Three Widows’ Mystery: TNT psychics in Tyumen

An episode of «Battle of the Psychics», a reality show on TNT (Russian TV channel, TNT), aired that had been filmed in Tyumen. The participants were spotted in mid‑August — first at Lesobaza (Tyumen, Russia), then in the eastern part of the city.

Three contestants took part in this episode — Alexander Sheps, Maryana Romanova, and Timofey Rudenko.

The trio had barely set foot on Tyumen soil when a dispute flared between two contestants. Alexander Sheps decided to test Timofey Rudenko’s knowledge by asking a couple of questions; Rudenko answered successfully. Later they decided to see who was the stronger medium. By the producers’ design, a duel ensued.

They stayed in Lesobaza (Tyumen, Russia). Note that it is far from Tyumen’s airport.

«I have a feeling there’s already a nekros — a death imprint — here,» Sheps said at a filling station where a recent tragedy had occurred — a motorcyclist crashed.

«I’ve seen a billion intersections like this,» Rudenko said.

Sheps kept insisting there had been a human death here. Alexander began walking with Maryana Romanova along the roadway as cars sped by, and the woman even lay down in the middle of the traffic lanes. At the same moment they cut to Timofey Rudenko standing by a utility pole. Fresh flowers were there — in some traditions, they are placed along roads where someone has died in a traffic crash.

«I’m having a vision: a motorcycle is riding, hits the side of a car, and he’s just wrapped around the pole. I see his helmet fly off,» Sheps said.

Maryana confirmed there had been a collision and said she, allegedly, also saw a death at this spot.

«The dead man is tied to this place — can’t you say that?» Sheps kept insisting, addressing Rudenko.

Later they asked people standing at the gas station what had happened there. They confirmed that there had indeed been a traffic accident.

Three widows

The psychics then went to the eastern part of Tyumen. There they were met by three widows. A voiceover told their story.

«Tyumen will become a battlefield for two mediums,» the voiceover promised.

Viewers were first shown photographs of three men. As it later turned out, they were dead; they had died within a six‑month span.

The first to die was Konstantin. He had been married to one of the show’s heroines for 10 years; the couple had six children.

«By day he worked, and at night he got up with the children and made formula two or three times. He told me to rest at night,» the Tyumen woman said.

The man died after falling from a height. According to the voiceover, he had stayed overnight as a guest.

«The sun was shining, a shadow flashed — and Kostya was gone. I couldn’t look down. He was completely broken. When I collected him from the morgue, there were tears,» the Tyumen woman recounted.

Next they told the story of Viktor and his wife. She had seen him at a disco and fallen in love. But the young man went into the army, and the Tyumen woman married someone else. They met again after a long time and married.

«On 5 January he fell ill, the right side stopped working — his arm and leg. It turned out he had cancer. There had been no signs. He was 46,» the widow said.

The third man’s story was also told. He had quarreled with his wife and gone to the garage, where he started the car and was poisoned by carbon monoxide. A police officer brought her the news of his death.

The voiceover said the women now had a question — were all three deaths accidental?

Maryana Romanova’s version

Maryana Romanova went first. She began licking some of the objects in the room, then declared that the textiles needed to be changed — they were salty because there had been many tears.

They began looking for the apartment keys — that was what Romanova needed. After some time they found them. She said that after the apartment was purchased, the locks had not been changed and some belongings of the previous owners remained. Then the woman began speaking in a strange voice.

«I saw it — her lips weren’t moving, there were no pupils; that wasn’t her. I can’t say who it was, but her lips didn’t move,» one of the participants said.

Then the psychic almost fell out of the window. She had gone onto the balcony, but the other participants managed to pull her back in.

«I see a widow’s spirit. He’s dangerous only to men. He feeds on women’s grief, very strong,» Romanova concluded.

The Tyumen residents said they believed her.

Alexander Sheps’s version

Alexander Sheps was next on set. He began speaking various phrases, addressing the heroines.

«Three came. You overlooked. One let go,» Sheps suddenly said.

It turned out the women did blame themselves for their husbands’ deaths. Svetlana reproached herself for not being able to make her husband see a doctor even when he was paralyzed. Other cases were described as well.

«I’d still be alive; we would have quarreled harder. How I want to press my cheek to you, for you to hold me by the finger,» the psychic went on, speaking to the woman.

«Alexander gave me the chance to hear my husband. I understand I will never hear him,» the Tyumen woman said.

After that Alexander took one of the Tyumen women by the hand and led her outside into the courtyard. Sheps picked a purple flower and handed it to her. The woman burst into tears and admitted that asters are her favorite flowers. Of all the flowers, he had chosen that one. They embraced. The psychic then went to the place where the woman’s husband had fallen.

Sheps also named the reason why, in his view, the men in this family died.

«The mother really messed things up,» Sheps said.

It turned out he was describing another psychic — supposedly a relative of the participants who possessed certain abilities.

«She ended up guilty by accident — a little knot got tied, and a curse went along the line. I still don’t understand what happened. Someone came, gave a false opinion. She was lied to, and it was passed to the family,» Sheps maintained.

After that he asked for a little time and two dozen eggs.

«I wanted to meet my husband — it felt like I’d gone on a date. Through Sasha I felt I had been with my husband,» the Tyumen woman said after Sheps left the apartment.

Timofey Rudenko’s version

Next they called Timofey Rudenko to the set. He pulled out several items and asked that they not be touched. Everyone was frightened by a photograph of a dead woman that he took from his briefcase.

The psychic began recounting certain facts from the people’s lives. As the women later admitted, some of it they would not have wanted broadcast.

Then the broadcast showed shots of Rudenko sitting in the kitchen. He began describing a drinking party that had taken place some time earlier.

«There’s one demon here — lifestyle. Everyone was drinking heavily,» Rudenko concluded.

The Tyumen residents began to dispute Timofey Rudenko’s words. Their late husbands might have drunk, they said, but they worked. According to the psychic, one of the dead men found under the windows of a building in the Eastern District simply wanted a drink. But the doors were locked, and he thought he could get out via the neighbors below. In his words, “all of them were on benders. Even the man who died of cancer — I can’t understand whether he’s ill. And it’s all because of a hangover state”.

«The women were not ready for such a turn,» the voiceover said.

Rudenko then began saying that the women could also drink. The participants acknowledged this, though they had initially reacted negatively to the psychic’s version. Later one of the participants spoke sharply about it.

A little later they also showed words Rudenko addressed to one of the participants. A young man, the son of one of the heroines, said he shuts his mother in when she drinks.

«She starts drinking. I try to stop her, try to lock her in the apartment,» the Tyumen man told Rudenko.

«Consult a specialist,» the psychic concluded his visit.

Clash of the psychics. The winners

A dispute broke out between the psychics. Each supported their own version, offering different arguments.

Maryana Romanova decided there were many widows here. She took Alexander Sheps by the hand and led him through the entrance hall. He said he felt nothing. Suddenly they met a woman who refuted Maryana’s words. She also said she was not a widow and that the psychic’s opinion was mistaken.

Alexander Sheps took eggs from the refrigerator and handed them out to everyone, including the film crew. They were to smash them on the floor. In the experiment, the widows shown in the program had red egg whites; everyone else’s were normal.

«We don’t know how that’s possible, but all three eggs were bloody,» the voiceover said.

Maryana and Rudenko said it was some kind of trick, though the Tyumen residents insisted they had bought the eggs at a store. The footage then showed that there could have been no substitution. Another experiment was carried out, again showing that the eggs broken by the women contained a red substance.

In the end, Alexander Sheps was declared the winner. He was the one the heroines chose.

Earlier Alexander Sheps shared some behind‑the‑scenes moments from the project.