Quote: "I don't belive this was fake, he genuinly looked terrified"
I saw him live, a lot of his tricks are about drawing you in to a make-believe world. Looking scared is part of the act, as was the long silence.
Quote: "Well I think the fact that Darren Brown knew what word each person was going to say suggests that the whole group was involved in some way. I mean it's not possible to guess what word someone is thinking of."
DB did mind tricks with the audience, he guessed my answers, I know I wasn't involved.
Quote: "he's just 'reading' people physchologically "
Yes, he is but that's only half of it. The other half is influencing the other person's decisions, and is probably more important than predicting what he will do.
In a nutshell, DB has a good talent for Mentality tricks. To add to that, he is a very good showman, and dresses the tricks up better than most other magicians. That combination makes the whole thing a damn good show.