The One is an Australian television program broadcast by the Seven Network, hosted by Andrew Daddo. The program pits several alleged psychics against one another, participating in trials which challenge their purported abilities in activities such as clairvoyance, telepathy and mediumship to determine who is Australia's "top psychic". The show was originally created by Fox Studios Australia, who in 2006 contracted Simon Turnbull, President of the Australian Psychics Association, to help create the show. The psychics' abilities are observed by a studio audience or at external locations, and are judged by a two-person panel including Stacey Demarco, a self-described psychic, and Richard Saunders, who was vice president of Australian Skeptics at the time. The show premiered in Australia on Tuesday, 8 July 2008 and ended following its second season in 2011. The program was broadcast with closed captions and classified PG.
The show featured seven contestants, selected from over 1500 applicants.
Contestants
Mitchell Coombes - First to be voted off.
Rayleen Kable - Second to be voted off and host of a paranormal radio show on the mid-coast of NSW; later starred in the 2014 series .
Shé D'Montford - Third to be voted off
Jason Betts - Fourth to be voted off.
Amanda Roussety - Top Three contestant. Housewife and mother of 3, was the only non-professional psychic to appear on the show.
Ezio De Angelis - Top Three contestant. A stage medium.
Charmaine Wilson - The winner of the inaugural season of The One.
Eliminations were made by the judges each week. On the final episode of The One the winner was chosen by the Australian public, voting via a telephone popularity poll.
After a long absence, the series returned at 19:30 on 5 October 2011. Andrew Daddo returned to host the second series. In season 2 over 800 people were invited to audition for the show, in accordance with an agreement with the Seven Network and the Australian Psychics Association.
Controversy
The show was controversial for content shown in the final episode of season 1, featuring a hunt for the body of murder victim Peter Falconio. The stunt was condemned by Colne Valley MP Kali Mountford, who had worked with the Falconio family, with "Some reality shows are worthwhile and show people having a laugh, but there is nothing funny about such a personal, terrible tragedy." The search for Falconio was additionally criticized by the eventual winner Charmaine Wilson as being "in bad taste". All of the tests followed conditions discussed with Richard Saunders, who was the secretary for The AustralianSkeptic Society and a judge on the show. However, Saunders has stated that contestants failed 94% of tests.
