Alan Rorrison

Fake Demo Performances Debunked!

Alan Rorrison is a well-respected magician who has put out some great material in the past several years. But recently, we were made aware of a utility move that he released in 2011 called '3P'. The problem is, the demo for this effect actually includes fake performances.

Alan and his supporters beg to differ regardless of the evidence that has been presented. Subsequently, we have decided to present all of the evidence we have found supporting our case.

In the demo, which is also present at the beginning of the tutorial, Alan does not perform '3P' but instead simulates the moves and uses duplicates.

Of course, to sell an actual control as such is completely unacceptable. And to then lie about it makes it even worse. Truth is that what is shown in the demo looks better than '3P' ever could in reality.

1) The Dribble Force

When demonstrating the control, there would be no need to do any kind of force. So then why does Alan do one?

The little finger of the hand holding the deck is not visible, meaning it is in a deeper position and suggesting it is holding a break.

There is a consistent break visible in between the pinky and ring finger which is exactly where the selection (force card) is located.

Also note how the upper pack is being held in the middle.

The below snapshots show genuine dribbles performed during the tutorial. Each image was taken from a different dribble:

As you can see, during the genuine dribbles the middle and ring fingers are at the edge instead of in the middle. This is the case with every single dribble to be found in the tutorial, whether it is taught, performed or done as fiddling.

Let's now have a look at the dribbles from the second performance in the demo and from another video in which Alan actually teaches the 'Biddle Force':

Whenever Alan performs a 'Dribble Force', the fingers are in the middle instead of at the edge, so it is fair to say that the 'Dribble Force' is being used in both performances in the demo. And that is only the beginning.

2) The Thumb

At the moment that the '3P' move is supposed to be executed, we can see the thumb of the hand holding the deck at times when we should not be able to see it.

On closer inspection we can clearly see that the thumb is squaring up the cards. This is completely incompatible with the mechanics of the '3P' move:

3) The Cover

In the final photo of the previous chapter and enlarged below, we can see that the fingers of the hand that is hovering over the deck are wide open. '3P' does not allow these fingers to be open at all.

The following two snapshots were taken from the tutorial and show what this moment looks like during an actual performance:

4) The Movement

As if the previous discrepancies were not enough, it is also clear that the sizes of the motions we see in the demo are much smaller than the ones required for '3P'.

In the left image we can see the farthest that the hand reaches over the deck in the second performance from the demo, and on the right, taken from the tutorial, we can see the very least the hand actually needs to reach over to achieve the move.

5) The Duplicate

Of course it would be perfect if we could actually show evidence of Alan using duplicates, so that is exactly what we will be doing in this chapter using the second performance from the demo.

Note how the pips in the middle of the six of clubs are upside down at the moment the card is shown. We have placed a club symbol in the bottom left of every snapshot in this chapter, representing the direction that the middle pips should be pointing, supposing Alan is actually performing '3P' and actually palms the card.

Whenever the card is turned over lengthwise, the pips of course turn over as well.

And there we have it. If this is the actual selection, the middle pips should now be facing the opposite way.

After a thorough investigation involving consultation with several other experienced card magicians, we have come to the unanimous conclusion that all of the evidence is clear and comprehensive.

-The Convincing Control