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Home | The brat files | Chill-out zone | Who cares? | From adversity to adventure | Find out more
Age: 16
Jemma, who was on a final warning after bouts of shoplifting before Brat Camp, lives in a comfortable home in Singapore. She has an older brother and sister as well as a younger sister. None of them has gone out of control and, despite Jemma's problems, she has managed to get along well with them. She is particularly close to her younger sister.
"I personally don't think I have a problem. I have been asked to leave three schools. I'll do anything to get what I want."
Robert and Jayne, Jemma's parents, are reasonably well off and they have not been able to understand why one of their children has gone so badly off the rails. 'Jemma behaves in an appallingly bratish way,' Robert says. 'I've been told to shut the fuck up so many times. One tries to bring children up with certain standards and being told to shut the fuck up is pretty hard to take. We don't know what to do next. We have tried everything.'
"I've been arrested three times before for shoplifting. I saw a jacket and tried it on. So I took it. If I'd waited a couple more weeks I probably would have been able to afford it anyway."
Jayne adds: 'I tell her, "You have £150 to last you two weeks. Don't you think you are getting through it pretty quickly." One can't get how serious it is into her head. You search your heart and you think, "where have I gone wrong?"'
Jemma was sent back to Turn-About within days of coming out after a big family bust up. She stayed there a further six weeks.
Jemma was not at all keen to go to Turn-About. She finally agreed to go when she knew there was no alternative. 'The presence of the cameras also helped,' her mother Jayne says.
It is hard to tell whether she has pulled herself out of her malaise, because she has only been back from Turn-About for a short time as the Brat Camp series ends, but there are some areas of promise.
Think you know better? Are you a teenager and think you can sort out other people's parents? Get a word in edgeways on the forum.
See also: Alex, Josh, Joe, Xanthe, Jenni and Ed
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