This might seem an odd pitting for those unfamiliar with UK tv programs, but even if you haven’t seen it, you should recognise the format.
In “Cash In The Celebrity’s Attic”, Angela Rippon and an antiques expert, rummage around minor celebrities houses looking for stuff to sell for charity.
The first thing that pisses me off, is the sort of shite they allow to be taken for auction, and the paltry amounts they attempt to raise. The one I saw earlier today, had a darts player called Bobby George taking part, who was trying to raise £400 for Mencap. Nothing wrong with that, you might think… but the fucker is wearing ‘bling’ that would embarrass Mr T by it’s ostentatiousness, and he’s digging out £40 teapots that only a lunatic would buy.
Secondly, in all the time I’ve watched it, I’ve never heard one of the celebrities say they’d make up the difference, if they failed to reach their desired target. They just stand there cursing the public for being such a bunch of tight bastards. If they really gave a shit about these worthy causes they are promoting, surely they could at least double whatever amount the auction reached, or am I expecting a bit much from my ‘B list’ celeb’s?
( Oh, I’m so glad to get that off my chest…I feel almost cleansed! )
I’ve never seen the celebrity version but I love Cash in the Attic. A lot of times regular people can get over $1000 for a trip or for renovating their house. I would think even minor celebrities could do at least a couple of thousand.
Who knows maybe they blew all their money on hookers and coke instead of cranberry glass or linen presses. I was watching the sow this morning before work and this elderly couple wanted to go all out and celebrate their 50th anniversary at some London hotel and neither the cranberry glass or the linen press sold but they still got a bit above of $900.
The celebrity version has not to my knowledge leapt the pond but the regular version is on BBC America for what seems like 12 hours a day. That Alistair is so adorable I just want to pinch his cheeks (well, I want to do more than pinch his cheeks) but there’s some woman presenter whose name I don’t know and I almost literally cannot stand the sound of her voice.
That’s the one where two teams have to buy like three things at a flea market and then try to make a profit at auction, right? I watched that once and I could not stand the host. Every time he opened his mouth I wanted to punch him.
If not for this part, I’d think you were off the mark. I really dislike it when people doing something good are told off for not doing more. But they’re being jerks, so I guess it’s justified.
BBC Canada also has Flog It, and Car Booty. They’re along the same lines as Bargain Hunt and Cash in the Attic. We also have Holmes on Homes, Buy Me, Till Debt do us Part and X Weighted on for several hours during the day in order to meet Canadian content rules.
What pisses me off about those sorts of programmes is that people are willing to sell off family heirlooms, been in the family for generations, for £100. What the fuck?
I find it endlessly amusing that she wrote a book about Princess Anne’s first husband called Mark Phillips: A Man and His Horses. Does that include her highness? snerk
The Bobby George one I mentioned would have blown you away then. One of the items he sent was a shirt worn by the late, great darts player, Leighton Rees, along with a signed picture. The ‘expert’ said it was a hard thing to value, but put a conservative estimate of £40 to £60 on it. Bobby was a tad disappointed, but decided to let it go anyway. On the day of the auction, it managed to crawl up to £100 before the hammer went down. Bobby commented, “I’m quite pleased, but I’d have been gutted if we’d only got £50 for it!” . This seems to imply that his good friend Leighton’s memories were worth a measly £50 to this walking jeweller’s show-case. Why couldn’t he have had someone bidding on his behalf to try and bump the price up? Or more annoyingly still, perhaps he did!?
The one plus about this particular episode, was that the shirt of his own that he put up for auction, only made £50!!
I love Bargain Hunt! The host has that gorgeous fake tan and he acts like Richard Dawson. It was the best entertainment I had when I was recovering from surgery.
And I like the regular version of Cash in the Attic also.
Okay, I understand the point about fraudulently inflating the price, but to those of you who think I’m being a bit mean-spirited, can I ask this; when there are ‘normal’ participants who can amass £2,000 + from their bric a brac, just to get a patio done, why do these ‘celebrities’ have such poxily low targets for these ‘good causes’?
Maybe I should be pitting Bobby George and Tight Assed Celebrities? I certainly don’t want to alienate the hordes of David Dickinson and ‘antique shows in general’ fans… especially when I love the programs myself…usually.
Not for nothin’, but I don’t have bric a brac that could possibly be considered worth that sort of money. The people who go on these shows actually own tons of old crap that might be worth something at auction. I don’t imagine that celebrities would typically be this sort of pack-rat, garage-sale, hold-on-to-all-of-great-grama’s-“treasures” type of person.
Having a boatload of bling only means that you’re rich, it doesn’t mean that you have lots of interesting stuff to sell. It’s a pretty dull show if all they’re doing is selling things the rich guy bought last year. Of course, I’ve never seen the celebrity version, so maybe it IS a dull show.
Actually, you’d be surprised - don’t you watch “Through The Keyhole”? - nearly all the celeb’s I’ve seen on these shows, have houses filled with interesting objet’s de art, and of seemingly far more value than the stuff they end up sending. If it was called “Celebrities Clear Their Crap Out”, I wouldn’t be in this Pit!!!
