Famous Rich And "homeless", Willie Thorne What A Wimp!

[ToraToraTora]

2 nights in a hotel, part time homeless, at least the others did it!

[agchristie]

Yes, not showing the fighting spirit of his beloved Leicester City....

[Tilly2]

What is this about?

[pastafreak]

Yes...a bit of a wimp. His swollen foot wouldn't get him a nights accommodation if he was really homeless. I just hope he learned something from the experience.

[Mamyalynne]

http://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/tvfilm/famous-rich-and-homeless-bbc1-julia-bradbury-says-people-need-to-respect-the-homeless-a3205196.html

[pastafreak]

@tilly...4 "personalities" spent a week sleeping rough on the streets of London...first on their own,and then with actual homeless persons.

[Tilly2]

Thanks, Pasta. ☺

[silliemillie]

Wonder if he will still get his full fee, bet he does.

[trt]

Can TV get any worse?

What about getting some Celebs to spend a week doing post-mortems, or at funeral parlours, dressing up bodies for funerals?

[hc4361]

Rough sleeping is the easy part of homelessness. Totally pointless exercise.

[andy-hughes]

I always find these programmes offensive.

The notion that spending time pretending to be homeless gives anyone an insight into what it is like is patronising towards homeless people.

The grinding endless futility of homelessness is cumulative - you don't experience it after a few days, or even a few weeks.

I would respect anyone saying they experienced street living if they did it for a year - nothing less.

Spending a few nights being watched by a camera and saying you know what it is like to be homeless is like closing your eyes for an hour and then saying you understand how it feels to be blind.

[sandyRoe]

Totally agree with that. ^^^
Remember the MP who spent a week living on the money he'd have go on the dole? It's not a few days being homeless or poor that grinds people down.

[MargoTester]

Andy-Hughes - the programme was in aid of Sport Relief. The aim being to bring attention of the general public the plight of homeless people, so not an altogether futile exercise. Just my opinion of course.

[andy-hughes]

Margo Tester - //Andy-Hughes - the programme was in aid of Sport Relief. The aim being to bring attention of the general public the plight of homeless people, so not an altogether futile exercise. Just my opinion of course. //

I fail to see what attention is brought to the plight of homeless people by having a few 'celebrities' play at it for a few days.

What next, shall we have a few 'celebrities' tootling about in wheelchairs and saying they know how a paraplegic feels?

The whole nonsense is that they know it's not real, and there is a finite time involved - in reality, for people who are actually homeless, time stretches on for years into the future with no hope of a return to a celebrity lifestyle when the cameras turn off.

Or indeed any sort of 'lifestyle' at all!!

[Mamyalynne]

There's a large number of projects being undertaken in aid of Sports Relief both by celebrities and very special members of the public too - it was inevitable that some (this one in particular) would fall rather flat in the public eye.

[AB Editor]

I think displaying his weakness was a worthwhile use of the programme. It showed up a side of many of us which might emerge in a similar situation.

[MargoTester]

A-H the point being that Sport Relief support a number of charities for homeless people around the UK and the idea was to raise money for that. No need to shoot me down in flames.

[andy-hughes]

Mamya - //There's a large number of projects being undertaken in aid of Sports Relief both by celebrities and very special members of the public too - it was inevitable that some (this one in particular) would fall rather flat in the public eye. //

I don't think there is anything inevitable about it - except that no-one told the wonks in the production office that this is a patronising ill-thought-out insulting way to highlight an issue which is visible to anyone who walks down the street of any town in this country.

[Mamyalynne]

You can't please everyone all the time and hopefully it raised awareness in some of the viewers and lots of money to swell the coffers too.

[andy-hughes]

divebuddy - //Mamyalynne is quite right. If Joe public see some Z List celeb enduring the horrors of homelessness and they tell us how awful it is, job done. //

I think you flatter the viewing public with an ability to make the connection between playing at being homeless, and actually being homeless.

I think the ability to see that connection is probably absent in most people's minds - hence the futility of the exercise, apart from allowing few eight-figure income numpties to salve their consciences and their profiles simultaneously in this whole tawdry exercise.