Oprah's Big Give and Reality Show Contestants

[erpowers]

I wanted to ask duers if they thought Oprah's big give show moreso proved that some of the people who go on reality shows are not the best at doing what the show asked. In one of the episodes of the show the contestants were asked to give away $100,000. Most of the contestants could not find a way to give away the money. There were restrictions like a contestants could not give a person cash, could not give a person a gift of more than $500, and could not spend more than $10,000 a one place. However, it seems to me that more people should have been able to give the money away. It seems that there were so many ways to use the money. So, what do other people think?

[TexasBushwhacker]

1. Well, it shows that some people are better givers than others

I think the rules were fair, BUT the one guy who gave away all the money got a little creative and didn't let the rules get in the way of him giving a needy family of five $2500 worth of new appliances and electronics. I got the feeling that he was thinking "Rules be damned, I'm giving away all this money!" The gal that let the cystic fibrosis charity go and buy the needed items and she then reimbursed them probably pushed the rules too, but she said she didn't care.

The two people that were sent home deserved to be sent home. The one gal got totally focused on giving $10K to an animal shelter, but took her whole 24 hours to do it. The one guy told the family of a deceased police officer that he would pay for the funeral, AND THEN HE DIDN'T. Don't make promises and then not keep them! That was just awful. Both of them were extremely disorganized.

[philosophie_en_rose]

2. I find the concept really odd.

I would love to have the ability to give away $100,000 in $10,000 increments. It seems really easy. Go online or get a phone book. Call up shelters and foodbanks. Then, order what they need and have it delivered quickly.

However, I must say that I find the idea of making games of people's lives unsettling. I suppose it's better than most reality shows (at least some people get things that they need). But it seems just a little disrespectful.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. I never thought of it that way.

I like the idea of the show, even though I've only watched it once. I think anything that brings the concept of giving to the forefront is a good thing.

[Sweet Freedom]

4. I think the challenging parts were

the time period and location. 24-hours really isn't a lot of time and when you have to mobilize and/or organize others, it just makes it that much more difficult -- expecially when you aren't in your hometown. My mom and I were talking about what we would have done with the money and it seemed pretty easy, until we factored in a strange city. Even without the city, we had to ditch several ideas because they didn't follow the rules.