Dr. Phil checks in with the two families competing in the Ultimate Family Weight Loss Challenge.
“I’m really worried about my son Mark. He is being bullied on a daily basis,” says Christina of her 12-year-old son. “Mark has been picked up and thrown into the lockers in the gym. Mark’s been shoved into the urinals in the bathroom. He gets punched. The children have spit on Mark. They have spread rumors about Mark … I send him to school 
every day to get an education, and to know that I’m sending him every single day to where people are going to hurt him and be mean to him, it breaks my heart,” she cries. “Everybody has a breaking point and are they pushing Mark to that fine line?”
“I would guess that a lot of this is due to the fact that he’s not real outgoing, not real athletic, not the cool kid on the block,” says Mark’s father, Mark. “He’s more emotional.”
The bullying started in sixth grade. “It makes me feel horrible because it seems like I’m the only one who’s being bullied,” says Mark, who has been called “cracker” and “fag.”
“He’s afraid of what’s going to happen next,” Christina explains. “One of the children said that he was going to get Mark and that he knew where he lived. Mark was afraid to go to sleep at night.”
He’s also afraid to go to school. “Anyone can bring a gun, a knife or a weapon to school,” Mark says, turning to Dr. Phil for help. “I would like somebody to help me, give me advice on how to deal with these situations, because I am about to lose it. I can’t take it anymore.”
“I want you to look at me real straight,” Dr. Phil says to a teary-eyed Mark. “I do hear you, and I want you to understand that you are not alone here. Your parents love you. Your dad loves you and is proud of you. Your mother loves you and is proud of you … You’ve made a new friend here, and I’m a good friend. I’m going to raise hell until these people leave you alone.”
Jay addresses Mark. “I’m really, really proud of you and think that you’re really, really brave, because you go into that school every day and face these people that are pushing you, kicking you, hitting you, saying bad things about you,” Jay says. “It’s a horrible existence, but yet it happened to one of your friends and you stood up for him, and it made it worse for you. That is what it is important for me, because I don’t think that there is anybody that’s involved in this that is innocent, except for you. Because if they stand there and they don’t do anything about you being bullied … if they don’t stop the person that’s doing it, I 
think they’re just as guilty as the person that’s doing it.” Jay says that Mark is one of the first kids he has met to stand up to the bullies. “That took a lot of courage and I’m really proud of you for that.”
Dr. Phil reminds Mark that it is important for him to find his place in the world. “In the entire history of the world, there has never be another you … You are special. You are unique. You need to decide the things that you’re good at, that are uniquely you, you need to be proud of those things,” he says. “Once you embrace that gift, you’re going to feel a whole lot better about yourself, and you’re not going to care about what those people think.”
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