Season 1, Episode 10
Kelly F.
Age: 20’s
Location: California
Addiction: Alcohol (beer)
What’s Memorable: Your standard West Coast stinky street kid, self-righteous spare-changer who constantly drinks 40’s of malt liquor, hates his parents, and is convinced that he’s totally happy with his life and has no problems. He reminds me way too much of my little brother, maybe that’s why I got so angry at him when I watched. I really hope that eventually he got some help.
Official synopsis: Kelly, a man with a 160 IQ who lives on the streets and survives on beer and other people’s spare change
Original Air Date: June 2005
Interventionist: Candy
I met Kelly when I lived on the road and streets in 2006. He had the dog and girlfriend with him. We first met in the deserts of Arizona then again in Northern California in the woods. I remember him getting beat up both places and his backpack getting thrown into the river in NorCal. I haven’t rewatched this show since but I do remember someone telling me he was on the show and I had seen it. Was just thinking about him and his gf and decided to look it up. I will have to rewatch the episode.
Just watched this episode for the first time. Call me crazy, but I do not believe this man is an “addict”. He struck me as defiant to the point of choosing to live on the street, and bumming around, finding ways to pass the time like getting drunk was just a part of that lifestyle. I’m sure this sounds silly, but I think that if he wanted to stop drinking, he could have simply stopped, as opposed to a lot of addicts (both from this show and those whom I know in real life), who want to stop, but physically/mentally cannot. I hope this doesn’t come across as insensitive, because I really do hope that Kelly is doing better today than he was almost 20 years ago.
I completely agree. I know a lot of people who lived this lifestyle, and luckily nearly all of them got calmer over the years, they were no addicts. If you are punk you drink. It might not be smart for sure however it is what it is.
Happy to hear that he is doing well now.
I seen a mother’s day post from his mother on Facebook from 2020. It showed a picture of Kelly on a zoom call checking in. He looks healthy and from reading previous updates I would assume this is due to his half liver and has lead a sober for well over 10 years.
That could be an abcessed tooth, especially with living on the streets. Very painful too. Js.