Michael Sheens Secret Million Pound Giveaway Ch4

[Fatfreefatball]

Shocking documentary about debt where Michael Sheen spends £100k of his own money to buy £1 million pounds of debt and write it off.

Care to tell us why you think it's shocking?

This was a good watch. Pity no one except Gordon Brown would speak to him. The big banks who really need to do something about this were " unavailable ". The scummy loan shark was full of shit.

I found this quite compelling viewing, but maybe not for the right reasons.

It all seemed desperately performative, ethically questionable, and Michael Sheen comes across as a troubled individual. The muted reaction to his utterly contrived “big reveal” at the end was pure cringe.

How did he try and rationalise what he’d done? To prove that it could be done (slow hand clap for doing something which nobody thought couldn’t be done), and “to make a point”. 🤷‍♂️

I hope he doesn’t carry buyers remorse too heavily because realistically he achieved absolutely nothing of importance to anyone other than the lucky 900 beneficiaries of his largesse.

I thought it was rather lovely of him to do something like that, for those 900 people that he helped. Not many celebrities would do that. Michael Sheen has a history of being a “not for profit” actor. If I recall correctly, he sold his own properties to fund the Homeless World Cup. He’s always been a rather generous actor, and decent human being. I hope the documentary helped people to realise how difficult debt can be for some families. It certainly taught me a thing or two. It was a really interesting watch.

Pretty obvious that OP thinks the debt/loan industry is shocking surely?

It’s not much of a secret though.

I’m someone who has had my debt sold multiple times.
I had an abusive ex who racked up debt in my name and got me to take out loans and remortgage. This was before it was a crime.

anyway. Back to my point!
my debts been sold multiple times, what I do not understand is how it’s ok to sell a massive amount of debt for a tiny amount and not be legally obliged to offer it to the debtor to pay first.

e.g
“we know you owe £10,000. Due to our terms and conditions we are now selling your debt on. We would like to offer you the opportunity to match their offer of £1000 to clear the debt, please accept this offer within 28 days”

it makes zero difference to the original lender and gives the debtor a chance as their circumstances have clearly changed since they accrued the debt. It took a good few years for my original debt to be sold, so it’s not like it would encourage people to take out debt and default.

I feel sorry for you @oldwhyno , if this is what you seen in this programme. You must have a very jaundiced view of the world.

I feel a little sorry for people that don't see the world for what it is. But I guess ignorance is bliss for many. I mainly feel sorry for Michael Sheen. His ego clearly needed a vigorous stroking and he spent £100k to get a limp rub.

PMSL at "secret". For whatever reason Mr Sheen wants us all to know about it.

I don’t know if that’s what it was.
if a wealthy person goes around talking about debt but does nothing about it, other than raise awareness. They get criticism. Do something about it they get criticism.

i think highlighting the fact that a large amount of debt gets bought for a much smaller amount is good. Unless you’ve seen it, you wouldn’t know it.
I do think it needed to be longer, and more in depth. Then it would have come across as less of a willy wave and more about highlighting the issues surrounding it

It was an interesting watch, but I'd have been more interested to see what is actually being realistically achieved to tackle unrealistic and cruel debt traps. I was mired in them for many miserable years until I sought help from CAP.

And it would have been nice to know if those people interviewed were indeed ones who'd had their debt problems resolved by Michael Sheen's actions. He was unable to confirm whose debts were actually paid off and the impact it had on them. I was left still feeling concerned about the lady who ran the community gym and the nurse who was supplementing her income with painting.

Good points, well-made in the programme though.

He's put himself in debt, in fact, to help people from the community he came from. Hardly performative. It's not difficult to understand why someone might do this, to me anyway.

A couple of quite disgusting remarks here. Looking at you especially @oldwhyno . The sexual reference was well over the top; you have a very peculiar mind.

sexual reference? “to stroke someone’s ego” is a pretty basic metaphor. Do you need a hand down from that horse?

Really ?? That’s your only contribution?

Isn’t it obvious that Michael Sheen is trying to highlight the scandal of debt companies buying and selling on debt ??
He gave £100 000 out of his own pocket to show that he could pay off 1million of debt on behalf of those struggling