Most people want what they can’t have. This is why those in the middle class watch shows about rich people on TV who have everything these people want – BMWs, Olympic-sized swimming pools, large home theaters and rare works of art. Those in the middle-class tax brackets can only dream about enjoying such a lifestyle. Watching affluent people on TV who own these types of possessions either sicken those of the middle class or fill them with envy.

Either way, when it comes to self-indulgent celebrities or teenagers with wealthy parents, viewers cannot tear themselves away from the television. MTV has tapped into this “guilty pleasure” of the masses with its popular show My Super Sweet 16. The show is in its third season and follows the party-planning excesses of super-rich soon-to-be 16-year-olds whose every desire is indulged thanks to a big fat check (usually somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000) from mommy and daddy.

But even some celebrity parents of the kids who appear on My Super Sweet 16 do not believe in overindulging their children by shelling out a lot of cash for a lavish birthday party, even if they are able to do so.

L.A. Reid, the famed music executive responsible for the success of acts such as TLC, threw a birthday party for his son Aaron, who appeared on the show. Reid borrowed Jay-Z’s club and tapped Jermaine Dupri as a DJ and Kanye West as a performer, essentially utilizing the resources of his friends and colleagues. “There’s absolutely no way I would ever spend that type of money,” Dupri said in the April 26 New York Times. “I think it’s over the top and sickening and a real poor representation of wealth.”

My Super Sweet 16 is not the first show to rub it in the average Joe or Jane’s face about what they don’t have. The mid-80s hit Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous also highlighted those who were living “the good life.” Robin Leach, host of the show, wished his viewers “champagne wishes and caviar dreams” at the end of every show.

With all of their hardships, you can see that the teens featured on this show are really just average kids with normal teenage problems – if you consider a “normal” teenage problem to be waiting a few days later than expected to get that Range Rover or not getting the original band of choice to play at the party, and all of this happens because their parents are “so unfair.” Yeah, sure, regular teens can totally relate to that.