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Controversial TV: \'Filthy rich and homeless\'

July 10 2009
Ravi: Ravi:
Homeless Link blasts the inaccurate portrayal of homeless facilities on ‘reality TV‘ show Filthy Rich and Homeless, aired recently on BBC Three, has sparked new controversy. Homeless Link voiced its dismay at the inaccurate portrayal of homeless facilities. "No one expects realism from a life-swap programme like Filthy Rich and Homeless," said Jenny Edwards, chief executive of the charity, but the programme had let itself and the homelessness sector down by portraying hostels "as some sort of Victorian hell holes where vulnerable people are left to moulder. This completely fails to reflect the huge efforts made to transform traditional shelters into 'places of change' where people are given not just a roof and a meal, but training and support to keep them moving forward on their journey off the street and into independence," she said. In Filthy Rich and Homeless (see The Pavement 21 and 22), five of Britain's wealthiest people tried living on the capital's streets and in hostels for a month. Two "homeless experts" - Rebecca Pettit, director of the US-based poverty study programme Urban Plunge, and Craig Last, a youth worker for one of Centrepoint's high-support hostels - watched over them to ensure their safety and their learning process. The contestants were a 19-year-old farmer's son; the daughter of a newsreader; a 40-year-old entrepreneur; the UK's youngest self-made millionaire; and a public-school educated student. Twenty-four-year-old self-made millionaire Ravi immediately made clear his opinion that all homeless people are lazy: "I'll probably come back with ¬¨¬£200," he said during filming. Unfortunately, his plans were scuppered when he wasn't given start-up capital: "I wasn't expecting to be left here with absolutely nothing." He then tried to set up a flower selling business, but failed. After a few brushes with the law for selling without a license, he realised it was not quite as easy as he had thought. Clementine, the only woman in the group, felt hard done by when she was left to fend for herself in Soho and turned to a celebrity friend of the family to help her out of a tight spot. Forty-year-old Darren called his mum crying, and was shocked by the indifference of passing Londoners - he said it was hard to meet the eye of passers-by as he sat numbly on The Pavement. Student Thomas found begging humiliating. In the second programme, the five contestants were paired with someone homeless and gradually realised what reality show they were on, as they quickly felt the despair of being trapped in society's margins. Despite many of them initially declaring they could see no reason why the homeless couldn't get jobs and "earn a few quid" to pull themselves off the streets, they were all humbled by the end of the experiment. Thomas Kerfoot, 22, is the son of David Kerfoot, owner of the Northallerton-based vegetable supply company, The Kerfoot Group, which has grown into a ¬¨¬£40m business since being set up in 1980. His former school put him forward for the series, and in February he was turned out onto the streets of London. "It was very difficult," he said in an interview with the press. "Even though I was extremely cold, tired and very lonely, the worst part was the way I was treated by the public. When I was begging, they would throw stuff at me and I was called certain names. I felt like an animal." Clementine Stewart told the Evening Standard that she had changed the way she spends her money and time: "I went to a soup kitchen, and the money they had to keep going for a month, I'd once spent on a hat. Things like that I'd never do now." A spokeswoman for the programme only commented that the experience has been an incredible emotional journey for all the contestants, which hopefully has enriched them all.
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