win the money when you first meet them?
If I can, then they won’t.
If I can’t, then they will, perhaps! If I can’t tell if they’re going to win the money , they have a 50/50 chance.
And do they give the game away in the first five minutes?
During filming, I do get a sense of the couple and start working out what I might do with the end challenge.
In the first episode, the final challenge is based on what I learnt. It’s a direct result of the hour that’s just passed. I do what I can to ensure they pick the wrong case.
By the final challenges, do you think the couples lose focus even though you give them signs?
Maybe. The final challenges are all different the way those end games play out. Some people put more faith in the advice they’re given by the specialists on the show. Some try and get a read on me. Logically, you’re better off not listening to a word I say and tossing a coin. But, by listening to me they can get the better of me: I’m the only person in the room that can tell you where the money is.
During one of the end games neither of us knew which case the money was in. But then I looked in the cases whilst in front of the couple and they could try and read my face.
Do you think the contestants lose concentration and get shaken up because they feel uncomfortable in your presence, knowing what you do?
They buy into a myth. It’s the difference between talking to a girl that you don’t fancy versus one that you do. You start to behave oddly. I think there’s an element of that going on.
Day to day, with some people, when they ask me what I do for a living, I will say something else because I get the sense they think, “he’s judging or analysing me.” And it just gets in the way of finding out about each other.
What’s the one challenge that viewers should look out for this series?
I got a couple to randomly choose a celebrity. And just beforehand, we showed them a video of me in a tattoo parlour talking to chap who is just about to have some work done. I ask the man if he’s fine about having a tattoo done on his backside.
He says yes. And I ask if he’s fine about me choosing what that tattoo is, and he says yes. And I ask him if it’s ok that it’s going to be a celebrity and he doesn’t know who it is. He says yes.
I go onto explain to the couple that this man is backstage and he has a full size face of a particular celebrity. That challenge is extraordinary! You have to watch it to see what happens because it’s not what you’d expect.
But there is a man now, that because of me, has a tattoo of the last person you might expect anyone to ever get tattooed on their backside! Whether it is the celebrity that the couple picked, is another question. But the fact that he has this tattoo in and of itself is almost impossible!
Comments (27)
1 year ago
kate evans
Me and my friend went to see the ones with the 2 firefighters and all the way through were trying to tell them which we thought was possible or not and got all of them right ourselves so only wish we were contestants
1 year ago
Peter (towncrier) Taunton
I know the feeling we had a very similar experience but there again we did not have the pressure of being in the studio situation. Yes, how do you get to become a contestant I have seen no opportunity.
1 year ago
Ketan Bhavan
As much as the show is fairly entertaining. Channel 5 needs to pick better actors, the contestants are obviously actors as tonights episode had the male overly comfortable and predictable in his conversation. Sorry channel 5 but this show is obviously fixed.
1 year ago
Teresa Meier
Hi Ketan - my husband and I were tonight's contestants. Sorry to burst your bubble, but we're most definitely not actors!! Maybe we have chosen the wrong vocation in life... My husband is always like that... be grateful you don't have to live with him!
1 year ago
Aaron Chipping
I love the concept of the show, its very entertaining. However I would like to become a contestant to see first hand that this a genuine game show!! - how are they picked??....Please contact me so that i, and others can believe that being a contestant is not IMPOSSIBLE!!..........look forward to the POSSIBILITY!!
1 year ago
Aaron Chipping
How did you become a contestant Teresa? It looks like a great evening hope that you enjoyed the 'games' as much as they were entertaining to watch?
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1 year ago
Sara P
Haha, i was at the recording of the celeb tattoo... so funny! only thing that wasnt as funny is that im Sara P... but you'll have to watch the show to know what that meant! =) xx
1 year ago
Jayke1981
Teresa did you enjoy the spa weekend??? lol and was that murder challenge as creepy as it looked? I can't wait for episode 3... and if there is a second series, I'd wanna have a shot at it!
1 year ago
Omar G!
I cant seem yo find this week episode anywhere in the TV listings and there is no mention of it here on this website either!?!?!? Has it been cancelled already?!?! It would be a shame as it's good fun TV!
12 months ago
steff
me nirther very disapointed:( does anyone no whats going on
12 months ago
steffon
where is impossible missing the show hope it hasnt been cancelled so watching celebrity juice instead
12 months ago
Robert
The show has been pulled due to lack of ratings.
12 months ago
Paul
Thats a real shame. I assume that there are additional episodes ready to go so hopeffuly at the very least the show will be put back on in a different time slot.
12 months ago
Jane
I’m disappointed that this show seems to have been dropped as I was really enjoying it and thought it was a bit of a grower. Comparisons with Derren Brown were inevitable, but I suspect they would have reduced as people became more familiar with the show and the host. The show didn't really have much high-profile promo either, which can’t have helped viewing figures. It's a shame because it was a fun, different show! Presumably Five have bought the rights to the full series, so any chance it could be shown at a different timeslot or on another Five channel?
12 months ago
Sara P
Personally i feel for the guy who has susan boyal tattooed on his buttock for the rest of his life. Channel 5 could have at least broadcast that epiosode for his sake! lol. But it means i escaped my 5 mins of fame so THANKYOU!!! lol xx
12 months ago
Jules
I have heard that the remaining 4 episodes will be screened in August, in a late night slot after Big Brother.
12 months ago
steffon
i hope so jules dont like big brother
12 months ago
Jules
Me neither. I thought we had seen the last of it!
12 months ago
Kevin
Come on Channel 5 What is happening to this show ?????
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12 months ago
Col.
What a real shame this show has been pulled. Very entertaining and just how did he do some of those challenges!
12 months ago
Flic
I googled as i was also concerned it had been cancelled... the channel 5 facebook page replied to some people who were concerned with "Hi, it hasn't been cancelled. Impossible? has performed really well amongst our core 16-34 audience. So we've taken the decision to play out the rest of the series later this year, so that we can schedule it with other key upcoming shows including Big Brother. We’re confident that this blend of entertainment and reality will resonate with viewers and work well for the channel."
12 months ago
CHRIS STOKES
First 'Impossible' is dropped because of an apparent lack of interest and then David Penn gets ousted on BGT by a winking, keyboard-playing granny. Does no-one appreciate good magic any more?
12 months ago
kels
Humm, define good magic, I was in one of the episodes and not impressed at all. At least no one will see it now!
11 months ago
Drew McAdam
This was a great show, and word was sprading by word of... well, mouth. I look forward to its return - as do many of my friends.
8 months ago
ben
i hear people say if i was on it i would of got it all right, you might when watching it but when your under pressure and lose focus it is easy to be lead astray by the man infront of you. train hard guys it takes years and more.