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« Wife Swap
February 19, 2007: Haigwood/Hess-Webb
It's been a while since I’ve said “ew!” so many times while watching a TV show. My face kept cringing every time I saw the Haigwoods eating raw chicken or raw meat. When I think of raw diets, I think more along the lines of consuming raw vegetables. But raw chicken and other meat? Do people really eat that? It just doesn’t seem safe to me. The raw eggs didn’t bother me so much, although I was surprised that the son, Lee Haigwood, ate 12 raw eggs a day.
I guess it’s just something I don’t understand, but I know I would’ve had the same reaction as Kim Hess-Webb's response. I wouldn’t have eaten the raw meat. I wouldn’t have tried to tell them and their kids that the way they were living was wrong. I don’t think she was OK in doing that. It’s one thing to disagree with a lifestyle, but telling the kids that their parents were trying to harm them was kind of out of line.
Maybe if they were against the raw food diet completely and were only doing it because of what their parents were telling them, it’d be a different story. But the fact is that the Haigwood kids seem to prefer the raw-food diet. Look what happened when they went out to a real restaurant and had chicken fingers: They got sick and were unhappy. But it seemed like they were just having some stomach aches, probably from not being used to cooked food.
I think that Mike Haigwood’s dramatic crying in the bathroom was overly dramatic. I tried to feel where he was coming from, but I couldn’t. He was seeing his kids “in pain” and suffering. He wanted to follow the rules, but not at “their deaths.” Did he really think they were going to die by eating chicken fingers? The Haigwoods seem to live in this super-heightened world where they only have each other.
Lee Haigwood got very upset that Kim Hess-Webb didn’t understand their family, but they're hard to understand. The Haigwoods have put themselves on the outskirts of society. The kids don’t go to school. Barbara Haigwood doesn’t believe in education, so the kids work on the farm and learn only from their surroundings — surroundings which are established singularly by their parents. They don’t seem to know what else is out there.
Robert Webb was right in saying that the Haigwood kids will most likely not leave the farm, and they’ll probably be happy with that life. But what about social interactions? I didn’t see them interacting at all with friends or neighbors. Nobody was around their farm. What kind of life is that? They have no education. I didn’t see them reading a book or doing anything like that. I just worry what will happen to them, especially when Barbara Haigwood seemed so preoccupied with the apocalypse and being prepared for disaster. Is she keeping her kids so close to home because she’s scared of losing them to disaster? If that’s the case, it’s not good for them, in my opinion. They seemed like nice enough kids, but their lifestyle is so absurd that I just don’t know what to think of where they’ll be in 10 years.
Despite all the absurdities, it was interesting to see these two worlds collide. Barbara Haigwood learned a little something about fashion and finally, after seven years, shaved her legs. I thought it was ridiculous that she was going to make Robert Webb get rid of all his clothes. That brings me to another question: How do the Haigwoods wash their clothes? We know how they brush their teeth. I don’t think I would’ve brushed my teeth with the butter/clay mixture they concocted. And they don’t believe in cleaning? It just doesn’t make sense.
I can understand the Haigwoods' having a raw-diet out of a personal desire to keep themselves purified and healthy. But what bothered me was when Mike asked Kim Hess-Webb, “Why would God put anything on this earth that would hurt us?” That just unnerved me. I suppose I don’t understand the raw-diet plan, but the fact that he said that caused me to believe that his diet was more of a spiritual thing that wasn’t really fleshed out for us.
I have to say that the Webb boys were adorable. I agreed with Robert when he wouldn’t let them see a chicken get slaughtered. That just didn’t seem appropriate, but Barbara did find a better way to teach them about raw food by having them plant their own vegetables.
The whole thing was just bizarre. Neither family seemed to understand the other. Kim ending up leaving. She was yelled at a lot, she upset the kids, and Mike Haigwood wasn’t very kind to her. I know she didn’t eat the raw food, but Mike Haigwood was an emotional mess that kept going off, either crying or yelling, so it seemed. I understand that Kim didn’t really open herself up to the experience and said what they were doing was wrong, disgusting and messing up their kids. But he wasn’t presenting his lifestyle to her in a way that maybe would’ve made sense to her.
We did learn a lesson from Lee Haigwood, at the very least. If you need to calm down, there’s nothing like eating a raw egg to ease your nerves.
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Feb 19, 2007 10:03 PM
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i only watch this shows for the good episodes. and when i first saw the previous for this one, i just had to watch it. and i so heartly agree with you, i said eww during the whole show. My whole gripe about this episode is that nobody uttered the words "samonella" or "ecoli". i was screaming samonella and ecoli at my tv for the them to mentioned those bacterias.
i dont even wanna mentioned the rest of the episode cause i might throw up from remembering it(im surprised i didnt throw up from watching it in the first place),but everything you said was right on the money. however i do wanna mentioned this....barbera used another persons razor to shave her legs...double eww. it defianlty couldnt be hers cause she never shaved in her life. double ewww.
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Feb 20, 2007 12:34 AM
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oh yeah i was laughing during the whole dramatic breakdown of mike's in the bathroom. was it wrong for me to laugh at that? cause i thought it was just way to funny.
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Feb 20, 2007 12:40 AM
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It's clear those kids on the farm don't have any socialization based on the son's inability to handle his emotions when he's angry or frustrated. That really frightened me. A raw egg can't solve that much.
This was like watching Fear Factor. Particularly eating the old raw meat. Even the crazy guy said it had a wang to it. uggh. And the brushing the teeth with butter and dirt?
And God puts plenty of items on this earth that aren't healthy - opium and cocaine for example. Lots of plants are poisonious. God just gives most of us the wisdom to know better.
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Feb 20, 2007 9:54 AM
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Not to be catty, but isn't anyone going to mention Robert Webb's "outing" on national television? Kim married her gay boyfriend, got her some cute kids and an urban lifestyle. Not that there's anything wrong with it. 
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Feb 20, 2007 10:28 AM
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dgjonesil, I watched the entire episode, and I do believe I missed Robert's supposed outing, as I'm sure others did also. I personally don't care what his sexual orientation is, and I frankly don't think that was the point of the show! Why bring up something like that? I thought the Haigwood's have several serious problems, from brainwashing their kids and feeding them raw meat to not sending them to school or at least home-schooling them. Quite honestly, I'm surprised that Social Services didn't become involved after the show aired. If they didn't, they should. The way the Haigwoods live is deplorable. Where do they find these people?
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Feb 20, 2007 12:23 PM
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I wondered about social services too. I thought if you were home schooling your kids you had to follow certain standards. After watching this show several times though I really wonder about that, since a lot of the houses they show that home school seem to be lax on having their kids really do work. If I was pro-home school this would tick me off.
High meat! Yuck! I remember one of my college professors talking about living down south and how they would hang meat to rot for a few days before eating it, but 3 - 4 months!
How could Mike think Kim could eat their raw food diet? Even the daughter knew it would probably make her sick. (Kim would have reacted worse than they did after eating cooked meat I think)
I get the germ issue to a certain extent. You really need to be exposed to some bacteria to develop an immune system, but they were filty! They need way more education on good and bad bacteria.
I wonder what those kids will be like when it's time to flee the nest. Where will they find mates?
And I also thought it was weird that Barbara wanted to get rid of Robert's clothing. Sure make him wear something else for rule change week, but did you really think that next week he wouldn't want his clothes? Maybe that was the cooked food talking!
Oh, and I didn't get that he was "outed" but I wasn't watching that closely all the time.
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Feb 20, 2007 1:50 PM
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Did anyone else notice at the end when they update since the swap, that the Haigwood's son had researched Feng Shui on the internet. Where did he do that if they are so out there? And if the nearest big city is 90 miles away, where did they go to eat out and then go to the doctor? Just a few thoughts.
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Feb 20, 2007 2:27 PM
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hee hee! I get what you are trying to say, dgjonesil. For those of you who watch "The Class," the Hess-Webb family were a little reminiscent of Perry & Holly Ellenbogen
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Feb 20, 2007 2:50 PM
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Did you notice when Barbara smiled and the fake tooth gleam appeared that her teeth looked like they were all brown near the gums? Yuck. I have read a LOT about the raw food diet and I have never seen one that included raw meat or eggs. Also, there are a lot of great natural products- why brush your teeth with butter/clay? In what world does that even make sense? I wondered about Social Services myself. Those kids aren't even home schooled. For the internet, maybe they use dial up!!!! There can't be any cable out there.
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Feb 20, 2007 3:04 PM
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I didn't notice anyone being "outed".
What I did notice was the gross condition of the toilet when the Mr Haigwood dissolved into a sniveling mass on the bathroom floor.
What did Kim eat while she was there??? They never showed her eating anything? Did she eat with the crew??
The younger Haigwood is probably going to turn into some psycho serial (cereal) killer!
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Feb 20, 2007 4:40 PM
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I had so many gag me moments in this show that I never watched the entire thing but kept leaving the room!
I have NEVER heard of anyone brushing their teeth with rancid butter! But I did notice Barbara Haigwood's teeth...And we say GINGIVITIS!!! Her gums were puffy and red with obvious decay. I say another year or so and she will be toothless.
As for the Apocalypse...I'd say it already happened in their household...That place was FILTHY! Where is social services?
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Feb 20, 2007 5:45 PM
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as i was watching this episode i was reminded of my roommate who doesn't wash her hands, leaves food out for days and then reheats it "it kills all the germs"
i was so grossed out by the whole episdoe that i didn't even eat dinner. and i agree with the person who said the son will turn out to be a serial killer i was thinking that throughout the show. also that womens teeth were nasty i don't think butter and dirt is doing the trick!
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Feb 22, 2007 2:06 PM
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For the Haigwoods;
Here's written proof about raw meat and washing hands:
How E. coli spreads
You develop an E. coli infection when you accidentally ingest the bacteria. These are the most common sources of infection:
Contaminated food. E. coli bacteria exist naturally in the intestine of many animals, including cattle. Meat can become contaminated with fecal matter containing the bacteria when cattle are slaughtered or processed. The problem is particularly serious in modern feedlots, where animals spend their lives in crowded, filthy conditions. Although beef in general may be contaminated, ground meat is a special concern because grinding combines meat from different animals and transfers bacteria from the meat's surface to its interior. The bacteria also can spread from one surface to another, which means that bacteria on a cow's udder or on equipment can end up in milk. Pasteurization kills the bacteria, but raw milk can be a source of infection. Other foods that may become contaminated with the bacteria include dry cured sausage, salami, alfalfa sprouts, lettuce, and unpasteurized apple juice and apple cider.
Contaminated water. Runoff from feedlots can contaminate ground and surface water, including water used to irrigate crops. Drinking or inadvertently swallowing untreated water from lakes and streams can cause infection. So can eating unwashed raw fruits and vegetables. And although public water systems use chlorine, ultraviolet light or ozone to kill E. coli, some outbreaks have been linked to contaminated municipal water supplies. Private wells are a greater cause for concern. If you have a private well, have it tested once a year for pathogens, including E. coli. Your state health department can help you find a laboratory certified to conduct the tests.
Person-to-person contact. E. coli bacteria can easily travel from person to person, especially when infected adults and children don't wash their hands properly. Family members of young children with the infection are especially likely to become sick themselves. Children can shed the bacteria in their stools for up to two weeks after symptoms improve.
Keeping E. coli at bay
It's not always possible to avoid food poisoning, but common-sense precautions can go a long way toward preventing infection with E. coli O157:H7 bacteria.
Cook all ground meat, hamburger or roast beef thoroughly. Meat, especially if grilled, is likely to brown before it's completely cooked, so use a meat thermometer to ensure that meat is heated to at least 160 F at its thickest point. If you don't have a thermometer, cook ground meat until no pink shows in the center.
To prevent the growth of bacteria in your kitchen, thoroughly wash anything that comes in contact with raw meat, including your hands, counters and utensils. Use hot, soapy water, bleach or disinfecting wipes. Never put cooked hamburgers on the same plate you used for raw patties.
Order beef cooked medium or well-done when eating out. Be persistent about getting what you ask for, even if it means sending your food back more than once.
Drink pasteurized milk, juice and cider. Any boxed or bottled juice kept at room temperature is likely to be pasteurized, even if the label doesn't say so.
Wash raw produce thoroughly, using plenty of running water and a scrub brush or a vegetable wash. Children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems should avoid alfalfa sprouts.
Avoid drinking untreated water from lakes and streams and swallowing water when swimming — even pool water, which can be contaminated with feces.
Make sure that family members, including children, wash their hands after using the bathroom, changing diapers and before eating.
Since you have internet access, you can read all about it on any medical site.
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Feb 23, 2007 1:43 PM
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There is something very wrong with Haigwoods. In my opinion they should have their children taken away from them. Have they never heard of people dying from E-Coli? Where does E-Coli come from? FECES, like those of their farm animals.
Do they think their son and daughter will ever find someone to spend their lives with on the farm and live the way they were brought up. I highly doubt it.
Also, as far Michaels bathroom breakdown... What were they thinking when they signed up for the show? Didn't they realize that the person that would come to their house would be opposite of them. Did they not expect that they would have to eat some cooked food. If he was so in fear for his children, then they should have never signed up to show. As far as the kids tummy aches - oh please! How fake was that! If anyone's health was endangered it was Kim Hess-Webb, Robert Webb and their 2 sons.
As far as I am concerned, Kim Hess-Webb was a saint to last as long as she did. I would have walked away from those crazy people and that digustingly filthy pig sty. I bet the farm animals quarters were probably cleaner that their house. I would not have been able to sit down on the furniture. Robert Webb was right to protect his children from Barbara's lunetic ways.
This eposide took reality TV to all new low. It was so disgusting that I wonder how much of it was really "reality."
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Sep 18, 2007 3:51 PM
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