Derren Brown has revealed he ‘Derren Brown’d’ himself out of being a fussy eater.
The British mentalist and illusionist said when he was younger he was a “proper fussy eater” and “barely ate anything”. However, he was able to use his famous mind control powers on himself to trick him into liking food.
Brown, 53, said he discovered the trick when he was at university and faced with salami on a pizza – which at the time he found revolting. He explained that he convinced his brain that he was enjoying the salami, making ‘mmm’ sounds in his head.
He told the Off Menu podcast: “I was really, really fussy when I was a kid. I barely ate anything, I was a proper fussy eater.
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“Then when I was at uni, I was in the back of a car, starving, and the people I was with went out and got a pizza and called from the shop ‘do you want sausage on it?’
“I said yes thinking that meant sausage. And of course it doesn’t, it meant salami and salami was an absolute no no.
“But I was so hungry.
“When it came it was all mixed in with the cheese and everything so I couldn’t pull the salami out.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I kind of thought I’ll just thought ‘I’ll have to trick myself that I like the salami’.
“So I did this thing, as I was eating it, not out loud but in my head I was going ‘mmm, mmm, mmm’ and not giving myself a moment to go ‘hang on where’s the salami taste that I don’t like? Oh there it is’.
“And it worked and I ate it and it was lovely.
(Image: Getty Images/Monkey Business)
“And then I started doing it with everything and I just wiped out all these things I didn’t like by going ‘mmm’ in my head.
“The only things that are left are mushrooms and blue cheese which I can’t stand.”
He added: “I Derren Brown’d myself at a young age.”
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