Big splash in The Guardian on Saturday about a new reality TV show that makes multi-millionaire businessmen live on state benefits for 10 days in some of the most deprived areas of Britain.
At the end of their tenure slumming it under the watchful gaze of the cameras, the participants in Secret Millionaire decide which members of their oblivious community deserve the £50,000 they've agreed to give away.
So the undercover millionaire receives a kind word from an unsuspecting shop assistant, or a smile from the single mum next door, and in return pops a whacking great cheque in the post.
Hmm...
Is this innovative, socially conscious programming that encourages redistribution of wealth? Or is it poverty voyeurism that encourages only viewing figures? Would the money not be better going to charities?
"The question of whether or not an individual might be deserving of a large sum of money is not really the heart of the issue as far as the people we help on a daily basis are concerned," said a spokesman for Refugee Action, with remarkable diplomacy.
What do you think? Has reality TV developed a conscience, or is the TV company the only real beneficiary?
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