gonecrackers

I had bought into the Whit's a dancer lie, from earlier in just watching the show, before joining boards & finding out more. The whole show is founded on a lie. I would've encouraged my kid to do something else with her life, even if it meant living at home a while longer. It's not worth the sell out. But the parents sold out with her so it's all part of the family dysfunction I suppose.

Thanks... People teach English as a second language classes in the US. It may not provide a lot of cash, but she has no one to support but herself. She could pull two jobs if needed. In no way does she need to be making an ass out of herself on TV, except, I guess, for the attention.

I wonder if it was a package deal - the whole family or no show. If they had said no & her show went ahead anyway, then they could've just stayed off it & she can use her show earnings to stay in her own place. I wonder what her occupation was before; she had lived abroad & presumably worked there, but doing what I don't know.

Condescending remarks & tone are probably not an especially effective way of promoting change in a person, especially one's daughter. I'm not saying enable, but the remarks she's made to Whit, on TV no less, seem more nasty & self serving. And she's obviously not so embarrassed by her daughter to not get in on her own 5 minutes of fame, complete with a platform for public put downs of Whit. If I were unhappy with my adult child's appearance or behavior, I would either stay off their stupid show, or at least not insult her in front of the world. I agree her future looks bleak riding the TLC gravy train, because eventually given her lifestyle she may end up crashing.

Given human nature, it's has to be impossible to find someone truly genuine using this method on TV.

I'm not excusing Babs at all. She seems passive aggressive towards Whit, condescends to her & acts superior. This may be a reason why Whit seems so insecure. This could be true regarding Glenn, & as I said I do like him. Even though Babs has a lot going on with her, I still won't give him a total pass on Whit's adult issues. It seems he's overindulgent with her & possibly an enabler at times... but that may just be how I see it.

True - at least for on the show - but parents don't have to be outright cruel to create dysfunction in their kids. I do have an issue with people blaming the mother - they seem to take the most heat no matter what the situation. But fathers have a huge role to play in their kids' upbringing & emotional health, even in just walking away (abandonment). They get too many free passes with parenting messes, in my opinion. I've always liked Glenn, from what I've seen, at least until the very uncomfy 'belly dancing performance', in which I thought he was weird & a bit creepy. But even just never saying no to a child is creating dysfunction.

Haven't seen this yet but wondering why Babs is the source of all her issues? Why is it always only the mom? She has a dad - a dad who has never been able to say no to her. A dad who thought her nude rolls jiggling around in her 'belly dancing' routine was 'beautiful'. I think there's a team effort of dysfunction there.

Finally saw it & so he's a drug addict. I see why they aired this; probably to show how people can have multiple addictions & to witness the system being abused & how it can be done. But that also explains his abusive behavior; addicts abuse, use & manipulate whoever then can to get whatever they want. I hope he went to rehab & follows through, but he didn't look ready or interested. Both brothers have huge psych issues from the abuse, neglect, & abandonment in childhood. As others here have said I can only imagine what those boyfriends did to them, & what Steven learned to pass along regarding abuse to Justin. They're both emotionally stunted & have huge abandonment issues. That mom abandoned them over, & over, & over again, even to when he was older & moved to MA to be with her, & she ditched him then too. From what I saw the father is abusive as well, & a mess in his own way also affecting both brothers. He's keeping them both emotionally messed up & seems to have no self awareness of his own behavior, so everyone is stuck. Such a mess.

Maybe Jessica was offered something to keep quiet? She might for the right offer if she wants to be in the biz. Regarding Nick & Sonia, I've wondered if they were offered something to stay married for a year. Especially after the Heather/Derek debacle, they may have needed two couples to stay married to make new recruits more willing. They got the newbies married off & into their season, then the divorce happens, so it's possible; or I'm just more cynical than I realized.

What brought him into therapy - the stuff that went down with Sam or the show itself or both?

I haven't had the horror of watching this yet but from folks here describing the hand shake requests & his reactions I wonder if he had his hand, um, somewhere, shortly before, & if the other person knew they'd be horrified. It seems like him to do something like that from the descriptions of his behavior. If I were Dr. Now I would've said 'sure' to the hand shake, but wait, 'just need to put my glove on first' (or like 20 gloves). That might've taken the thrill out of it for Steven. I'd feel like I'd need a skin graft if I touched his hand without full coverage.

It will be interesting, then, to see if they follow certain patterns of challenges/incompatibility. There are usually hints toward where it will go when they first introduce the people.

Was he 'bigger'? I thought she was into dark & he was light hair/skin & that didn't do it for her. I didn't see him as a pudge though... or Sonia for that matter although she was spoken about that way on the boards during the shows. I also read Ashley just entered the show to make an ex jealous; maybe that was just gossip though. My point being they don't seem to care about making marriages as much as creating challenges.

Idea too late for this season but maybe they will see it: Find someone who has been superficial in their choices of partners in past & wants to connect with a person, not just a look. Then match him/her with a not so bad looking pudger (I say this affectionately being a pudger myself). Then we tune in every week to see how much mr. or ms. superficial rises above. If they want good TV well there it is! (no, I don't work for the show)

ITA on this as well. I'm guessing an older, more career oriented woman with a not so go getter guy... oh, wait, they did that already, except she was younger. Okay, there is a difference!

Now that would be interesting! except they're probably all bound by confidentiality; hope not though.

These people would be better off having friends & people who actually know them help choose if they want help. But then again, they wouldn't get to be on TV...

I have this DVR'd & can't get to it until the weekend, unless I can get time to watch it online when it gets there. I've never had an issue watching any of these shows, even when they show disgusting things. This one has me thinking it's going to be way more disturbing than anything else. I had trouble watching those videos of Steven. My thoughts, without having seen the show yet, are that he should not be helped regarding his morbid obesity. The thing is, if this guy actually were to lose weight (sounds slim from reading here), unleashing a thin, physically functional but still clearly mentally ill Steven on society could be extremely dangerous. He obviously needs in-house psych treatment. Maybe since Justin sounds less toxic he should have more intervention to get him progressing, heal whatever his issues are & get him away from his family so he can have his own life.

I wasn't bothered by the chance 'date' with the second cousin (especially because it was fabricated), but the belly dance with tons of skin hanging out & getting jiggled right smack in front of her father & brother, along with her father being oh so impressed at how 'beautiful' it was - that I found gross & creepy. Jiya certainly has perfected the shit eating grin. The preview - Todd's upset because Whit made it all about her. Well who else is it ever about? Does he not know whose show it is? More contrived drama nonsense.

ITA. I feel she's fake & attention seeking. It's good she says she wants to 'work on herself' for now, given she seems very insecure, but she should probably leave SM & do that quietly on her own without constantly seeking validation from strangers.

This guy needs WAY more help than just weight loss surgery.

There must be something more supportive than what she wears for someone her size? Seems like some painful flopping around when she's exercising.

I've been up & down weight-wise always as well, am overweight now & often make cracks about myself. I typically get a pity smile in return. (Except when I did this in front of my MIL - it was the only time I'd make her laugh; probably saved her the trouble of making the cracks herself). I understand the pity smiles though because that would make me uncomfy if someone did that too, so now I'll try not to joke or refer to it as often. I've never once gotten a 'oh no you're fine, perfect, not overweight at all', with the exception of a friend of mine who is obese. She thinks I'm fine - thin even - & of course I'm not deluded enough to believe that & I realize the perspective it's coming from.

She may have wasted a year but that's better than 5 - 10 - 20 - 30 years & kids in the mix. This couple was never meant to be, & I really feel the 'matches' are for good TV, not real, lasting marriages. It's difficult for me to feel sorry for participants when it goes wrong given they agreed to taking a huge chance with TV 'experts' who could care less about them. Maybe Nick is just annoyed he'll lose any future advertising time now.