Toronto psychic denies running from $1M challenge
A Toronto-based medium denies she's ducking a $1 million challenge from a skeptic organization to prove her powers.
Psychic Nikki was reacting to a statement put out Tuesday by James Randi, founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), which has called on the Toronto medium to accept the challenge. JREF said it left a message with Nikki on Friday and had not heard back.
"I'm not refusing to take his test at all. I still need some information on it," Psychic NIkki told CBC News.
"They just got a hold of me. There was a long weekend and he snaps his palms and I'm supposed to come running? They don't even give me time to breathe."
Nikki said she'd be in contact with the foundation in the next 48 hours.
Last week, after being contacted by CBC News, Nikki said she would consider the challenge, if she was available and that she would first need to learn more about the details of the test and the $1-million prize before agreeing.
Nikki's offer that she may accept prompted JREF to issue a direct challenge to the self-professed psychic.
"You seem to be available for interviews, but so far, we haven’t heard anything from you," Randi said in a statement released on Tuesday.
"If it’s true that you have faith in your own abilities, follow through and take us up on our challenge. I hope that you do follow through, and aren’t just misleading the media to get your name in the news," said Randi, a noted magician and skeptic.
But Nikki denied she was seeking publicity because it was CBC News who contacted her about the challenge.
"If it was for publicity I would have contacted him on my own," she said.
I'm very curious about this test and I would like to take it but I have to know if I'm available to go, I have to know a little more about it and then I can talk to him about it. "
The institute recently reissued their $1 million challenge, directing it at celebrity psychics including Van Praagh and Allison DuBois, after their appearance on ABC's Nightline show.
JREF was founded to educate the public and media on the dangers of accepting unproven claims, and to support research into paranormal claims in controlled scientific conditions. It said it left a message with Nikki on Friday and has not heard back.
Randi said the conditions of each test for the challenge are designed on exactly what each of the psychics claim they can do. They are negotiated, in consultation with outside experts, and mutually agreed to by both the person being tested and by the foundation.
