Hi there.
As someone who has been directly involved with Randi and the JREF Million Dollar Challenge personally allow me a moment to explain a couple of things about it.
First, it is the claimant who develops the test. Randi simply asks what they can do and how accurate they are at doing it. A test is then devised to determine whether the claimant can actually do what they say they can do. The claimant has to agree to the test in writing beforehand. So, please understand that Randi does not "make" the test. It is made jointly between the JREF and the claimant. Usually, Randi isn't even involved in the design of the test at all.
Next, Randi is NEVER present when the test is actually performed. This is to eliminate the claims of bias that others may have.
Third, there are two stages to the testing. Once someone passes the first test according to the agreed upon terms of the test and second test is done to eliminate the possibility of false positives. To date, NO ONE has had to take the second test because no one has ever passed the first test.
The biggest change to the Challenge is that it is going to be ending in March 2010, after twelve years of existence. The ending of the MDC has been controversial throughout the community, but I understand the reasons. The original goal of the challenge was to get the Sylvia Browne's, John Edward's, and James Van Praagh's of the world to be put on the spot and prove their claims. None of the "name" psychics ever agreed to be tested. The people who did agree to be tested turned out to be, and I'm sorry that I cannot think of a more politically correct way to say this, "cranks". The hardest part of the testing process was getting people to say what it is that they could do. You would think that this would be easy, but having been a part of these discussions it is amazing that people cannot clearly and concisely say what they can do.
Another issue with the MDC is that because it was "One Million Dollars" some people thought that the money did not exist, even with all of the legal documentation showing that there was one million dollars in the bank.
Now, the IIG has a $50,000 paranormal challenge that is designed in the same way as the JREF MDC. The IIG Paranormal Challenge will continue and will stay at $50,000. It is doing so because it is important for there to be a Paranormal Challenge out there and it will stay at $50,000 in order to avoid the complications that JREF had with people not believing that the money was real.
Thanks.
-Derek
