36.1% of matchups won
313 matchups
Elo 1386
tracked 2025/05/26 → 2026/04/09
mission: Challenging paranormal claims · Skepticism and Magic · philosophers
Public sentiment
how often it gets picked, by matchup framing37%
picked as helping wellbeing
260 matchups
32%
picked as hurting wellbeing
53 matchups
People are split on it.
Who rates it higher
See who rates James Randi higher
The 2 splits (party, gender, age, US vs. international) are free with an email. No password.
Rating over time
Elo, 7-day average · history as of 2025-08-29Related
Similar people
01
Penn Jillette
→
8.8% wins · American magician and actor (born 1955)
02
Bertrand Russell
→
58.7% wins · British philosopher and logician (1872–1970)
03
Harry Houdini
→
37.2% wins · Hungarian-born American illusionist, escapologist, and stunt...
04
Sam Harris
→
61.4% wins · American author, philosopher and neuroscientist (born 1967)
05
Ayn Rand
→
43.4% wins · Russian-born American writer and public philosopher (1905–1982)
Known for
- Founded the JREF
- Skeptic magazine columnist
- One Million Dollar Challenge
- Debunked fraudulent psychics
- Authored influential books
Based on 313 head-to-head matchups from Mic Check's global survey; ratings use Elo (1500 = neutral start). Latest data 2026/04/09. Full rankings ·
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