Reality Television Choosing Family Over Fame

I’ve just watched perhaps the most memorable moment on television I have ever seen “ and for all the right reasons. While noodling around with the laptop and drinking tea, I found myself watching “Great British Hairdresser” (odd choice of show to half watch, I know). I’ve caught odd snatches of the episodes over the last few weeks, and have pretty much figured out what it’s all about. A shallow, psychofantic, obsessive, infantile “celebrity stylist” called James Brown has been wittling down a group of aspiring stylists week by week. He is assisted in his weekly public character assassination by Jo Elvin, the editor of “Glamour” magazine. Faced with choosing between the remaining five stylists, nobody stood out. Nobody had been hilariously bad, or fantastically good. Nobody on the show realised that perhaps the most talented of the bunch (and privately a favourite of Mr Celeb Stylist) was normal. And then it happened. The most promising member of the group voted himself out of the competition with a speech that confirmed everything I value, and belittled everybody else in the competition, including Mr Celebrity Stylist, and Miss Magazine Editor. Given the impending end of the television show, and a likely career for each of the remaining stylists working at fashion shoots, photo shoots, and on clothes show runways around the world, he realised the implications of the career they were heading towards. A life of eating on the run, sleeping during aircraft flights, and waking up in different countries every day. A life spent dealing with the self obsessed, self absorbed, shallow world of celebrity. A life with no family, no real friends, no place to call home, and nobody to trust. He chose his family, and his little girl over the money and fame, and pulled no punches in telling everybody. I found myself whispering “yes” as he finished his piece and walked. The look on James Brown and Jo Elvin’s face as he left told a far bigger story. A story about a life they left behind to succeed in their career. A story of what might have been, and a life they will never have. Being the father of three amazing little girls, I could wax lyrical about all the little things that happen each day, but I think you need to have been a parent to understand the significance of the moments, or the impact they sometimes have. There are so many moments though “ arriving home from work to find a little girl waiting at the end of the drive for her Dad, picking up the little girl who nobody wants to play with and soothing her tears, even sharing of a packet of chocolate buttons No riches, fame, or career will ever match a little person hiding behind your legs when unsure, or holding your hand when proud.