Gillian McKeith: Charlatan
Despite the fact that she calls herself “Dr.” on television, in her books and in her multi-million pound health food company, Gillian McKeith isn’t a real doctor. She bought her PhD off the internet.
Yesterday, the Advertising Standards Authority said enough is enough and have forbade her from using the title as it is “misleading”. Good. And about time, too. Playing around with people’s health is dangerous and to have her quackery legitimised by Channel 4 shouldn’t have ever been allowed to happen… but Channel 4′s Science Department has had a very “different” idea of what science actually means for several years now. And, of course, the fact that she rejoices in studying people’s poo has meant many column inches in the papers which translates into more viewers and higher advertising revenue. If they’re making money, why should Channel 4 give a shit about the crap coming out of her mouth?… so to speak.
This interesting article in the Guardian talks about how litigious Gillian McKeith is and how she threatens people who attempt to point out that she is a fantastically unqualified quack…. but as far as I can tell she’s never *actually* taken anyone to court. Which says to me that she knows it’s all a lie.
Because of Gillian McKeith’s fake doctorate, I’ve been saying for years that I should just buy a PhD online, go to Channel 4 with my “PhD in Social Software and Participatory Media” and see if they, too, would give me a show. My guess is that they probably would. I would, however, have to change my surname to Brian’s cos, really, ‘Dr. Cox’ is hilarious… especially, if my specialisation was in ‘Cybering’.
As it is, my only qualification is a certificate for a one day course in harness training at the National Construction College when I was doing ‘Demolition Day‘… and I’ve got it hanging on my wall. I’m so proud.
Still, despite the fact that my only recognised mastery is in checking and putting on a harness, I know I could shit all over Gillian McKeith in the intelligence department… so to speak.
Now that sounds like a show Channel 4 would go for!
About bloody time. Did you know that her “Detox” product which are simply pumpkin seeds have “enough energy to make a plant grow”. On account of being, you know, seeds.
Also, on doing a quick Google search with “Dr Gillian McKeith’s 24 Hour Detox” to try and get the exact quote above, I noticed a bit at the bottome of the search page which said “In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at ChillingEffects.org.” and this link: http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=973
Hahahaha “have enough energy to make a plant grow” hahahahahahaha. Jesus…
Fantastic news. Although it makes me sad that I’m actually now going to have to pass my exams this year, rather than just drop $20 online for a certificate that says “I’m a doctor, honest guv.”
Are you trying to tell me that she can’t make me a size 0? I’m so disappointed I’m going to have to eat some pork scratchings now.
Mmm… Pork flesh and hair yum yums…
Gillian McKeith may be a complete fraud, but this kind of charlatanry is everywhere, especially over here in Californialand. I don’t really understand why people fall for this shit. I think their brains must just turn off when they’re being told things by people on TV. A flickering light thing, maybe.
Can I point people in the direction of Andrew Collins’ blog for a very interesting discussion? Collins writes in the Radio Times, and Word magazine amongst others, and broadcasts on 6 Music. I respect him enormously. But he’s a little bit short of a full deck in regards to people like McKeith.
And there’s the rub, intelligent people like him still fall for this kind of nonsense.
It’s worth a read just to try to understand why an otherwise rational person can be so hooked on this superstitious nonsense.
http://www.wherediditallgoright.com/BLOG/2007/02/eat.html
Thanks for that, Adam… I used to know Andrew years ago. In fact I’ve got a photo of him somewhere from when he was in his early 20s, when he was just hired at the NME…