Why do they do that?

Members of the public feature on TV for many reasons. Perhaps they are innocent bystanders witnessing a newsworthy incident, perhaps they are contestants on a game show, or perhaps locating to a new area and getting help with buying a house.

But then there are those unique individuals who feature on which is arguably the weirdest of public participation shows of all.

I am talking of course about Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies. Why these people go on this show is really beyond me. They have some illness that is so embarrassing that they have ignored it for years too embarrassed to even visit the doctor or talk to their loved ones.

Then suddenly they have bits of their body plastered over prime time TV. Cameras pointing in mostly intimate places and flaps of skin being moved to educate 'in the loosest sense' (sometimes literally) the general viewing public.

I've often wondered what it would be like for these people the next day when they return to work. Do they have all their friends around to watch the show? I guess it gets the problem out in the open, so to speak.

But my biggest question, is how someone gets on the show in the first place? Do they go to the doctor and the doctor suggests that they are a prime candidate for the show? Does the doctor get a finders fee? Or does the individual just write to the show, sending them a cv of their embarrassing condition?

Whatever. It makes compulsive viewing.

(Picture, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrassing_Bodies)




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