Earlier this week, he had amazed viewers by apparently guessing the correct numbers - 2, 11, 23, 28, 35 and 39 - which would be drawn from the machine. Last night the illusionist suggested he had simply worked out the correct numbers by asking a group of 24 people to guess them.On 'How To Win the Lottery' aired on Channel 4, he said he took the team and told them to free their minds of any thoughts of winning and then asked them to write down numbers for each of the six balls. Mr Brown, who sparked massive interest with the stunt, claimed he then simply added up all their numbers for each of the balls and divided the figures by 24. He took inspiration from the Wisdom of Crowds theory, which essentially says that decisions made by lots of people are better than those by individuals.
The theory tells how a crowd at a county fair accurately guessed the weight of an ox when their individual guesses were averaged. But last night maths experts poured scorn on Brown's explanation saying that the whole thing was 'bluff' and 'nonsense'. (Daily Mail)
