Yeah this is it. Pat's mess is fixable, he has a wife (with rich parents), a car, a motorbike and a house. You can construct a good life out of that if you are literally anyone other than Pat. All he has to do is stop posting on Xitter, quit drinking and finish a book in less than 4 years. MovieBob's life and body are both beyond repair. He's older than Pat, he has no assets and he's much more widely known and despised than Pat. If I woke up in MovieBob's body tomorrow I'd neck myself within about 48 hours, maybe less. If I woke up in Pat's body I'd have his life half-way back to normality and happiness by sunset, as would just about anyone else.
All Pat has to do, all Pat has ever had to do, was just stop behaving like Pat for a month. He has more going for him than 90% of people. Not everyone owns their own house, has a wife and has rich in-laws. But because he's Pat, and can't stop being Pat even for a second, he's managed to turn that promising situation into an unmitigated, avoidable catastrophe.