julian_craster

Lessons in how to avoid obesity from Fergie ?

Rich.....as Fergie is obese - as is her horrible, ugly daughter.......How much is she being paid for this ?


Last night's TV: The Duchess in Hell
Sarah, Duchess of York, is back - on a mission to save us all from sloth and obesity
May 20, 2008 8:30 AM

Last night's TV: The Duchess in Hull | TV & radio | guardian.co.uk

Like a jolly red setter which has made a bit of a mess on the Axminster and been banished from the house, the Duchess of York has bounded back, not an ounce diminished in bounce and chumminess. She has, rather disconcertingly, come back to save us. The Duchess in Hull (ITV1) is the spearhead of her anti-obesity mission to, as she says, stop Britain blowing itself up.

I have some respect for a terribly tired-looking woman who, by her own efforts, has hauled herself out of a pit, admittedly of her own digging. She is also the last woman in the world you want to address your school. Eugenie chewed her fingers to hear her tell Marlborough College that 82 per cent of the population would rather sleep with a goat than her mother.

She is hagridden by old headlines, mostly in the morning. Believe me, you would not want to meet madam over the marmalade. "I find it very difficult dealing with the darkness in the morning. Every single minute of the day I think I'm fat, ugly, disgusting, unworthy and nobody likes me. I've had 15 years of defamation of character." She slumped on the stairs of the gym looking stricken but, after a dose of endorphins and a bath full of ice cubes, she was up and running. Many people find a slice of toast works quite well.

The Sargersons of Hull did not know who to expect. They had a little list drawn entirely from terrible TV: "Fern Britton, Nigella Lawson, Ricki Lake, Vanessa Feltz, Kerry Katonowa or whatever her name is and that bloke from Trisha Boot Camp." When Sarah arrived she demonstrated she had been away a little too long by saying, "It's not Oprah Winfrey! Did you think it was Oprah Winfrey?" Silence fell with a bit of a bump. "Oh my God, it's so sad! I just knew they wouldn't know who it was. All right, I married Prince Andrew. Diana was my sister-in-law." And, with increasing desperation, "You've heard of the Queen of England, have you? The Queen was my mother-in-law."

I wouldn't say obesity was the Sargersons' chief problem. Only 25-year-old Terri (later arrested and released when a man was found dead in her flat) had a job. Only seven-year-old Olly (whom they were adopting) didn't smoke. Jim, hale, hearty and, appropriately, full of beans at 83, grew fresh food on an allotment that his family refused to eat. I must, however, hand it to 14-year-old Mikey for native shrewdness. He said, "She's all right, but I reckon it's just a publicity stunt. She's got a name for splitting up with Andrew so she's going to change it for 'I help fat people'. That's what I reckon."

Unexpectedly, Sarah proved to be a disciplinarian. When her mother left for the Argentine with a polo player, she was brought up by her soldier father. I remember that, when Ruby Wax rummaged, uninvited, through her drawers, she found Beatrice's and Eugenie's T-shirts folded and arranged by colour as if for a military inspection. At the end of the programme, Sarah laid down some simple principles, which will be implemented tonight. Including - and she reached out to clip the ear of the youngest son - paying attention. From long practice he ducked.

penfold

I'm no royalist, I could quite happily cull some minor royals, but I do find your opening diatribe as unnecessary as it's inaccurate.
1) Fergie is not obese
2) Nor are her daughters obese
3) Nor are her daughters ugly....but as I haven't met them, I can't comment on their horribleness or otherwise.

But let me tell you about Fergie.

Over twenty years ago, my father was on one of his periodic stays in Basingstoke Hospital, where he was undergoing radiotherapy. He was doing the crossword in his little room, when there was a knock on the door. 'Hello, can I come in for a chat?' 'Twas Fergie. She had been visiting her father's gardener, also undergoing cancer treatment up the way, and was doing a tour of the floor of the hospital to talk to the other patients. Unaccompanied. No flunkeys, no Hospital administrators, no security, no TV cameras to record her doing 'Good Works' that seemed to follow Diana everywhere. Just spending an hour or two bringing a smile to the ill because it was something she could do. She spent five or ten minutes with my Dad, and it really bucked him up....and we won't forget her for it. Her media adventures may be ill-advised...but she had a good heart; perhaps the media have kicked that out of her now. Either way, she deserves better than ill-informed spite.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Freddy

You're right Penfold, spite is a terrible thing.

Seeing what's in a person's heart is far too difficult for today's media.

Freddy

orpheum

Looking at the title of this thread i thought it was about Alex not Sarah.

Welcome To Highbury The Home Of Football

julian_craster

Apologies for being so provocative, but I dislike Fergie intensely (though I have never met her personally, she comes across as tacky and lacking in good taste), and I find the concept of this TV show terribly patronising to the working classes. At her stately home Fergie would almost certainly employ servants to prepare, serve [and wash up after] her meals....these servants would be paid from the enormous fees she earns from US and UK tv shows such as this one ...

As the programme was filmed in Hull (not 'Hell' - my typo), the fine town on the River Humber, why didn't the tv producers select local MP John Pescott to give the local family lessons in how to control obesity ?

penfold

Yes, she's obviously not aristocratic enough ....it takes real aristos to be properly patronising to us working classes.
Is that what you meant???

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

MB

This programme does sound seriously ill-advised - but I agree with the opinion that being unnecessarily unpleasant about her children etc is uncalled for..

She has always struck me as well meaning, but very, very silly - so I suspect that some production company somewhere has come up with this idea and sold it her to her as a way of 'helping people'.

It's not the same people who came up with Wife Swap or those other awful 'reality' shows purely designed to mock?

It does sound awful and patronising..but it will be Fergie and these other people who will come out of it badly - the production company will take the money and run - almost completely unscathed..

Marky B

When it comes to looks,there is no such thing as an ugly person- it is just that not everyone is attractive to everyone. I think her tow daughter are both attracitve and I wouldn't consider them obese. Cuddly yes,but not obese.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

batman

I met Fergie during a book promotion event several years ago. She was a very warm and friendly person and was happy to talk with people for ages. I think it is her enthusiasm for life that sometimes makes her a target.

ps - I wish the media would back off from her kids, they are healthy looking girls who do not deserve to be humiliated in that manner

davidb

i didnt see this but the format of it reminded me of michael portaloo being a single mum ! in liverpool . must admit i warmed to michael a little bit after that

faginsgirl

We all have a grumble at times Julian

I personally like Fergie and think she is, and always has been an attractive woman. I liked her better than I liked Diana.

As I have said before, no way am I a royalist, but I think Fergie is ok!

xx

We`re changin` lodggggggggings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DB7

It's clearly a product of todays celebrity-obsessed media, if the programme had any genuine intentions you'd send a qualified dietician.

I'll forgive Portillo as he does seem to have undergone something of a sea change in his beliefs - probably due to the flack he got for his youthful indiscretions and losing his seat so memorably.

dogstar

I had never been a fan of Fergie's but have to say I was both impressed and pleasantly surprised by the way she came across in this programme. In fact however patronising the idea of the show migh seem it was hard not to like her and hard to doubt her good intentions. Given that she has a reputation for being something of an airhead I was also quite impressed by both the inteligence she displayed and the way she expressed her feelings about herself. And publicity stunt or not, the show made some valid points and if it actually helped a few people then more power to her.

Only a fool looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart....

julian_craster

As regular readers know, I receive most of my Royals information from the DAILY MAIL
and their columnists.
Today, there is a very nice photo of daughter Princess Beatrice (without the waist 'spare tyre' seen on the earlier holiday photos.....) . A very attractive young lady, I think .

See:

Sorry Fergie, I can't stomach you or your porky pies | Mail Online

dremble wedge

Alison Pearson eh? I remember her on Late Review where her utterings were almost as witless as those of Tony Parsons.

They're both newspaper columnists now - when does Tom Paulin get his?