Fall TV: America's Psychic Challenge

I am not normally a huge fan of reality shows. In my opinion, they can be interesting at first, but they lost my interest fast. I figured America's Psychic Challenge would be something different, and I was right about that.

The show features 16 carefully chosen individuals from across the country, all of whom claim to have psychic abilities. They compete against each other in different tests. In this first episode, four of the sixteen psychics squared off against each other in three different tests. The three tests were a) determining which hospital room in a man is in, b) doing a reading for someone without knowing their identity or getting any feedback from them, and c) identifying specific details of an unsolved crime. The two psychics who did the best got to move on in the competition, and the other two were eliminated. It was interesting to me to see their different strengths; a psychic might beat everyone else in one test and come in dead last on another.

The four psychics were 1) Karyn Reese, from Buffalo, NY, 2) Jamie Clark (the only male psychic in this episode), from Phoenix, AZ, 3) Jackie Barrett, from New York, and 4) Zenobia Simmons, from New Jersey. Zenobia is the only one who listed an occupation other than psychic (she's a writer and publicist), though she does often give readings. Of the four, Zenobia was my favorite; she just gave off a wonderful energy. Jackie was the one who seemed the oddest to me; she seems good at what she does (she works with DAs across the country using her psychic abilities to help them with cases), but not like someone with whom I would feel comfortable.

The first challenge was locating a man in an abandoned hospital; the odds were 30:1. The hospital used to house mental patients, something that the show's producers were wondering whether the psychics would sense (they all did), but no extra points were awarded for that. In this first challenge, only Jamie picked up any points. He did not get the full 25 points for choosing the right room, but he did get 10 for picking the adjacent room.

The second challenge was doing a reading for a celebrity, but the celebrity was behind a wall and was not allowed to give feedback as to how they were doing. They were given a picture of said celebrity, but it was in a sealed envelope they were not allowed to open, as well as a personal item belonging to her. The celebrity was in fact Lisa Williams from Life Among the Dead. Lisa awarded the points for this challenge, based on how accurate the psychics were in describing her, with a maximum of 25 possible points. Zenobia and Jamie both got 23 points on this one, while Karyn got 21. All of the psychics were able to provide some pertinent details, but Jackie seemed to have the most trouble with it, saying that it wasn't a natural way to give a reading, since she was given no feedback. She got 15 points on this challenge.

The third challenge was the most interesting. The psychics went to the house where an unsolved murder had occurred. The family of the victim was still living there and still mourning their loss. The victim had been shot in the chest in a drive-by shooting. The psychics were only told that a crime had been committed there. The family awarded the points based on who was the most accurate regarding the details of the crime, and the psychic with the most points gave the family a private reading.

Jamie, who had beaten everyone in the first challenge and tied for first place in the second one, had the most trouble with this assignment. The family felt he was way off and too general in what he said. Karyn was right in some details, but didn't do as well as Jackie or Zenobia. It was clear that Jackie was in her element. Her work helping district attorneys with cases had served her well here, and she was quite accurate. However, none of the held a candle to Zenobia, who was the most detailed of everyone. I think that that wasn't the only reason she was chosen to do the private reading, however. It was clear that she connected emotionally with what she was picking up and that she empathized with the family so much. I hope she is right in her prediction that there will be a big break in the case and that it will see a courtroom.

Zenobia and Jackie were the ones who got to go on. Since only four of the sixteen psychics were on this episode, I imagine that next week four different ones will undergo challenges. Since half are eliminated each time, after four episodes there will be eight psychics remaining, and they will go against each other until there is one psychic remaining, who will win a cash prize.

I really like this show. The challenges and the psychics are interesting. I think even skeptics would like this show, because the psychics' abilities are being tested.

Lifetime's Friday block of paranormal programming is perfect for the Halloween season.