@Radi0logy: "I saw my chance and I took it... That is what heroes do!"

-Homer Simpson

@HiPwr: The Dr. Phil Home Game is rather disappointing. It's just a box full of moustaches and dice.

Sooo sad. Shoplifting is too boring a topic for Jerry Springer; I guess Dr. Phil was their version of sloppy seconds.

We were all amazed at the time how easy it was to get on the show.

That would be HIPAA. One P, two A's. :-)

(Most theft from the store is by people who work there, if you didn't already know.)

With these two in jail, how will the young'uns ever learn about the cool, cool crime of stealing? Won't someone please think of the children??

@ScottRose: Jerry Springer used to use professional wrestlers from indy leagues. Cheap, used to generating heat, did their own stunts, and not usually recognizable to the general public.

Other shows just used people who'd lie. I know two sets of people who went on Sally Jesse Raphael with fake stories. (Well, one totally made up and the other just exaggerated way outside the bounds of reality.)

No? Why?

Because it has nothing to do with the subject matter.

@West Coast Secessionist: I'm going to quote myself and push through the block you've put between my logic and you.

"So, you're going to sit there and say that roughly 3,061,340 people aren't a lot? THAT'S JUST THYROID PROBLEMS. There are people in the country with a myriad of other digestive tract issues. The scope of being overweight doesn't fall under just being lazy or someone who eats too much."

I did not, in any way, state that only 3 million or so people in this country were overweight.

"Cut the PC crap and let's at least be willing to be mean to these fat, stupid admitted shoplifters. Because if we can't abuse idiot shoplifters, who can we abuse?"

The problem with that line of thinking is that I'm not a bigot or a dick. These people are dumb for shoplifting and admitting to the amount of things they've stolen on national television. But, I've been out of high school for at least 10 years now and don't feel the need to resort to schoolyard politics.

@redbess:

so your body absorbs calories from sunlight, via photosynthesis?! maybe you are a superhero or something.

@Superawesomerad: People with appropriate height-weight ratios are so elitist!

That should save all of the fuss involved the kind of long, drawn out trial that usually follows a 'not guilty' plea.

@HiPwr: I hear the Dr. Phil home game is just a box full of moustaches and dice.

Without shows like this, how will the younguns ever learn about the cool, cool crime of stealing?? Won't somebody please think of the children??

Sage advice, this. The majority of the folks on here get so worked up precisely because they CANNOT control more.

pity for shop lifting? Id understand if she was maybe 10 but comeon. This lady knows better.

"Fast food doesn't give people cancer through second-hand consumption. "

No, but it's just as harmful to society as a whole, although maybe not as obvious.

My point was that I don't really see how someone can pick which bad habits they ridicule. Personally, I don't care if you're fat, a smoker, or hooked on smack, so long as it doesn't directly affect me.

All of those things indirectly affect me, but you can only control so much and still remain happy.

It entails poor self control and making excuses?

No, seriously. Out of the 60-odd-percent of Americans that are overweight, do you really think every single one of them have an eating disorder?

And to answer your sarcasm: yes, in cases of all the overweight people I know, I do know exactly why they're fat. They eat shitty food and are sedentary. It's not a big mystery. In the case of the smokers I know, the reason they're always coughing is because of their shitty habit.

So you see being fat is very similar to smoking. The lead to many of the same health problems and they're indicators of poor self control.

Now, is EVERY SINGLE overweight person overweight because of choice? No. But MOST are. That's just about the only difference from smokers.

Sometimes the simplest answer is correct. I'm not really sure why your such a zealot about this. Are you making excuses for yourself?

$100,000 a year? Were they stealing Fabrege Eggs?

Seriously - an acquaintance of mine was in an upscale grocery store in Portland with a black friend, and had security follow them around. She got pissed, and once her friend went back to her home, started shoplifting food from there, and no one was the wiser.

Name your source. If that's true, it really goes to show you what a sorry state our criminal justice system is these days, that confessing your crimes in great detail in front of an audience of 2 million people is apparently not enough to convince some hack judge to issue a search warrant. How much clearer could it be that someone who does this is a criminal and deserves to be investigated?

It's not okay to ask if they were stealing food.

It's perfectly fine to suggest that they were stilling food.

Hope that clears some things up.

Boy, that showed her.

And I'm off to the 24-hour convenience store.

Theft is available to each of us from the time we were toddlers, and every one of us with scruples dismissed the temptation. A thief and an attention bitch gets no pity here.

I can understand people getting upset with smokers when they're smoking near you and therefore endangering your health without your permission, but there's no reason to be rude to either fat people or smokers just because they exist.

Why this is an issue when consumerist readers could be mocking the fact that these two dimwits are extraordinarily stupid thieves who outed themselves on television? Frankly that seems a lot more interesting and mock-worthy than the fact that she has a double chin like a hundred million other people.

My husband had a client he was defending against drug charges WHO WENT TO COURT HIGH AND TRIED TO BUY OFF THE BAILIFF.

@chumia40_El_Señor_Justicia: No contaban con mi astucia.

The only reason to say that would be to put yourself above people with the problem. That's why it is still acceptable to look down on fat people.

People with both types of addiction suffer. The main operational difference between physical and psychological addiction is that treatment for a physical addiction starts with physical medicine. Detox is (relatively) easy.

After you get the crap out of your body, what's left is the same. Whether drugs, gambling, fat, online games, sex, crime, whatever. In fact, fat people probably have it harder than most others. How do you detox from food?

Oh. Just in case you decide to make a personal attack, there are three obvious possibilities:

1. I'm fat and making excuses.

2. I'm skinny and don't know what I'm talking about.

3. I was once fat and my very existence proves your point.

I'll let you pick.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I'm trying to quit, I swear... but Dr. Phil hasn't accepted my show pitch of "I'm pregnant and have compulsive overeating disorder."

Damn you, toll house.... Nabisco... Frito Lay... Entenmanns....

@Sanspants: TSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

@ncpeters:
..and again I see that what I have said continues to be true: Ebay is the biggest fence the criminals have working for them, and can do so without fear of legal reprisal.

That's true. Also overeating, especially emotional overeating, is an eating disorder also. Eating disorders aren't about food; they're about control. People think eating disorder just means anorexia, but there's a whole bunch more of them out there.

And the medical thing too. I saw a lady on TV who was mutilated by a surgery gone wrong and she was in so much pain she could hardly walk so she gained a LOT of weight.

McGraw, now and since his TV show took flight in 2002, said he does not practice, nor believe in, traditional psychology.

"I make it very, very clear," McGraw told Lauer. "I say it on my show, you've heard me say it, and I say it on my Web site, I don't do therapy, I don't do medical therapy, I don't do individual therapy, I don't do couples therapy ..."

Then what the bloody hell does he think he's doing?

My mother is a therapist. She has to clean up the messes of people like him. She even wrote a book.

You and I both know MOST fat people are fat because of their own eating and exercise habits. Craptastico is 100% right here. Cut the PC crap and let's at least be willing to be mean to these fat, stupid admitted shoplifters. Because if we can't abuse idiot shoplifters, who can we abuse?

@craptastico: 100% in agreement with you here, craptastico. fine, there are a small number of fatsos that have a medical problem that actually led to them getting fat. most, however, are plain eating too much and not excercising. which, tada, leads to depression, not the other way around. i could stand to lose 20-30 pounds, but i like beer and meat and don't make the effort i should to get my ass in a gym. but i'm definitely not going to blame on anything else and go looking for a magic pill.

@craptastico: "depression? if they're overweight due to depression, than yes, it's because they over eat and under exercise, maybe if they got off the couch and exercised they'd feel better about themselves. nevermind, i guess that'd be too hard, it's a lot easier to find a shrink to prescribe you a pill, that way their insurance company can pay for their inability to help themself."

You, for all intents and purposes, are a dick. You haven't mastered the art of common sense, have you? I read and read through your garbage... and it's quite infuriating.

Depression can be caused by any number of things. The 23-year-old girl who is raped and unable to cope with it and becomes depressed and finds comfort in food and sits at home all day. Yeah, I guess in your world, that would make her lazy, right?

Your logic is flawed in ways you can't even see. Ass clown.

@Hoss: They do get after the pro-shoplifting rings. There was one in Florida that had a warehouse and was professionally listing items on Ebay as the modern version of selling razor blades at the flea market.

I only wonder if Ebay would be forced to give the auction listing money back as that is now proceeds from criminal enterprises.

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): lol, this sounds like personal experience. have any little potheads walk into your firm lately?

@craptastico: So, you're going to sit there and say that roughly 3,061,340 people aren't a lot? That's JUST thyroid problems. There are people in the country with a myriad of other digestive tract issues. The scope of being overweight doesn't fall under just being lazy or someone who eats too much.

You've outed yourself to be quite the bigot.

I agree?

I agree. Are there medical reasons why someone might be overweight? Absolutely there are. But the real reason 90% of people are overweight has everything to do with themselves. I know as I've been overweight and lost it over a year of eating less and working out more.

I don't think it's fair to judge all fat people the same way, but I do think it's fair to say that MOST fat people are fat because of their own choices, and could be LESS FAT simply by modifying their life style.

Honestly, it's high time for everyone to take a step back and examine WHY it's so darned important to make excuses for oneself instead of taking some responsibility and committing to eating correctly and getting enough exercise. If you have a legitimate medical issue, that's another story, but I'd be willing to bet all of my worldly wealth that the issue for 90% of overweight people has NOTHING to do with something outside their control.

@craptastico: As a former smoke, smoking is not so much physically addictive as it is a habit. It's a hard habit to break. I used to primarily smoke when I was driving, but I quit cold turkey after 12 years of smoking.

An overweight person, on the other hand, can have other problems leading to being overweight. Eating disorders, mental health issues, etc.

The thing about this whole article and it's discussions are when it falls into the category of "fat people," that's when most people's real personalities shine. And frankly, it's pretty disgusting. Asshat.

Yeah, I know, just saying it could happen..

@nakedscience: depression? if they're overweight due to depression, than yes, it's because they over eat and under exercise, maybe if they got off the couch and exercised they'd feel better about themselves. nevermind, i guess that'd be too hard, it's a lot easier to find a shrink to prescribe you a pill, that way their insurance company can pay for their inability to help themself.

as for the pill, we're not talking about 10 pounds here, the two we're discussing are morbidly obese.

i'm 30 pounds overweight, and a smoker, the difference is i know i'm the only one that controls it and don't make excuses for it. i smoke a pack a month because i enjoy it, and i eat a lot of meat because i like it, but i can also jog a 5k in around 25 minutes (not great, but good for a fat smoker) and take care of myself otherwise, but i like to enjoy the things i enjoy and i don't make up excuses. the majority of fat/smokers are by their own decision.

I'd completely agree with you, were it not for the fact that there are morrre than enough dysfunctional people to provide fodder for these shows. (Of course, they still get cajoled and scripted by the producers).

@Gokuhouse: OK this is the problem with "reality" TV. Eventually Dr. Phil runs out of real people with real problems, so he starts getting actors instead.

I didn't see this show, but I've seen others that were surely scripted. The show host wants outrageous guests who say ridiculous & memorable things. That's the only way to get any buzz, the more outrageous the better. I'm thinking the cops aren't going to find anything on these two, becuase they're actors and it was all fake.

@craptastico: "so because a kid makes a bad decision when he's 14 or 15, probably due to peer pressure, he deserves to die of lung cancer because he's physically addicted"

Never said that, did I? Nope.

But he still made the decision to start smoking. I am all for programs to help him quit, however.

So you know everyone who has depression and is on medication that makes them gain weight? Or what about the birth control pill? It can make certain people gain upwards of 10 lbs. And other medications, too.

Of course you can TOTALLY TELL by looking at someone that they are overweight because they are lazy, amiright?

TV host Phil McGraw allowed his license to lapse in Texas and never had one in California, where he tapes his syndicated show, officials in Austin and Sacramento said yesterday.

And according to he himself:

McGraw, now and since his TV show took flight in 2002, said he does not practice, nor believe in, traditional psychology.

"I make it very, very clear," McGraw told Lauer. "I say it on my show, you've heard me say it, and I say it on my Web site, I don't do therapy, I don't do medical therapy, I don't do individual therapy, I don't do couples therapy ...

Either way, I wouldn't consult him for any advice, even if it was "should I choose ketchup or catsup?".

As a general rule, by being a complete douchebag one loses any of the righteousness he thinks he gets from not smoking or being fat.

He can call himself Dr., since he does have his Ph.D in clinical psychology. He is not, however, a medical doctor.

@redbess: Exactly. I went from hyperthyroid with a super fast metabolism to having a dead thyroid (dosed with radioactive iodine to kill it since it was causing me heart problems at the ripe old age of 24), and gained 30 lbs. I cut my calorie intake to 2/3 of what it was, cut out almost every food I liked, exercise at least 40 minutes 7 days a week, and can barely maintain the current weight, let alone shed any. To top it all off, a lot of my hair fell out.

that location [not the one i was manager of, i am not that stupid] stacked the oriental rugs near the front of the store, rolled up. the store had the registers near the center of the store and glass windows along the front. someone would hang around until they saw the cashier was busy through the windows. then they would open the door wide as they walked in so their partner could duck down out of the cashier's site and grab a rug, any rug, didn't matter. then the person with the rug would drag it part of the way out the door and then stand up and have the first person help them so it looked like two people bringing a rug INTO the store.

then they would take it up to the cashier who would happily exchange it for another rug or store credit [without a receipt] for whatever else they wanted.

it took the store manager months to figure out where the loss was coming from.

@nakedscience: so because a kid makes a bad decision when he's 14 or 15, probably due to peer pressure, he deserves to die of lung cancer because he's physically addicted? get off your high horse. there's many reasons people are fat, but they only apply to a VERY small minority. less than 1% of Americans have thyroid problems
[www.drcranton.com]
and that includes underactive thyroids which makes people skinny, so unless only about .5% of Americans are over overweight most of them are just lazy

My favourite is the one where a cop took pot from a bust, smoked it with his wife then called 911 because 'I think we're dead. I really do.'

If the idea is to put them in jail, I would think the Feds would subpoena their eBay records then do a tax audit to make them prove cost of sales. Unless they stole a famous painting or something, I can't figure out why the Feds would use a raid. Just because the say they stole lots of stuff and in fact have lots of stuff doesn't make a case -- they then need to find a victim.

@nakedscience: so because 1 in 50 has an actual medical reason, that means you have to defend everyone? these two obviously lack self control, otherwise they wouldn't be stealing and eating everything they get their hands on. i'm sure there's a reason for it but everyone has their reasons, it doesnt mean they shouldn't be held accountable.

@Tuuurd_Ferguson: LOL tell me about it! What a couple of losers seeking their 15 minutes of fame.

LOL at your Cosmo statement too :)

@ScottRose: I guess you did not, as Eminem has accused, forget about Dre.

@Sanspants: Phil is a doctor the way Julius Erving is a doctor.

@savdavid: What does food or their weight have to do with this post? Oh, right, nothing, but people seem to think it is okay to make fun of fat people.

@Odiase: kelpto club? Does it have to do with seaweed? Do Fail Whales eat seaweed? I need a nap.

@craptastico: And someone who smokes CHOSE to start smoking, when they damn well already know it's addictive. Period. They are addicted to smoking because THEY CHOSE TO SMOKE, period. There's no question about that.

Someone who is overweight may be overweight because they don't exersize and they eat too much, but not necessarily -- there are MANY reasons people become overweight. You can't just look at someone and go, "Oh, she's fat, she overeats and doesn't exersize apparently!" You CAN, however, look at someone, see them smoking, and say, "They CHOSE to smoke and there is no questino whatsoever about that."

Also, plenty of people who are overweight are still healthy and exersize plenty.

this was probably the only time EVER that I spit my food up after taking the time to read through a disemvoweling.

@craptastico: Thyroid problems? Eating disorders connected to depression? Other medical problems that make it difficult for someone to exersize? Yeah, it's not as simple as you'd like to make it out to be, and you canNOT determine someone's history by just looking at them.

So kindly shove your head back into your rear so the rest of us don't have to hear your ignorance.

@ScottRose: At least you're not going to Method Man for the physicals. He'll put a clothes hanger on the stove...

@CargoHolder_GitEmSteveDave: *I* peeped your smiley wink Dave

@craptastico: I'll admit. I chuckled.

Plus the joke wasn't even that funny.

@nakedscience: the difference is smoking is physically addictive. i guess you TOTALLY know why a smoker smokes? also yes you can tell why a fat person is fat just by looking at them: because they over eat and under exercise. it's not as complicated as you'd like to make it out to be

@Mike8813: to add another layer of hilarity, take note of their names: Laura and Matthew Eaton.

No, Dr. Dre is a real doctor. At least, I've been going to him for years for my physicals..

Oh crap.

@craptastico: I can't watch the clip at work, but yeah, some people are like that and can't stop. THey don't take things they want, they just take stuff because they can.

@You Cannot Untoast: And um, no, making fun of fat people won't be incentive enough to lose weight, even if it is from overeating. You know what an eating disorder entails, right?

Myself, I'm waiting for the police to come take my statement. I was selling some dope to the kids in the schoolyard, and this kid took my dope and ran back into the school before paying me.

Stupid kid.. wait until the cops get here and pull him out of his class to get my money he owes me.

@You Cannot Untoast: " but we can't make fun of other unhealthy behaviors?"

Because you TOTALLY know an overweight person's history! You know why they are fat, just by looking at them!

You do realize that being fat isn't the same thing as smoking, right?

Hey, worked for Senator David Vitter, didn't it?

@SarasiPolyxena: Maybe he's using the Dr. designation like Dr. Dre?

Will they also need a Rita Hayworth poster?

Dd th ldy d hr prmry shplftng t th lcl krspy krm?

100lbs on the other hand and we're talking about a problem

Wait......you mean going on 'Dr Phil" DOESN'T solve all your problems???

Side note....Does anyone else think he looks like the muppet that Grover annoys the daylights out of on SESAME STREET???

WTF? To paraphrase the smoking thread, "Maybe making more fun of fat people will be incentive to lose weight."

And yes, I'm 15lbs overweight.

@razremytuxbuddy: at that point it's not about the stuff, they must get some kind of high off the act of doing it.

Perhaps they thought that since they were on TV, they were celebrities and were going to get a ten minute jail term like Paris Hilton or Linsay Lohan.

I bet they got some nice souveniers from Dr. Phil's green room though. Maybe a "Dr. Phil Home Game", too.

@BeerManMike: I WOULD say that you're a jerk for making that fat joke. Then I saw your screen name... My name is Mike, too! And I like beer! How could I stay mad at you?

Also, they're fat.

Delatarse en television nacional y frente a millones de personas pudo parecerles un buen metodo para expiar sus culpas... Pero no contaban con la implacable y retardada justicia Estadounidense

How the hell do you steal a flat screen tv? I must see this episode now.

Ugh. Agree on the basis that it would be prudent, but disagree on talking about it in front of millions of viewers anyway.

AFAIK the companies that lost merchandise due to their shoplifting could still sue them even if the criminal statute of limitations is up.

He's both not a real doctor and even if he were, confidentiality goes out the window with a 3rd party (let alone a 3-million-rd party) present.

(For gods sake, GESD, I know you were joking, but someone is going to read that and think you were the super serialz, and then I'd have to be upset at them).

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Yes, I probably should have.

Yeah, if you're dumb enough to believe that Dr. Phil can grant amnesty for criminal charges then you deserve what you get.. (Well, I guess they deserve what they got from the shoplifting in the first place).

jesus wait a few years then talk about it

Can we have a cat to replace the photo?

omg, i am from there (sm, ca). maybe i should start stealing too!

Do people think that confessing to this stuff on a talk show gives them immunity or something?

@BeerManMike: Um, just the lady?

I saw this episode.. I figured that something negative would happen to them over this.. I'm just suprised that it took this long.

I did find it incredibly interesting though.. I couldn't ever imagine stealing.. much less turning it into a "business". And I was shocked to hear them say how easy it was to steal big things like flat screen TVs and such.. I still don't get how it could be easy.

I guess I just feel like since I never do anything wrong, I would be the first to get caught if something even LOOKED like stealing.

@JGKojak: New security consultant at your service

Ah, another story to restore my faith in humanity!

Now watch them whore themselves out to retail stores to teach them how to prevent shoplifting.

And no one should go on Dr. Phil for any reason. He's just a moron. You do not fix marriages by going on Dr. Phil anymore than you improve your sex life by reading Cosmo.