In South Africa we have a widely watched show called Carte Blanche. There are often interesting stories on the show and they are sometimes genuinely worth watching. However, in general I regard Carte Blanche as highly dubious. On several evenings I have been horrified to see the rubbish they portray as fact. And many (if not most) South Africans swallow the BS as true.

Please people, take anything you see on Carte Blanche with a huge pinch of salt.

For instance they have twice aired stories about this complete fraud, Danie Krugel. He has a machine that uses “the quantum” to locate people using only a fragment of DNA (e.g. he claims that a hair cutting is enough). They reckon this guy is capable of reliably finding people using this technology. In fact he can apparently locate anything (they mention diamonds and oil) using a signature sample of that “thing”.

This is the guy behind the “amazing” technology (I’m not joking – that’s really him):


Absolute and utter rubbish. Crazy stuff that a lot of people swallow hook, line and sinker. Unbelievably Carte Blanche also seem to take this guy seriously. I’m not kidding – they even had a follow up on the story – all very serious. And people believe it…

There are numerous articles (here, here, here, here) offering detailed arguments and evidence that this is real rubbish. Mr Kugel has even been offered $1 million cash for passing a simple test (here) – not interested!

It should be obvious… The whole thing is absolute rubbish.

Anyway, I got to thinking about the motivations behind this story. This guy obviously knows that his technology is rubbish so he is either: (a) nuts or (b) a total crook. I would guess (b), but you never know.

What gets to me more, is the Carte Blanche team. Unfortunately they still have credibility in this country and many people automatically believe what they say. I reckon either:

• They are ignorant of basic science (and critical thought!) and irresponsible enough not to check their stories;
• Or, they knowingly mislead people because it makes for interesting viewing and therefore more money for them. Kind of like tabloid magazines.

I think it’s the second one, but either way Carte Blanche should have the very little credibility. It’s a real pity because it seems like Carte Blanche is capable of real reporting too – you just don’t know what to believe.

You cannot, you MUST not automatically believe things you see on Carte Blanche – a lot of it is hogwash!