When I say "real", I obviously mean the people think it's real. Not that this guy has any sort of superpowers other than convincing idiots he is legit.
Here is a funny video where one of the guys that trains the mind control chi no-touch knockout stuff agrees to face a real MMA fighter. Didn't work out so well...
Some people are paid to act along for sure. Some of them truly believe also...I dunno, I can't wrap my mind around what would cause people to really believe/act like this so I cannot say for sure. There was a 20/20 special a while back on these guys basically exposing them to be frauds and huge con-artists. Real scum of the Earth type guys.