Not in this case, because if they need free help to make a large profit (or any profit), its going to give them the false impression they know what they are doing, when they plainly dont and they will therefore repeat their screw-up next time and no doubt expect you to help again. Especially in a 'business' where every renovation is a one-off, so you cant say you are helping them build up clients or similar. Its no different to your mate starting a removals business and saying 'I cant make this business pay by hiring people so could you come and help me for free'.
Friendship would be helping someone mend their car. If its fixing a car they bought because they are selling it to make money, and they dont intend to give you any of the profits, there is no reciprocity.
Surely in the cases on these programs it's when their business is going downhill and it's use the friends or lose money... So I'd say it was relevant, certainly you're not going to do it time and again, but I think a lot of people would if the alternative was the person losing their own house or whatever.
The reciprocity isn't immediate, it's about getting the help when you're in the unfortunate situation of needing it.
In many of those cases the 'unfortunate' situation was typically that they were going to make some money (usually just from pirce appreciation rather than anything they did), and the more friends they used, the more money they made ...and at the end, they all spoke about how they'd do it again to make even more money (them, not the friends!) :-)
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