Shock Docs: My 100,000 Lovers (five)

KIM did the maths. As a working girl, she did ten to 15 jobs a day ("most of the clients weren't full sex - hand jobs, oral, spank bot-bots"). Add her extra-marital affairs and the boys she had before marriage, and the grand total comes to 100,000.

Even she was gobsmacked by the number of lovers, despite her obvious experience in knowing whether size counts. "It makes my toes curl," she said. "I keep adding up and thinking, 'is that right?'."

The producers, on the other hand, must have thanked her for providing the come-on title of this Shock Docs film about sex addiction.

Three people were up for it. They're always up for it. Glamour model Coralie's mum was so concerned about her teenage daughter's addiction that she sent her for counselling.

This proved an ill-advised move as Coralie spied a photograph of her counsellor's son ("he was so hot") and made it her mission to seek him out like a heat-guided missile and seduce him. She dated him for two weeks before getting bored.

Then there's retired miner Clive, a twice-divorced 56-year-old living in a Welsh village. He meets women over the Internet, claiming to have had sex with over 250 women in the past five years.

He claimed that being sexually active from the age of 12 or 13 as his only enjoyment during an unhappy childhood. He was more interested in leg-over than Lego, you might say.

Once again here's a documentary that left you open-mouthed and wondering what on earth possessed the participants to bare their souls - and their breasts in model Coralie's case - to millions of viewers.

Did they hope for understanding and compassion for their addiction? They won't get it from me. Coralie, who writes a sex column for a lads' mag, earns a living from her addiction, while Clive came over as a dirty old man.

Kim, at least, was trying to do something about it. A former prostitute, she's been married to Jamie for eight years and had been faithful for the past two years. She feared going out in case she succumbed to temptation.

Clive was a real worry. I wouldn't be surprised if he was run out of town after his neighbours see the programme. "Lucky Lips 2005" - his Internet name - makes women come to him as he rarely leaves the village. One arrived unexpectedly to find him sunbathing naked in his back garden. Considering Clive is more Pitt the Elder than Brad Pitt, I'm amazed she didn't run away screaming.

Clive's story did provide a warning for those looking for love over the Internet. The pretty girl in the photo turned out to be "an old woman of 70" when he met her. But age is no obstacle for sex addict Clive. "As it turned out, she was very nice and I had a good time," he said.

I was in agreement with one of his dates who bravely faced the camera. "I think it's quite sad," she said.

GILLIAN ANDERSON

FROM SPECIAL AGENT TO ARISTOCRAT

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