Image & Vision

I love watching Beauty & the Geek. I think it's a great show (and an even better concept for those of us with nerd fetishes), but this season there is one guy (Mario) who makes me want to cry every time he opens his mouth.

Mario is on the heavyset side and is shorter than his Amazonian counterpart. He listens to his partner, and won the challenge where he listened to the nude model while he was drawing her. Instead of just ogling her goodies, he was the Nice Guy and paid some attention to what she was saying.

The most recent challenge was the "make over" part of the show. This is easy when all of the people are about the same size, and for the most part the guys are pretty much the same size range. Except for Mario.

It completely defeats the purpose of reinforcing that they are worthwhile, attractive and great people if you stick someone in a store where nothing fits them. All of the other guys had more options, and Mario ended up looking (and dressing) like John Belushi. (Or Jim. I don't remember which one Andrew said, but they're brothers, and I feel safe in saying "Eh, close enough.")

I've been lucky enough not to have real weight problems. Yes, I was underweight for a very long time, until I met Andrew. When I met Andrew I gained 40 pounds over the first three months of our relationship. (That is only about 10 pounds heavier than I am now.)

I liked how I looked (except for the crazy stretch marks from gaining weight so quickly- which are gone now), but it felt incredibly bad not being able to wear my regular clothes. I had to (essentially) buy a whole new wardrobe, which was fun- but not what I wanted to do.

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that everyone has had that "Oh, shit" moment where they realize that they can't zip or button their jeans. It just doesn't feel good, no matter how happy you are with the weight gain. (For me, the worst part of this was realizing that I only had sweats that would cover my butt until I bought some new jeans.)

I've never had body image issues (I know what I look like, and I like what I look like), but I try to be sensitive to other's body image issues, because I know that being confident is really the key to being an attractive person. (Good looks help, too, but confidence tricks people into not noticing.) How can you be confident if you walk into a store and there is nothing that fits you? This is a problem that the producers should have thought about and planned better.

Oh yeah, better planning. Can I say how pissed I am that it became Blondes vs Brunettes? Nevermind the fact that the brunettes were playing the "game" the way it is intended- getting to know their partners better, and that idiot Nadia told Andrea (one of the brunettes) that she was cooler because she wasn't "inside playing chess like a geek".

Hello?! That's the point of the game! To learn and grow! I have to say that I don't feel like any of the blondes are making the same kind of effort to get to know their partners as in past seasons. I think part of this is because of the sleeping arrangement (separate beds this season, shared beds in previous seasons). The guys are trying to learn and grow, but in the mansion they face EXACTLY the same problem with women that they have in the outside world.

I think Nadia's crack should have gotten her ejected from the game, but hey, I'm not Ashton Kutcher. I really fell like there needs to be some sort of correction/direction on the part of the appropriate people to get the female players back on track.

The other action that I took issue with was the assault on Scooter by the Anna Nicole looking girl and Ceci. (For anybody who hasn't seen it, the two women cornered him and tried to pressure him into engaging in non-consensual sexual activity. He politely tried to resist their advances, claiming that the camera in the room made him uncomfortable. One of the girls went to cover the camera, unsuccessfully, and fell on the floor. The noise brought other people into the room, which is when Scooter basically ran away, shaking.)

My issue is that the girls thought that this was funny, and it was portrayed as funny rather than assault. If you were to switch the genders of the people involved, there would be a lawsuit. However, because the assault was on a man, it isn't taken seriously and the girls weren't reprimanded.

Pfft.