Kerry Parnell asks why people feel the need to expose themselves on TV Dr Christian Jessen with Dawn Harper and Pixie McKenna from TV program 'Embarrassing Bodies'. WHY do people go on Embarrassing Bodies? Why, why, why? I've racked my brains but, for the life of me, I can't figure it out. For those new to the British medical show, which airs on Channel 9, it's a program that invites anyone to visit a doctor with their hugely embarrassing problem. We're talking issues that have worsened to such a degree, I assume, precisely because they're so embarrassing that the patient hasn't as yet summoned up the courage to visit their local GP. Think anything from gigantism of the boobs and surgery gone wrong, to anal fistulas, worms and, in every episode, a plethora of genital problems. In fact, normally not 15 minutes goes by without some old fellow popping in and whipping down his trousers and inviting the nice Scottish medic Pixie McKenna to inspect his chap. Before you put it down to British eccentricity, Foxtel has recently commissioned an Aussie version and people poured in to Parramatta to get their particulars sorted out by the experts. But what I just can't fathom, and I have really tried, is why, if your problem is so mortifying you've been debilitated by shame for years, you decide that the one time and place you will finally go to get it sorted out is on international TV. And once on there you'll happily strip off and display your inner secrets to the entire world. Is it the lure of free treatment? Well no, because in the UK, thanks to the NHS, healthcare is 100 per cent free. Even in Australia, where you might have to stump up to see your GP and specialist, your subsequent operation would be gratis. Is it because you might get a mountain of top-quality private treatment for free - including dental and cosmetic procedures - at a level you couldn't hope to achieve on your own? Yes, maybe, except that doesn't explain why you never even attempted to get your furry teeth looked at by anybody, expert or not. Is it because we're so used to baring all on social media that this is just one step on? Who cares if your bum's on display to the whole of Australia - you've made it, you're famous, you're on TV. Don't any of the applicants worry about what their boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, family or friends might think? Doesn't it even register that perhaps Mrs Pumfrey from number 55 might have preferred not to know you had vaginal warts? My only conclusion is that people are far more exhibitionist than you'd think. My mother was a nurse for 50 years and would often regale us with stories of a certain old man that would invite her to inspect his fishing tackle whilst clearly demonstrating the thrill he was getting from it. Either that or he'd invite her to put her hand in his pocket to retrieve a toffee he had heating up in there. She'd send him packing again and again. Shame that old fellow didn't live long enough to watch Embarrassing Bodies - he could have flashed his shrivelled, sweaty toffees to the whole world.