I’ll admit it; there are reality shows that really, really suck me in.
Has it got Tim Gunn in it? Sign me up! He is totally my imaginary gay celebrity boyfriend and I don’t care who knows it. Call me, Tim!
Is it about making great clothes or great food? Then there’s a good chance I’ll at least check it out somewhere along the line. Hell, I’ve even sat gobsmacked through a few episodes of Semi-Homemade With Sandra Lee, which is my personal concept of Hell. I consider it part of my job for Manolo for the Brides to watch things like Bridezillas and Rich Bride, Poor Bride. It sometimes terrifies me, and sometimes amuses me, but I’m a slave to duty. I do my job.
One sort of show, though, that I avoid with every fiber of my being: the competitive dating show. The Bachelor? Nothing doing. And I have to say really nothing doing to Fox TV’s upcoming new series More to Love.
What is More to Love? Well, it’s basically The Bachelor with a higher BMI. Do you get the humor in the ‘cute’ title yet? Geddit? It’s funny, because these people are fat. No, really, that’s the entire spin, that fat people can fall in love. Isn’t that amazing?
Here’s what Fox has to say about it on their official website:
FOX is setting out to prove that love comes in all shapes and sizes with the new inspirational dating competition series MORE TO LOVE. Executive-produced by Mike Fleiss (“The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette”), the unscripted series follows a single average guy with a big waist and an even bigger heart as he romances several confident and secure plus-size women. Each week, the husky hunk will wine and dine a group of curvy women to determine if they have more love to give or if they are truly more than he can handle. When the size of competition narrows, he will have to decide if one full-figured lady will become his true love.
Of course the commercials feature a teary woman talking about how she just wants to ‘have that love story.’
Thank goodness Fox is ready to prove to her that she might find love, too…if the one man chooses her out of all the women he’s going to meet on the show. And assuming that he goes through with a wedding at the end. If that doesn’t pan out, does that mean she can’t ever find love with anyone?
Seriously, do we need Fox to ‘prove’ to anyone that we can find love? If we must have these competitive dating games on the air at all, do we have to segregate them by body type?
The heart truly doesn’t care what pant size its true partner wears. In fact, I can’t even tell you what size Mr. Twistie’s pants are. He buys his own. My only concern is whether they fit him and make him feel comfortable. It’s his heart and his mind and his sense of humor I fell in love with. Funnily enough, I think he fell for the same things in me.
And we didn’t need Fox to teach either one of us that we deserved it.
Why can’t they just have women of different sizes on these shows without making it a theme? Hollywood sucks.
Comment by Alexis — July 5, 2009 @ 8:50 am
Not to mention that of course the only guy that would be interested in these “curvy women” is a “husky hunk”. Because we all know that an attractive thin man would never give these girls the time of day, and vice versa.
Comment by Kate — July 5, 2009 @ 11:14 am
I’m with Alexis and Kate. If they really wanted to “prove” a point about fat people being equally “worthy” of love, they would just cast their regular shows more diversely. But then, if promoting respect and value for all people were a priority for Fox, making pretty much all reality shows would not get made, as they generally revolve around humiliation and reducing complex human beings to caricatures and punchlines. But yeah, making a show that segregates fat people doesn’t prove you don’t hate fat people, it just further demonstrates your belief that they don’t belong on the same level or share the same value as thin people.
But I must admit, if they made a reality show about some of our favorite big girl personalities, I’d watch it. Come on, who doesn’t want to see a show where Plumcake goes out on the town or Francesca goes on an adventure in the alps?
Comment by leah — July 5, 2009 @ 3:52 pm
In house, Fox calls it “The Fat-chelor” …. Lovely huh? No respect at all.
Comment by Jennie — July 5, 2009 @ 6:33 pm
These commercials disgust me, and as such I promised myself I wouldn’t waste too much time thinking about this show. BUT, the reason they don’t just cast a range of people in so-called “normal” (i.e. non-fat) shows is because the superficial guy would be likely to vote off the overweight women first, just as he almost invariably gets rid of the minority women first. If they want any sort of parity, they should choose their MEN more carefully, too.
Comment by Nemtynakht — July 6, 2009 @ 9:20 am
Nem raises an interesting point that sparks some questions for me. While there are numerous indications that size is generally less of an impediment to success for men and that we have greater expectations for women to be and remain thin after marriage (a wife having “let herself go” is considered by some to be an acceptable excuse for cheating or divorce, for example) without a similar standard for men, would it be feasible in a context like the reality dating show to cast a male “prize” that did not meet society’s physical definition of such, particularly in terms of size? Would having a well-dressed but rotund man competed for by women in a range of sizes be more or less “believable” or entertaining than, say, a version of the bachelorette where the leading lady was a fabulous woman of size whose attention was the pursuit of men in a range of sizes? Here onMftBG, while we explore a new concept of beauty for women and demand its representation in the fashion market and media, the vast majority of our “monday hotness” icons, while not always traditionally gorgeous, are usually pretty thin. Perhaps because I do not have to live it, I know that I am rarely forced to confront body image expectations that face men and the challenges that may pose; thinking about it now makes me question what contributions to them I may be making through my own choices.
Comment by leah — July 6, 2009 @ 2:52 pm
The whole idea of the show is idiotic. I personally cannot stand The Bachelor and other dating shows, but when I heard that this show was going to feature curvy women and it was going to be on Fox; I decided it would be a hot mess and avoid at all costs. Because lets face it, Fox is not known for having the best judgement. However, what really made me angry was Lane Bryant. They were endorsing the show and telling women to audition.
Comment by Amy — July 6, 2009 @ 5:53 pm