Spanish judges are simpathetic to men? You must be joking! There is a new "Gender law" in spain that its unique in the world, where the same crime is punished in a different way depending on the gender of the person who did that crime.
ie: A man threat to a woman is punished between 6 months and 5 years of prison and he looses custody of their children. A woman threat to a man is not a crime. Don't start me on family court, divorce and custody. 95% of custodies are given automatically to the woman as well as the house and 2 pensions. The man is left without a house (but he has to carry on paying the mortgage) without his kids (visits 4 days a month) he has also to pay a pension to his ex-wife and another pension for the kids and in many cases he is left with a false violence accusation too (that will speed up the divorce process for the woman and give her more benefits that a man is not allowed to even if he is beaten up black and blue). Simpathetic? yeah, right!

jordi, bournemouth,

This has absolutely nothing to do with reality television, there is clearly a big problem with domestic violence in Spain. If these women were able to get proper help from the courts and the authorities they wouldn't have had to go to reality television. Why doesn't their government want to crack down on that? It's a disgrace

AnneMarie, Cork,

I believe that since it's against the law to incite a riot, likewise, the producers who prey on an innocent people for who then become "victims" due to the producers not fulfilling a basic due diligence in background checks, should absolutely go to jail! Broadsiding an innocent person with public embarrassment, pressure and manipulation from an abusive ex she didn't know was going to be on the show was unwarranted, unexpected and mostly very cruel and unusual punishment. Putting an abusive ex-boyfriend within close proximity to his ex must have been tormenting to her and caused unreal levels of emotional pain and fear. Causing emotional duress to this innocent woman is bad enough, but putting her life in jeopardy that resulted in her death - should be a criminal act. I believe the unscrupulous antics of these "Surpass-look-who's-here" shows that negatively broadsides a truly innocent person - should go to jail. Shame on them! Outlaw this baiting & treatment of innocent victims!

M, Jacksonville, FL

The show may not be responsible for committing the act of violence against this lady, BUT they faciliated the crime. The lady came onto the show unaware of why she was there. Did they tell her in advance what she was on the show for? Considering the prior violence against her, I don't believe she would have come on the show. Once she got there, it was obvious she was uncomfortable. These shows have the ability to investigate people prior to coming on the show. I speculate that this guy had no other means of proposing considering the active restraining order against him. If the show had done its homework and advised her of why she was there, there likely would not have been an encounter and then a murder. This show is responsible. They are here to shock people for ratings and money. They don't care about lives and the welfare of people. Why don't they try doing something positive for women of violence in a partnership with the police and government. I hate these shows.

Reginald L. Wilson, Nashville, TN

Pat:
<i>indeed there is not distinction in Castellano between the word girlfriend and bride (novia) or boyfriend and husband (novio);</i>

This is wrong in the second example: there are two words for boyfriend and husband, "novio" and "marido". Get your facts right.

Violence against women in Spain is not better or worse than in the UK. I think the problem here is that in the UK we don't hear about it so much.

Regina, London,

The show is not to blame, they did not pick up the knife and stab the lady, the man did. He is to blame - he committed the crime.

However, in a society where violence happens, we must take steps to prevent any such violence being provoked. In the same way you would fit CCTV to your home to prevent theives, the show should have done their homework before they allow people to bring their domestic lives to TV.

This, of course, does not mean we should accept that violence happens, just be prepared.

FOR EXAMPLE: You believe that stealing is wrong and dont understand why people do it... but you still lock your door when you leave the house, yeah?

Personally, I think he is a loony if he thinks beating someone will make them love him and why cant people just move on instead of "if I cant have her, no one can!". Get a grip on reality man!

Louise Gale, Dorset, England

In answer to your comment referring to Noel's House Party being taken off the air due to a death on the show, this is erroneous information. Noel's House Party was axed due to poor ratings, however on a previous show Noel was involved in (apparently the Late Late Breakfast show) a man was killed whilst attempting to perform a stunt by undoing his safety harness and falling to his death. This was found to not be the fault of the programs makers but it appears that Noel was distressed by the man's death (as you would be) and therefore made no further shows. However, I do agree that this Spanish TV show should compensate the lady's child and be taken off the air immediately, what happened is beyond forgivable. Surely the shows producers also broke the law in bringing a lady into the same studio as the man whom she had a restraining order against.

Dom, Leeds,

Damian -
thank you. your words are a tonic after reading so much hate from guys who think any woman asking not be treated like dirt is unacceptable feminist nazism.
simple human compassion for people regardless of gender is the ideal, let's try and get there

JK, Leeds, UK

I have been told by my legal team that if a man rapes a woman in the UK he retains the right to see any child born as a result of the rape.

I have written to every MP in the UK about this. No-one is denying it, so it looks like my legal team are correct.

Something needs to be done about this, and fast.

Barbara, Staffordshire, England

AF, London

Shame on all the men that have passed through your life for having given you such a poor view of men and their so called agenda.

david, madrid,

What the hell is the big deal here?! I mean, what do we know now that we didn't know before?! Some guys hit women. Newsflash folks, some women hit men. And some people are just crazy and kill people. Those people go to jail and spend the rest of their lives being traded for cigarettes. In short, people suck! So again I ask you, what does this sorry story tell us that we didn't already know?!

Pointy-Ears, Oregon,

pat, its untrue that domestic violence in spain is any worse than in any other country in europe, in fact is one of the countries with less deads for this problem.
regards

jordi, bournemouth,

AF, from London.
Your rant is as bad as the worse mysogynist rant that I ever read before. You generalize and minimize as you please.
You try to discredit Mens raights groups, why can't men have groups to defend their rights? why woman can? How come woman have been fighting for equality for centuries and now are fighting to deny this right to men? And yes, Men's rights groups do stand up against abuse and any sort of violence, not only violence against woman but violence against men, children and elderly people too (Neo radical gender feminist seem to forget that they are not the only victims of domestic violence).
Regards

jordi, bournemouth,

The level of violence against women by partners or ex-partners in spain is deplorable. For many years, Spanish tradition and society dictated that a boyfriend or girlfriend was for life - indeed there is not distinction in Castellano between the word girlfriend and bride (novia) or boyfriend and husband (novio) ; what we are seeing is a european/christian species of "honour killing" - divorce, voting and abortion are rights granted only to Spanish women over the last 30 years and it appears that many dying traditions are not easy to accept, in a country where the family unit is breaking down, promiscuity, illigitemacy, disposable income and drug use is rising and the birth rate is in serious decline.

Pat, The Hague, Holland

Why I don't really watch TV or subscribe to pop culture. Trashy TV for trashy people I guess (not a swipe at Spain but all "reality TV" in general all over the world)

Justin, London,

I am spanish and very sorry about our TV chat shows and celebrities hounding.People find them "funny to watch" and many have a good laugh with them.In some cases,like celebrities,it seems it is helpful to see that the rich and famous have miseries too.In a world as unfair for many as this I can quite understand it.People cash in (many not all the famous) by being quizzed about their private lives on the telly.It is a pity there is very little respect left and all is centered on making money.Also women in this country used to put up with many things before,and it is now ,when they are leaving the abusive types,when they sometimes find death,particularly the immigrants.

María Isabel Bouzas Malvar, Vigo, Spain

I agree with John from Galicia. I also considered Antena 3 responsible for the death of Svetlana and all my thoughts are with that poor child left behind and with their family in Russia.
Rosa, Frankfurt, Germany

rosa, frankfurt, germany

Well said Kim from London

Men are busy trying to discredit organisations that exist to fight for justice in rape cases and issues of domestic violence. Self declared 'Mens rights activists' are challenging feminism - not because of some of the dafter tenets of it - such as positive discrimination etc - but because they have decided all of it is bad and that all women deserve nothing less than this.

Mens rights activists are mysoginists at worse chauvinists at best in disguise. Don't be fooled. They never stand up against this sort of abuse - you never see them challenging it. But they are first out to shout at feminists on these issues to discredit them.

AF, London,

While I agree with the rest of what you say, Kim of London, your opening remark that 'a change has to happen in the minds of all men' is an appalling slur against the majority of men who reject violence against women both in theory and in practice. If you really don't know that there are plenty of perfectly decent men around then there is something seriously wrong with you.

Ilmarinen, Jyvaskyla, Finland

"Despite government efforts, Spanish judges are accused of being sympathetic to men who are violent towards their partners."

Some efforts!!! Women are still being murdered for goodness sake. Makes you wonder what goes on behind government officials and judges' front doors.

Jean Booth, Hague, Netherlands

The fact that the producers deny any responsibility says it all. All it would have taken was a police check on the contestants.

The people who make these programmes here in the UK, in Spain and in the US have been proven time and time again to be cruel, explotative and evil, as are the people who watch them.

They will continue to get away with it because they are all but untouchable; politicians need media support.

John, London, UK

What can I say - my ex-husband who beat and abused me for 25 years has decided to live in Spain, now I know why!!!

Michele, Saumur, France

You have to see Spanish TV to appreciate just how lucky we are. They routinely show dead bodies in pools of blood during road accidents on the news. Their reality TV shows plumb lower depths then ours ever will (and they give way more air time to them). The "Salsa Rosa" or pink press, what we would describe as tabloid TV is all chat shows (of which Patricia is one that is constantly causing problems) or celebrity gossip shows. If you have never felt sorry for celebrities who are hounded by the press, you should watch a Spanish celebrity gossip show. EU laws ban people being degraded in that manner.

And yet Spanish people are totally and utterly addicted to this rubbish. As an atheist and angry TV licence payer, I can't believe I am going to say this, but God bless the BBC.

Raf, Surrey,

I am a Spaniard and I can tell you that I am terribly sad about what happened. This poor woman didn't know what was going to happen. The people from the programme had told her that a relative was going to give her a surprise. So they lied to her because Mr Navarro wasn't a relative and surely she wouldn't have taken part in the programme if she had known better. Now the producer says they are not responsible, but I think they are. The programme lives on the pain and grieve of poor people and it's a shame that the law allows such programmes. What sort of society do we live in that such programmes exist, which just serve to satisfy the lowest human desires? Svetlana, the poor woman who was killed, leaves a boy of two. The authorities are now taking care of him. Not only his mother's life has been destroyed but probably his too. Who will one day be able to explain to that poor child the terrible thing that happened to his mother? I hope some good people will take care of him.

Rosa, Frankfurt, Germany

The lady was apparently told they were bringing her mother over from Russia and that is why she accepted the invitation to assist.
Spain has a serious problem with its television which they never come to address properly, Within hours of the horrible tragedy coming public it seemed the only important thing on the agenda for everyone was to excuse Antena 3 and make it clear they werent in anyway responsible. Well, I think they are, very much so. And the viewers are a disgrace too, they should read a book, take a stroll and get a life.
This was bound to happen sooner or later and my heart goes out to the the little child she left behind and her family back in Russia. Rest in peace Svetlana..

johnn, Galicia, Spain

Kim : " A change in the mindset of all men has to happen. "
Benzo: "Except for those of us who already know how to treat people as people regardless of their sex . Believe it or not , we are not all animals ! What an awful taste in men you must have !"

Benzo, there are a number of men who might not beat women, but who say prostitution (for women, of course) is OK. There is a huge entitlement among most men for women's bodies. Some of you just express it differently. If you are not "most men", then of course, this does not apply to you.

Lisa, OKC, USA

Don't know anything about these shows. Just don't watch them as I value my time not to waste it watching such drivel!

Bill, edinburgh, UK

Catherine in Alabama, regarding what you say about Tim, what he says is by and large the truth. (Although not everyone watches them, they are hugely popular and people so follow the ethos that these shows successfully propagate.) I live in Spain and have done so for years and can confirm more or less what he says. And no, I don't live on the costa del sol and eat chips. Nor am I part of a miniature brit colony. However, I do have to say that reality TV really is trash. Putting "celebrities" like that on a pedestal? Oh dear.

Clive, Barcelona,

The producers are to blame because they brought this man to the programme and he sat next to his ex-girlfriend when a judge ruled he coudn't get closer to her. The programme was on air yesterday again doing business as usual.

alicia, Madrid,

The TV is not to blame. So a show allowed a shock marriage proposal on air. The show is not to blame for the evil acts of one man. Clearly domestic violence is a big issue that needs addressing. Surely shows like this could have a role in that, like shows over here attempt to, however trashy they may appear.

tom, burton, england

Hear, hear, Damien of Melbourne. As a man I am horrified at the casual violence against women, and I'm right their with you.

Adrian Ryan, Donegal, Ireland

What about the two-year old who has lost his mother? The TV company should be held liable and forced to pay him lifetime compensation for the loss of his mother. The whole situation is a total disgrace. I seem to remember 'Noel's house party' being axed when someone died. Take it off the air. No excuses at all.

P. Jones, Zurich, Switzerland

I am a native English speaker born and educated in the UK and I also read the title of this article to mean "a "proposal to appear on TV" not as a "marriage proposal on TV".

TIm, Oxford, UK

The lie by men that women deserve violence, or that they cause men to lose control, is the biggest lie ever told. I'm a man who used to watch his father beat his mother. Let me tell you -- it's all a LIE.

We now have this garbage in Saudi Arabia about a woman who "deserved" to be raped because she (allegedly) had an affair. Apparently, this is a justification. Now she is to be flogged.

West or East, these barbarous animals should be flogged and jailed mercilessly until we accept the right of women to be free from men's miserable sexual immaturity, their violence and their disgustingly dishonest lies about women.

You need to hit, flog, or murder a woman? Do yourself and the world a big favor...stand in front of a bus and stop wasting our time.

damien, Melbourne, Australia

These TV programmes exist in the UK, France, and Switzerland - the TV programming I can receive if I wanted to. It is easy to suggest that they be turned off, but a great many night workers who want to watch some ordinary TV during the day are offered little else than these banal, often violent, shows, yet they are always the same.

The very same under educated vulnerable people towards the bottom end of society fall prey to these unscrupulous TV hosts. The UK's Jeremy Kyle show was berated for this very thing in a UK court by a judge just recently.

Although violence towards women happens in all countries and should be taken seriously and dealt with properly it rests with these shoddy cheap TV programmes' producers and their hosts to accept responsibility.

Why not try this, if you don't like the programmes; boycott the sponsors' products, boycott the advertisers but tell them you are doing so and why. Hit them where hurts - in the pocket, their bank accounts.

A. Campaigner, Evian , France

iam not a native speaker and at first glance i misunderstood
the heading "TV Proposal" as a proposal to appear on tv.i think news people should think about this.

metin, ist, Turkey

Tim, I imagine you are one of those Brits who uses Spain as nothing more than your personal vacation land and spends lots of time in chippies on the Costa del Sol. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I would be guilty of the same sort of lame-brained stereotyping you are: Big Brother?

Catherine, Alabama, USA

Sadly, these shows are enormously popular in Spain. There are "voluntary" codes of conduct, but of course no TV producer feels obliged to follow them when chasing ratings. Successive governments shy away from imposing guidelines: any idea of state control smacks of Francoism -- still raw in the public memory today.

chris west, córdoba, Spain

There are plenty of men in all societies, but especially ours, that is English society, who do not treat women badly and do not need re-education, thank you Kim. Evil men and violent men should be dealt with strictly by the courts. Just this week a vicious murderer has been allowed to get away with murder by pleading guilty to man- slaughter. This shows you what our judiciary is like. These evil and violent people are protected and defended by "bleeding heart liberals" in our society. While this continues there is no hope for women. Guaranteed our government will do nothing to help the poor woman who may be flogged in the Sudan because of the dismal, backward prejudice of people in that country -just as our government has said nothing about the rape victim sentenced to flogging in Saudi Arabia. Let's not point the finger at men in general please and let's not tolerate evil under the guise of religion.

Emily W, cambridge, UK

I know the Patricia's show, but the problem in Spain is that 69 women have been killed by her ex-lovers, lovers, husbands...
Nobody know the secret formula for stopping this daily massacre.
For Spanish goverment, viewers' groups and other organizations it is easier to lose the time finding a TV show as gulty, but, for how long time? one day, one month... enough time to leave alone many other women near wolve.
Please, please, find the solution and avoid to justify this social and politics failure "killing the messenger".

Lucho Díaz, Alicante, Spain

The death of people caused by reality shows have been predicted long time ago. The insidious danger is the death of our souls and human spirit when the influence of these TV programmes cab be so far stretching and profound in our every day life. These shows have become the most recently invented class A drugs for the eye and the mind trafficked by the rating chasing TV companies masquerading cheap and nasty TV shows as popular programmes demanded by the public. Some times it is OK to watch them for a laugh and not to take them seriously but what is chewing gum for the eye can also be chewing gum for the mind and nothing can be more bland, unsophisicated and educational than chewing gum that is additive.

Wing, Poole, UK

I'm sure Kim also would offer her support to the many hundreds of thousands of men whom suffer domestic abuse at the ends of their female partners, yet are afraid to come forward for fear of upsetting their perceived "masculinity." A lack of a strong social support network doesn't help either.

Since Kim also likes statistics, I'm sure she's aware a government study in the US ten years ago discovered 1/3 of domestic violence victims were men. That number has only since increased as more men are now coming out. I would say it's pretty safe to suggest those figures correlate with those in the UK, too.

Domestic violence is a massive social problem and by publicising one gender without mention of the other doesn't help any cause.

We must look at the greater picture, as indeed do those in Spain.

David Smith, Leicester, England

of course, the more important issue is the appaling tolerance towards domestic violence - the show only aggravated things.

then again the spanish have it better than indians, women here often can't approach authorities (affects social standing), or sometimes relatives/friends (affects social standing) or sometimes don't even separate (affects social standing)

mehta, mumbai,

This, and some other Spanish TV programmes, make their money out of the exploitation of feeble minded unfortunates by selling the cheap thrill of witnessing other people's emotions to people for whom the exhortation 'get a life' actually makes sense.

Granada TV's David Plowright used to day "make television worth watching". There are few, if any, Plowrights in modern Spanish broadcasting.

Donal, Madrid, Spain

I suppose that we needn't worry about the possibility of the "members of the public" being just actors in this case then.

Edward Johns, Lannion, France

From my limited understanding of the Spanish mentality there is very little chance of ratings for this show dropping. The people here watch nothing but dreadful gossip shows and reality TV.

If one happens by chance upon a quality documentary or other such show it has almost invariably been produced in another country.

Add to that the almost total lack of regard towards women's rights over here and you begin to get the idea.

tim, donosti, spain

El Diaro de Patricia (Patricia's Daily Show) has been exploiting its guests and cashing in on broken people since Day 1. But "trashy television culture" is hardly unique to Spain. The Jenny Jones Show in the States suffered a similar ordeal 10 years ago when a homophobic guest murdered his male neighbor for confessing to having a crush on him.

Take one show off the air, what do you do with the other half dozen ones of the same ilk?

We need to examine our "reality TV"-obsessed culture and the researchers on these shows need to do their damn homework. Don't just agree to place people on your show for cheap ratings if one of them is clearly a mentally ill mysoginistic sadist! My heart goes out to the family of this woman.

Nuria, London, UK

Just turn off these rubbish shows, the advertisers and programme makes will soon get the message if their rateings drop

Mike, Paphos, Cyprus

Most of us think that the television is to be blamed. It is because the television company is the only party to benefit from this incident while both the arrested and the victim suffer.


While some of us think that the man is to be blamed. He should have prepared to be turned down before he went on to the show. He shouldn't do that to the lady even though she rejected him.

A group of English learners, Hong Kong,

This Patricia from Diario de Patricia, I dislike her very much.

She is extremely manipulative and has no qualms about moving people to where she wants them to be, getting them to say things that can be easily twisted and shushing them as she does. She's been doing that program for ages, and I'm sure she knew what the hell was going on. Of course, no, she couldn't know that guy was so demented as to kill someone but I'm pretty sure she knew how she was pressuring her guest.

You gotta wonder. If instead of wife beater you say mafia capo, things turn into a different color. Invite him to reunite with a soon to be witness, see if they get along. Idiotic reprehensible behaviour from yet another rubbish TV.

And now its getting into peoples head that this is some kind of male general behaviour. What kind of insanity is this? I don't care if its violence towards women or men. It's violence. Stop complaining about violence towards women and start complaining against violence.

Mark, Spain,

Kim in London........I would broaden your comment and say a change in the mindset of society is needed................far too often do men not see the wrong in abuse, by a similar token women often withdraw their complaints pre-trial.
They also are complicit, for whatever reason, in breaches of conditional bail, in allowing the partner to stay in the 'matrimonial' home.......... This can be as a result of threat or fear of the loss of a relationship.......and even when after a trial, the abuser is being sentenced, the abused still wants a return to the status quo and no custodial sentence passed.................The prosecution service can't win can they?

Peter, Birmingham, UK

Kim : " A change in the mindset of all men has to happen. "
Except for those of us who already know how to treat people as people regardless of their sex . Believe it or not , we are not all animals ! What an awful taste in men you must have !

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,

its unbelievable that in the 21st century we "bait" vulnerable people for entertainment. Things like this used to happen in the 16th & 17the century such as 'all fool's day' etc and we state that it was terrible - history obviously hasn't taught us anything about compassion, support it seems only to have left a legacy of humiliation and mistreatment of others to feed our sorry appetites!

Ashamed. Sunderland Tyne & Wear.

L.Swanson, sunderland, england

"It seems Spain has a serious problem with domestic violence, and neither the courts nor society is coming down on it hard enough."


This is a problem everywhere. I read a recent report (sorry, i don't remember the source but it was a OCDE or EU report) saying that contrary to society's belief, the countries with the most domestic violence are the scandinavians, it's just that in such northern societies, people are more reserved.

But i agree with you in the bottom line, more should be done to stop these agressions.

Knutsen, Madrid,

Two women are killed by their partner or ex partner in the UK every week and there are millions more women who are or have been the victim of systematic pyschological, emotional and phsyiscal abuse in the UK from men.

I believe that we in the UK take domestic violence seriously yet we have over 150 deaths per year because of it. It has to be made clear to all men but particulary certain types that woman are not punchbags who are there just for their sadistic and cruel torture.

A change in the mindset of all men has to happen. And for those men that think they are above the law and they are allowed to batter, rape and torture their partners then the law must come down hard on them with no exceptions.

kim, london,

This poor woman was duped by unscrupulous TV producers desperate for hight ratings; however, she too must have fallen under the spell of being a prospective star. Did she not question the purpose of the invitation?
Nonetheless, the best course of action for the public is to stop watching TV. All they offer are trash and more trash.

Kishore, Galena, Illinois

The viewers of these shows are as guilty as the producers, as they create an audience and a demand.

The shows are like a soft-porn version of 'snuff' movies - to take pleasure in this 'bear-baiting' environment, revelling in other people's damaged lives, is simply disgusting.

Susan B, Pontypridd, Wales

Why these shows exist also says something of our society. Why would anyone spend any amount of time watching another human's suffering, humiliation or failures? What does it say about us and the seemingly vicarious need for this trash? And I seen people watch this with children! We have seen the tragic effects of bullying in schools, yet we thrive on it for entertainment -talk about sending a mixed message to the next generation!

Tragedy is not entertainment, humiliation should not be humor, failure is supposed to be a lesson, not a goal for others. Shame on our species.

cris, Boston, USA

when will egotistical tv presenters stop interfering with ordinary peoples lives?

sam, Birmingham, west midlands

Our TV is just as bad.

This morning (I had a slow start) I saw Jeremy Kyle berating and antagonising and abusing a man on his reality show, simply for the crime of having given 'inconclusive' answers in a lie detector test. I was amazed that even the presence of a security guard protected him from such appallingly abusive behaviour towards the guest.

Dominic Stockford, Teddington,

A proper inquiry should be made before doing any show.
What do you mean, the people conducting this show got deceived, this shows they are just not good in this business.
This lady(god bless her soul)should have been contacted and a proper interview wih her should be taken before doing anything and all possibilities and repercussions should be kept in mind.
Moreover for those ladies who come and speak of their abusive boyfriends or husbands must sign up for special protection or something.

Tahira Dawood, karachi, Pakistan

Television isn't to blame. The men who perpetrate this violence are to blame for their actions, and the courts and police condone it with lenient sentencing and turning a blind eye to "domestics". Don't turn your anger against television, turn it against the men who do this to their partners.
Battered wife, London

Anonymous, London,

These base reality shows often make fools of vulnerable people in the name of entertainment, they are cruel and explotative.

It would be 100% better TV to give our professional actors work and leave out the layman squabbling and rowing, airing their dirty linen in the public arena.

Barbara , Northumberland, UK

The TV angle is a distraction. It seems Spain has a serious problem with domestic violence, and neither the courts nor society is coming down on it hard enough. Men like Navarro and Navas should be locked up for life. Domestic violence should be viewed with the abhorrence as child abuse, and if it was the perpetrators would never dare appear on TV in the first place.

Richard Milne, Edinburgh,

As horrific as this is, there needs to be mandatory sentencing so as to tie the judges hands who tend to be sympathetic to this sort of violence. Second, I suggest women refuse to be a guest on any TV program period.

Fazsha, San Francisco,

This show has Blood on Its Hands. Simple as that.

They should be taken off the air immediately.

Maud Gillespie, Cape Town, South Africa

I agree w/P Thomas. However, I'm dismayed. The fastest and most effective way to get this off the air is via 'poor ratings.' It's a sign of the times, and a bad one, that that avenue isn't working. To the contrary....

Dan'l, Gorham, USA (Maine)

These "reality" programmes are a travesty of broadcasting ethics. The producers have no ethics.

P Thomas, Merseyside, UK