I Recreated the Milgram Experiment in Madrid (and Almost Everyone Obeyed)

There is one experiment that has fascinated me since I first started studying the mind: the one by Stanley Milgram. In 1961, he proved that ordinary people were capable of obeying harmful orders simply because they came from a figure of authority. Sixty years later, I wanted to see how much of that still held true on the streets of a big city. So I recreated it in Madrid.

What I actually did

I did not reproduce the original experiment (that would be neither ethical nor legal), but a symbolic and consented version: everyday situations in which an instruction delivered with an authoritative tone was enough for people to do things they would never do on their own. The result surprised even me.

We do not obey because we are weak. We obey because the brain delegates: it trusts the context in order to spare itself decisions.

Why this matters (and not just for a video)

Understanding obedience to authority means understanding a huge part of how we make decisions in groups: in a meeting, at a company dinner, in a room full of people. My job as a mentalist is not to “guess” anything magical, but to read those mechanisms (body language, suggestion, social pressure) and turn them into moments of wonder.

When I perform, all of this stops being theory:

• People believe they freely choose a card, a word or a number.
• In reality, the context I have built does much of the work.
• And when I reveal it, what is left is not a sense of trickery, but a sense of “how does my own mind work?”.

That conversation, about the mind and not about magic, is exactly what I want guests at an event to take away with them.

From the street to the stage

These street experiments are my laboratory. What I learn filming with strangers I then refine at corporate events and private celebrations, where the challenge is the same: connecting with a real audience, with no fixed script, and leaving a mark that people talk about for weeks.

If you are organizing an event and want something more than entertainment, something that makes people think, tell me what you have in mind. I will reply personally.