How the other half live

[MollieO]

Bit of a tv evening for me tonight! Anyone else watching?

It would seem they did have a computer, but the mother wanted her own to try get her business up and running .

Last weeks was very genuine and heartfelt, shame the same can't be said about this one.

And that family actually get more than my family a month! Where do I apply for this scheme?

I cant beleive they had the cheek to say we bought Brandon a game but it wouldnt work on the outdated computer so he cant play on it.

And she's sitting there drooling over a new fecking LAPTOP Grrrrr.

I think the dad was more genuine but he pissed me off saying everyone would take handouts. Theres nothing wrong accepting help but use it to get back on your feet or things which are really needed.

Did the mother even say thankyou at the end? I only heard her say, yey were going to spain again.

I am sure she did say thank you, but I did not hear it. Perhaps it was edited a teeny bit to make her seem greedier than she was? (wanting to think better of her)

And yes, I too was [eek] about the hairdryer in teh kitchen.

I can't see why it would be edited in such a way. Surely the point of this series is to make those who donate to overseas families to think about doing so closer to home? Tonight's programme failed miserably in that regard which is a shame after last week's one.

if it was debts though-surely the £4000 should have been used for that?im sure when he phoned to pay off the coucil tax bill it was only £119 or something?ours is more than that a month-isnt everyones???

i missed hairdryer?

Yes, that's true Mollie. I was thinking about reality TV sometimes editing to show the participants in a bad light, but as you say that would go against the objective of this series.

The hairdryer was hanging up in the kitchen. Not sure why you would have a hairdryer in the kitchen unless you use it to defrost meat??)

Cheesesarnie, mine is £99 a month, depends on the area.

Yes, he said he wanted to pay off all the arrears on the council tax, and it came to £119 something. Our council tax is definately more than that (£149 a month)
And he was talking about balancing bills and only paying some - so why not clear all debts. If their only debt was £119 then they are doing well!

I can't see where they spent the £3000 (am watching it again on C4+1) .

The other thing that bugged me (am letting this get to me too much, must go to bed ) was that a big show was made of the brand-new bike for the younger boy. And Brandon only got clothes. Now I know he needed and wanted clothes (I really like my new hat it has holes in it so fresh air can get in) but it would have been nice if he also had received some sort of nice biggish toy or a few karate lessons or something 'presenty' other than clothes...

They had £4,000, there were 2 cheques, 1 washer dryer, 1 laptop , 1 council tax, 3k left for um...er....clothes??

I think a lot of the money went on Zleda's clothes.

I wouldn't buy face cream off her either. Why can't she just get a normal job instead of chasing a pipe dream?

They had £5000 - first cheque was £2000, second was £3000. Really can't see where the second lot went - bike plus a few clothes - £200 tops.

I wonder if there will be a follow up series to see what progress both families have made and to see whether the contact has been maintained?

I really didn't realise that you could buy boys clothes in New Look. Am I missing out on something here?

I have 2 boys and I have never seen boys clothes in New Look.

The first cheque was to be spent on what you said Fluffy plus wardrobes. Clearly no money was spent on wardrobes so there was at least £300 from the first cheque left over and no details of the breakdown of the spending for the second cheque. Unlike last week's where the spending was completely broken down and plain to see.

The fact that they went to the time and expense of setting up a trust for the boys makes me think that there was more mis-spending than simply the laptop but it would have been even worse publicity if that had been shown in the programme.

The scenes where they were clothes shopping they were given new look bags by the cashier. I though this was odd.

I wondered that about New Look. They came out with lots of bags though didn't they?

Well according to their website they do sell boys and menswear.

Not particularly cheap imo. M&S do cheaper and nicer Tshirts for boys.

The 'poor mother' has a look that I've seen in people who indulge or are addicted to recreational drugs...it would explain where the a % of the weekly wage disappears to...Brandon is simply delightful and yes he made me cry this evening...

Can anyone find zelda's face cream website?

I assume she is in her 40s but looks older. I wonder why they decided to help this family? Although I suppose helping boys like Brandon is what they want to encourage and B can't help who his mum is or what she does.

the point of the show, the poiint of pretty much any tv show in our multi-platform world, is to get people yakking. it completely succeeds imo.