Anderson Cooper, adorable journalist and part time entertainer, interviewed British semi-celebrity Sarah Burge on Tuesday’s episode of his daytime talk show, presumably to get some advice about his wrinkles and bulges. what followed did not exactly go according to plan, but it was fifty times more awesome. Cooper dismissed his guest after only a few minutes and she fled the stage. Why? Oh, because this lady is batshit crazy, and he called her on it. Score one for Anderson Cooper.
Why was the silver fox so pissy? Well, Sarah Burge holds the Guinness World Record for most plastic surgeries and she calls herself the “Human Barbie.” (The counterpoint topic on this episode was Men who Love Dolls. Touché, Coops. Genuinely sad I missed that one.) Her surgery-altered appearance aside, things don’t seem so bad until you know that Burge has previously made headlines for teaching her 6-year-old to pole dance and giving her a voucher for breast enhancements on her 7th birthday. “It’s empowering for her to be able to take charge of the way she wants to look. She’ll be able to use the vouchers when she reaches 18. I’m going to keep buying them for her for Christmas and birthdays until then so she’ll have about £120,000 worth.” says the former nurse turned cosmetic surgery rep. Yeeeeaaahh, okay lady.
Here, I’m sure this picture of Burge and her daughter will clear everything right up:
Once on Anderson Burge says she encouraged her 15-year-old daughter, a “professional dancer” (without context, we have no idea if this is ballet, tap, or the golden pole), to get Botox injections to keep her from sweating. “you wouldn’t see Beyonce sweating on the stage, would you?” she justifies. to which we can all scream back in unison, “YES, YES WE WOULD! WE HAVE! I have seen her sweat so much it looks like she peed! Beyonce sweats, because she dances real nice! Swear!”
Anderson Cooper (bless his heart for trying) makes some extremely valid, rational points and even mentions a board-certified plastic surgeon weighing in and not a single word he says makes a dent in her very fixated, chemically de-wrinkled brain. They bounce right off and ding him in the face. Realizing things are going nowhere fast he cuts the fake stuff and lets her have it:
“I honestly have nothing more to talk to you about… I try to be really polite to all my guests. I think you’re dreadful and I honestly don’t want to talk to you anymore.” BURN. Cue high fives and high kicks of the most superior level.
If there’s one thing parenting has taught me, it’s that you only see a sliver of another parent’s life when they’re screaming in the checkout line– you never know the rest of the story. When I catch myself looking at another mom’s lunch choice thinking, “Oh I would never…” I give myself a good slap to the brain and walk away. Judging others is bad, mmmmkay?
…Except in situations like this. for the love of all that is holy, can we agree that some things are just NOT OKAY? Telling this woman she’s dreadful should be one of the least controversial statements ever uttered. between this train wreck, Teen Mom, Kate Gosselin, and Toddlers and Tiaras I can’t take anymore. it hurts my heart that there are real kids on the other side of these parents trying to come to terms with their bodies. I mean I guess they’re all alive and relatively safe, but NO, I’m really not okay with this level of crazy and apparently neither is Anderson Cooper.
Silver Fox, you’re officially my favorite person of the week.
a GOLD Coast woman has won a controversial all-expenses-paid cosmetic surgery trip to Thailand.
the competition, run by a Gold Coast tourism firm, has been labelled appalling by the Australian Medical Association's Queensland president.
CosMediTour sells its products as "affordable cosmetic holidays", creating deals similar to those sold by any travel agent, except these can include a variety of surgeries.
the Facebook contest asked entrants to try to accrue votes to earn themselves a trip to a Thai operating table.
the winner had accrued 1778 votes when the competition closed yesterday afternoon, earning her flights to Phuket for two people, 14 nights in a luxury resort, breakfast, some additional meals, massage and tours plus a $4,000 CosMediTour voucher.
a breast enlargement is worth roughly $3700.
AMA Queensland president Dr Richard Kidd said if the group was a medical firm, instead of a tourism agency, he would report it for investigation.
"Frankly, I think it's appalling," Dr Kidd said.
"I certainly don't think they would be offering it in Australia where, if something went wrong, there would be care and follow-up.
"before anyone has cosmetic surgery, they're supposed to go through proper counselling to make sure it is what they want and not a psychological condition like Body Dysmorphic Disorder."
Dr Kidd said all surgeries, whether here or abroad, carried risks. but he said Australia was the best place in the world to handle any unforseen complications.
CosMediTour Marketing manager Jake Lemon said the prize draw was about "accessibility", delivering an option to those who felt unable to afford the surgery.
"It was amazing to see how many people openly came out and wanted to discuss their body, their emotional insecurity and what would make them feel whole and complete," mr Lemon said.
He said surgeons for these procedures were trained "under the American system" and there had been a "97% satisfaction rate" with clients.
"there is no commitment to go through with the surgery. if they are meeting with the surgeon and think they might not get the look they're after, they can simply not go ahead with the procedure".
the most popular requests from entrants were breast enlargements or reduction, liposuction, dental work or a "mummy makeover", a catch-all procedure that may give a mother liposuction or breast surgery, billed as a type of bodily rejuvenation.
Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons president and associate professor Rodney Cooter warned cosmetic surgery needed to be carefully considered.
"Cosmetic surgery packages sold as holidays downplay the importance of the post-operative period," Assoc. Prof Cooter said.
"It's not about sunbathing, drinking cocktails, swimming and snorkelling before jetting home."
mr Lemon said CosMediTour was working to educate the community so it could make an "informed decision" about having surgery performed overseas.
While most eight-year-olds dream of getting a new bike or maybe a doll for their birthday, little Poppy Burge will be getting something more extravagant –
While most eight-year-olds dream of getting a new bike or maybe a doll for their birthday, little Poppy Burge will be getting something more extravagant –
If you’re a few thousand dollars short of a smaller waistline or larger bustline, a website launching Thursday may be able to help.
SociallySexyDeals.com is being billed as the world’s first deals site devoted to plastic surgery and other cosmetic enhancement services, from spray tanning to boob jobs.
The site negotiates discounts for a host of products and services, and then subscribers have a week to purchase a voucher.
The site goes live for Toronto customers on March 1, with expansions into Miami, new York and Los Angeles planned for later this year.
The site’s inaugural deals include 25 per cent off breast augmentation, 79 per cent off laser hair removal and 50 per cent off airbrush tanning.
The site’s president, Roberto De Angelo, who also founded cosmetic enhancement magazine Elevate, says subscribers are protected by several safeguards, including the ability to refund the voucher within 30 days if second thoughts start to settle in.
The number of vouchers per deal is also limited to 250.
Doctors who offer the services for which vouchers are sold are all board certified, and their qualifications are available for subscribers to read and verify, he says.
“Our look is fun but our platform puts education first,” De Angelo says. “We go to great lengths to ensure our subscribers make informed choices with the freedom to change their minds — no questions asked.”
Representatives for the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons and the Canadian society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery were not available for comment.
The site is not the first to offer plastic surgery discounts. Mass coupon site Groupon has offered cosmetic enhancement deals for physicians’ offices across the United States.
Even though subscribers to SociallySexyDeals.com can purchase discounts for surgery, they should not expect that to mean they have a spot reserved in an operating room.
Subscribers must be 18 years of age or older, and doctors reserve the right to refuse treatment if their patient is deemed unsuitable for the procedure.
Kathryn Clarke, senior communications co-ordinator with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, said the regulatory body would not find a problem with a doctor offering surgical services on a group discount site unless the physician contravened its regulations surrounding advertising services.
“Secondly, if someone is offering a discount on a cosmetic procedure, the physician would have to stipulate that patient selection is still part of it,” Clarke said in a telephone interview. “Because obviously you can’t tell until you assess the patient whether they’re an appropriate candidate for whatever is being offered.”
When asked if there are potential problems with offering surgery and other procedures to a large number of people at one time, Clarke said it would be difficult to anticipate any issues in advance.
“I think what’s important is what happens with the patient once that appointment is made,” Clarke said.
“Are people being given appropriate information, are physicians appropriately selecting patients or eliminating them based on an underlying health issue? So once the patient walks into the room for the appointment, what is that exchange like? and I think that would lead, if not handled properly, to complaints.”
At the end of the day, Clarke said, it might not be every potential patient’s route to a new nose or smaller thighs.
“But some people would be delighted to have a discount,” she said.
A promotion email from Groupon offering discounted cosmetic surgery, including breast enlargement, has been banned for “pressuring” consumers into hurriedly making potentially life-changing decisions in just a few hours.
The email offered discounts of well over 50% on operations at a clinic in Manchester if consumers booked before midnight on the day the deal was sent out.
Recipients of the email could click through to “fine print” that stated regulations such as that purchasers had to be over 18 and that there is an initial consultation before any procedure takes place. The deal was sent out in may with surgery to take place by 28 November.
The Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint from a member of the public and the Independent Healthcare Advisory Service that the Groupon deal was irresponsible “because it encouraged recipients to hurry into a decision to purchase cosmetic surgery”.
Groupon said it did not believe the promotional email “encouraged a frivolous or rushed decision to purchase the voucher”.
It said the offer was available to buy for 24 hours only, a decision made in conjunction with the clinic that provided the surgery, and that the tactic of a time limit was “an indicator of their business model and was not indicative of pressure purchase tactics”.
Groupon said the steps involved to get to the point of surgery, such as a consultation and being able to request a refund, meant that by the end of September 48 of 186 consumers had cancelled their vouchers.
The ASA pointed out that the marketing and ethical code run by the British Association for Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) prohibited ads that offered discounts linked to a deadline date for booking appointments “or other date-linked incentives”. The practice also goes against the good practice guide of the General Medical Council.
“We considered that the decision to undergo physically invasive procedures was one that required substantial consideration,” said the ASA. “We noted consumers only had 24 hours in which to buy the voucher and because of that, we considered that consumers buying the voucher would have already financially and mentally committed themselves to going ahead with a procedure.”
The ASA said that the “very limited time in which consumers had to buy the voucher pressured consumers into making a decision to (to all intents and purposes) purchase cosmetic surgery”.
The ASA said the email promotion was irresponsible and banned the ad.
“We have moved quickly to address the ASA ruling and have already changed subsequent plastic surgery deals to extend the period they are available for,” said a spokeswoman for Groupon, adding that the company has reviewed its process for offering such deals and has extended the expiration time limit to “at least three days” on average.
“Groupon endeavours to ensure that all of our advertised deals meet the highest possible standards and are both responsible and provide clear information for our customers,” said the spokeswoman. “We are always striving to make the Groupon experience the best it can be and to ensure that the deals we offer are great value for our customers.”
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/23/groupon-cosmetic-surgery-ad-banned?newsfeed=truetag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/23/groupon-cosmetic-surgery-ad-banned?newsfeed=trueWed, 23 Nov 2011 10:51:57 GMT”>Groupon ad ‘pressuring’ consumers into hurried cosmetic surgery is banned
