Did anyone else watch this on Wednesday ? I thought it was a very interesting concept. Getting multimillionaires to give up their life of luxury for a week, in exchange to find worthy people to give $ 100,000+ of their own money. The giveaways were a little on the sappy side. But overall, very interesting to see how the very rich would adapt to life among the poor or near-poor. They had two episodes on. The 1st one was a lawyer and his 22 year old son. While they never said how much the father was worth, it has to be in the $ 10-20,000,000 range. He owns his own jet, a house in a fancy neighborhood in LA and has a 2nd home in Maui. He and his ended up working in construction for a week, and met a lady that gave them the job, Linda, who herself had been homeless about 3 years prior and slept on the streets for almost a year. They ended up giving her $ 25,000. Then hey met a lady who buys groceries and opens up her home to homeless people 365 days a year. Pays for the stuff out of her own SSI. They gave her $ 50,000. Then lastly, they met a young girl who has cancer, and her parents have jobs with no insurance, and they are about to lose their house to pay for the medical costs for the child. They gave them another $ 50,000. That made their total $ 125,000 they gave to needy people. Then the 2nd episode featured a couple, who are both millionaires in their own right. The husband started a chain of fast-food restaurants called "Raisin' Cane" Chicken Fingers, and is now worth about $ 60,000,000. His wife, owned her own McDonalds franchise (they never said where she got it, from her husband or she bought it with her own money, or what) and she sold it last year for over $ 1 million. They went undercover near their Baton Rouge home in a community that still hasn't healed from Hurricane Katrina. They found 1st a couple that were building a coffeehouse that also will be used on Sunday's as the church chapel and upstairs is the apartment they will live in. They are still in a FEMA trailer 3 years after the storm because their insurance company failed and they never got their compensation. The Millionaires gave them $ 100,000. Then they met a Reverend who was still 3 years later homeless because he was still trying to get his church built. They gave him $ 100,000 too. Then 3rd, they met a football coach, who had gotten the kids from 3 schools that were still in tatters, put the kids together and formed a team, that then went out and won the 2007 Louisiana state football championship in their division. They gave him and the kids $ 100,000 to help rebuild their football facilities and also for a gymnasium for the whole school to use, even the kids who are not football players. Whether or not you saw the show, what is your take on this and if you are/were a millionaire do you ever give to charities ? Do you believe the ultra-rich have a moral obligation to give back, and to what extent ? Have you ever found yourself thinking to yourself when you see a homeless person, "Don't beg from me, just go get a job" ? With the worsening economic times do you think people will become more understanding of those in need or become more selfish ?
That the millionaires are poor people who have consented to doing a documentary and are being paid a nominal fee to tell their story. The people they met all believed them. I could tell from when they showed them writing the checks, the show was filmed in March (the lawyer) and in April (the fast-food guy).
Gotcha - ok that makes sense. I was interested in watching just too sleepy when it was on to really focus on it.
They use the same secret cameraman hidden everywhere like in The Hills. (still can't believe people really think that show is reality).
He seems like a genuinely nice guy. And he found some people that really needed the money. The ranch was the best, as that helps kids stay out of trouble, so it will help a multitude of people. How much was that car worth ? $ 35,000 perhaps ?
Well I believe the show was filmed last Spring, before any mention of it on FOX's website, so the secret was still out there. Intervention has been on for 4 or 5 years now, and people still sign on "to do a documentary on addiction" and they still catch the people by mistake. So it can happen. Remember a lot of these people are very poor, and maybe work two jobs, and don't surf the internet very often, so they could be totally unaware of the show.
