Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
We all have our secrets - secrets that we tuck deep down inside, secrets we guard vigilantly, secrets we hope will never be unearthed.
But, would you give it up for half a million dollars? Would you expose your deepest, darkest moments for the whole world to watch? Would you hurt the ones you love as they sit helplessly a few feet away from you?
Television, after a myriad of sitcoms, dramas and talk shows, now broadcasts a reality show that worms out every possible skeleton in the cupboard, unravelling them before the glare of spotlights and luminous camera lenses.
With the rain outside lashing the window, we were trapped inside for the evening.
Bored, we watched a segment of the show as participants sat in the 'hot seat', squirming uneasily; pupils dilated, foreheads beaded with perspiration.
It seemed a large price to pay for the prize. Sure, you'd go home richer with half an hour worth of fame under your belt.
But after being humiliated, and humiliating everyone remotely related to you, who would you be taking the money to?
The truth is an enormously powerful entity - sometimes larger than we can imagine. We are preached to 'tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth' but it's much harder than we think.
We lie and keep secrets to cover up something, to protect someone, to hide ourselves from reality when we are not ready for it. No one expects you to be a saint, unless you are, of course. We all have our dark times; pasts we would choose not to reveal.
But the big question here is: would you give it up all for money before a voracious, jeering, entertainment-starved crowd?
Personally, I don't think I would. Under all our smiles and pretences, we all have our buried secrets. Without them, we basically exist, with no history, with nothing to change. We keep secrets to save ourselves from the cold merciless truth.
Or, maybe, you don't have anything to hide. Then again, that wouldn't be much of a mindless, audience-grabbing show, would it?
