Do You Think Money Is the answer To The Problem? (The Secret Millionaire)

Member Name: Emmald

Product:	The Secret Millionaire
Date:	05/03/09 (120 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Money helps but it not the be all and the end all.

Disadvantages: Nothing major

After having watched the last series of The Secret Millionaire I am still undecided as to whether I like the format of the programme or not!
So the general idea is that Channel 4 recruit half a dozen self made millionaires who are willing to give away some of their money to charities, good causes or people who have contributed to their community in a significant way.

The programme generally starts when you see the wealthy business person leave their huge luxurious home, kiss their partner, 2.4 children and their Jaguar Goodbye for ten days and head off to some deprived area within Great Britain to part with a certain amount of their hard earned cash. The amount of money that each Millionaire gives away varies, some episodes see tens of thousands being given to different causes and sometimes the benefactor will only see fit to part with a much smaller amount of money.

They arrive at their destination and find that they have been accomodated in the tiniest of bedsits or flats which is often none too clean and tidy. It has the basics of life and is generally in a less than desirable area.

On their first day out into the local community you see them interacting with the local folk, they tell the locals that they are making a documentary for Channel 4 and need to find Day centres and Community projects that are on the go in that area.
While a part of me likes to think that the community knows nothing of this visit another part of me finds it incredibly hard to believe that they are totally in the dark.

The Millionaire turns up at a Day centre for the Elderly and just offers to help out...wouldn`t he/she need an Enhanced CRB check before working with vulnerable members of the public? What about character references too?
Surely in this day and age it is /or should be practically impossible to work without checks and references.
So all of a sudden we have a Millionaire who is serving tea, playing Bingo, eating beans on toast for tea because he/she has to live on the equivalent of Income Support for that ten days.

Generally they seem to stumble upon Community projects and deserving causes pretty easily, often by word of mouth.
Through the doors they go and introduce themselves and start asking a million and one questions about the lifestyle and the financial situations of the community.
As the days wear on the majority of them become bosom buddies with some of the locals, who welcome them with open arms (or wallets) , in general look after them and invite the Millionaires to share their meals.

At various times you hear them asking the locals what would enhance their lives, what does the local community need to enrich their lives etc.
Of course as they spend their time living alongside the locals they are supposed to gain enough insight into who would greatly benefit from a cash injection and who may just be laying it on a little thickly.
Most of the Millionaires are self made and run extremely successful businesses with huge annual turnovers.
I expect they would like to think that they were astute enough to separate the wheat from the chaff and end up giving their hard earned cash to the most needy cases.
But many of the Milionaires seem to have an inner wrangle going on, they find it incredibly difficult to decide who to help and how much money to donate.

After their ten days is up the Millionaire has to be able to reach a decision and be prepared to write those cheques out.
Usually there are at least three deserving causes that will receive a substantial amount of money.
Often the Millionaire in question will offer help in the form of an upfront cheque and then pledge ongoing help for a very worthwhile charity or community project. I have to admit that when they pledge time as well as money it restores my faith in human nature.
If you have an excess of money then it is all too easy to wave away a few thousand but to offer your own time is special.

On the morning of the tenth day the Millionaire sets sail with cheques in pocket and heads off to meet his benefactors.
Most of them dress accordingly, Armani suits and rolex watches...hubby always says,`Why do they do that??!!` it annoys him, he feels that they should stay casually dressed and not pull rank.
They then visit the benefactors in turn and tell them that they are not `Joe Bloggs from Clapham Junction` but they have a highly successful business and in fact are worth a million or more.
The cheques are handed over to the recipients and nine times out of ten the Millionaire sails off into the sunset in his Mercedes SLK.
The community is happy with the cheque and the Millionaire is happy to be set free.

In the last series there was a couple of the Millionaires who were hell bent on placing their money into the right place, they made it crystal clear that they really wanted to help and I have to say that I could really warm to the way they handled the whole Millionaire role.
Giving money away is extremely difficult at the best of times, on one hand people can be very proud no matter whether they have ten pounds or ten million pounds in the bank and deciding who is genuinely worthy and who isn`t is another huge pitfall.

On the whole I enjoyed the series, it was an eye opener. As I said earlier some Millionaires came over very well and others failed completely.
One of the biggest problems is that money isnt always the answer, over and over again we see and hear of money being thrown at problems in the hope of finding a solution but often things can be changed for the better without a cash input.
It all depends on the situation and sometimes all it takes is for people to make an effort to help themselves.

Summary: Entertaining but saometimes unbelievable.