Immersing himself in the lives of child geniuses, Mark meets children with mind-boggling mental capacities. But are these young masterminds a force of nature or the product of intensive nurture?
Mark travels to the US and Brazil to meet three people who have taken plastic surgery to new extremes. In Los Angeles he meets Jenny Lee, a real life Texan Barbie doll, who has had 44 plastic surgery operations, including a brow lift, eyelid lift, lower eyelid lift, four nose jobs, cheek implants, three breast enlargements, and full body lift. In recent times Jenny has been diagnosed with Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Brazilian model Angela Bismarchi holds Brazil's record for the most plastic surgery. Her first husband was a plastic surgeon. And her second husband too. Brazil's answer to Jordan, the 37-year-old model has undergone virtually every cosmetic procedure imaginable, but as a gift to her current husband Wagner she even had a hymenoplasty, so she could be a virgin again before they married. In the Nevada desert, Mark meets Denis Avner - also known as `Stalking Cat' - who has spent the last 20 years having surgery, often without anaesthetic, in a bid to turn himself into a tiger, including facial modifications to give him pointed ears and caps to give him fangs. Recognised by Guinness World Records as being the most surgically modified man in the world, Cat has also had the shape of his brow and forehead radically altered, and facial implants to allow him to wear whiskers. Mark sets off with Cat on a road trip to Las Vegas, where Cat aims to begin a new life for himself, and on the way new truths come to light about Stalking Cat's story.
Mark travels across the USA and to Thailand and back to meet some of the world's most identical twins. The spectacle of identical twins in matching outfits leading doppelganger lives has always fascinated the public. While some identical twins pursue their own individuality, others actively nurture their sameness, sometimes becoming famous and making fortunes on the back of being so identical. Mark's journey of discovery takes him to Los Angeles to meet retired Playboy models the Barbie Twins. Next to Thailand, where he encounters a 'ménage a trio' in which two identical twin sisters have married the same man. Mark broaches the subjects of jealousy and sleeping arrangements. In Idaho, Mark encounters two sets of identical twins who have married each other, known as a `twin twin' marriage. But not only are they inter-married, they also live together as a family under the same roof. And finally back to LA, where Mark tracks down the Jamison sisters, a pair of identical twins who claim they have psychic powers and even share the same soul. Despite being in their fifties Linda and Terry dress identically, have exactly the same haircut, and live, work, and chant Tibetan mantras together in their LA home. But what is the cost of being so closely bonded? And could these twins ever live apart?
From Thailand to Russia, and Ohio to Dubai, Mark Dolan embarks on a quest to find the world's richest teenager and to discover if the silver-spoon life is really such a wonderful thing after all. Mark travels to Ohio to meet17-year-old Lacey Myers. Lacey is the second daughter of self-made multi-millionaire businessman Marty, who lavishes his daughter with gifts. Lacey has a white Range Rover worth $80k and US Olympic athlete for a personal trainer. Like many other teens, she dreams of becoming a celebrity, for which she is being trained by her own personal acting coach. Dad Marty encourages Lacey to aspire to make money herself and achieve the same success as he did. She's planning to go to college in New York where she will have to make do without the family's personal chef. In Dubai, hotspot for the world's mega-rich, 17 year-old-Eilan may lead a playboy lifestyle, but his super rich father keeps a close eye on his spending. Dad has also set demanding goals for Eilan and his siblings, with Eilan earmarked to become a high-powered lawyer. In Moscow Mark meet Russia's answer to Paris Hilton, fashion designer and teen idol Kira Plastinina. Kira's dad funds his daughter's own fashion brand, which has shown in Moscow, Rome and LA. Fans turn out in their hundreds to meet Kira, but Mark finds asking about her fortune a far trickier task then he had imagined. Finally, in Bangkok, Mark meets the Chirathivats. Although the family is worth $3 billion, and daughter Pear is the wealthiest by far of all the teens Mark meets, she is also the least affected. Despite living in the penthouse of the family's own five-star hotel, Pear receives just £3 pocket money a day, which she must save if she wants to buy something. She is currently saving up to buy a sewing machine. It is evident that Pear's father wants his daughter to eventually take her place on the board of the family corporation, and that her dalliance with a music career is viewed as not something to b
Mark Dolan journeys to Tonga, Mexico and Texas in search of some of the worlds fattest families. Obesity is not just an issue for individuals it affects whole families too. But is it the fault of bad parenting, or just bad individual choices? Tonga is the most obese nation in the world. And with a national diet of pork, lamb fat and mutton that's unlikely to change. Mark meets the Koloamatangi family, possibly the fattest on the island - with two generations all over 20 stone, who have prepared a Tongan feast in his honour featuring suckling pig. Mark learns there is a cultural belief that physical bulk is a sign of beauty and wealth. But is this tradition the reason Tonga has become the fattest nation on the planet? In Mexico, Mark learns the difference between being simply obese and super-morbidly obese when he meets Raymundo Cardenas Cruze, who is so ashamed of his weight he rarely leaves the house. In Texas he meets teenager Danielle who weights 29 stone. She has a four-year-old child who is also overweight and a morbidly obese brother, and her father died of an obesity related disease. She has always had an issue with her weight and was bullied at school, and then at 14 she became pregnant with her son. Jeremy. She feels that her weight has been encouraged by her grandmother always feeding her and is now concerned that her mother is repeating the cycle with her son, always giving him double portions. With so many people in America facing life as super-morbidly obese, the demand for drastic surgery is growing. Mark visits Light Dimensions, a clinic specialising in gastric band surgery, which is about to take on 46-stone Michael Herrera, one of its biggest clients ever.
