On one episode he had some lady who fell for the old "online boyfriend I've never met who never wants me to see his face or meet him but I send him so much money". So Dr. Phil is like "yo you're dumb", and the lady is like "Well if my boyfriend isn't real, why did he agree to be on this show?!" to which Dr. Phil replied "You know he ISN'T on the show, right?"

Phil might be exploitative as heck but some people are also just stupid.