Not So Secret Motivation ...

Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire is always an uplifting watch, even if the same plot is repeated each week. A successful person is placed ‘under-cover’ in a deprived area for a period of time. They work as volunteers as they discover locally based cash-strapped charities and organisations that are trying to help. In the final scene, with much emotion, they reveal their true identities and hand over large cheques, of their own money, to various deserving causes.
This week’s episode was a ‘special’, where Gary, a millionaire scrap-metal dealer, returned to the projects that he had supported during his stay in Blackpool a few months previously. A veteran’s charity, a respite holiday home for children with terminal illness, a homeless project and an individual with drug dependency were all significantly supported.

2 things stuck out for me, in this episode specifically and the series in general. Firstly the huge impact the opportunity of giving had on the ‘millionaires’ themselves. This was a recurring theme, and a feature of ‘Gary’s’ story. He spoke of his values being turned upside down, his life changed, his relationships improved and his sense of self greatly enhanced. Although we struggle to believe it, and even more to live it out, it is really better to give than to receive.

Secondly, it was striking how many of the projects that were supported, though the programme itself did nothing to highlight it, were faith-based. I personally recognised 2 initiatives, one an Urban Saints project and the other a church based youth group that used to be run by a friend of mine. It really is true that in some of the toughest places the church remains a real, in some cases the only, source of hope. This was powerfully brought home to me in this week’s programme. Gary took his 15 year old son back to Blackpool with him, to show him the work he had been involved in. He struggled to cope as he spoke with a terminally ill child of around the same age, then, in an eloquent piece to camera, spoke about how he couldn’t believe in the presence of God in the face of such suffering. As the story continued we moved to the homeless project, the camera focussed in on the name-plate at the entrance, it was called ‘Vincent House’ – the ‘t’ of Vincent was in the shape of a cross. Nothing was said but this viewer, at least, was left with the sure and certain knowledge that God was present all along.