Shameful Reality Addiction Update

Well after a few more episodes, I figured it was time to once again discuss the one reality show I chose to watch this season, Beauty and the Geek.

First a quick refresher. BatG is a show that pairs ten 'beauties' (as in women primarily known for their looks and not for their brains) with ten 'geeks' (as in, well, geeks) to compete in tasks designed to develop the less-prominent attributes of the person. For example the geeks' objectives tend to focus on social interaction and physical development, while the beauties are challenged with more cerebral pursuits. The winning couple receives a grand prize of...well, it is a good chunk of change. This year, the recipe was spiced up a bit with the tenth couple being made up of a female geek named Nicole and a male beauty named Sam. So, after five episodes and eliminations, it is down to five couples. The most recent episode dealt with the couples developing their own superhero for the San Diego ComiCon, with the beauties coming up with the idea and playing the character, while the geeks had to make the costumes.

So, points of discussion:

- Why are they still so mean to Nicole and Sam? Well, Sam I kinda understand (Metro-Man?! Really?!?!?!), but Nicole hasn't done anything to warrant such hatred. I mean, can't she at least get a hug or a cupcake or something? Damn. And why is Sam the only Beauty who gets to walk around half-naked, huh? Seriously, it is like feeding gasoline to a tire fire! Make the man keep his fucking shirt on! And the really crappy part is that he has so much self-confidence and humor that he (once again) wins a contest he shouldn't have been winning, mostly because he is willing to make fun of himself. Gaining powers from magical self-tanner owned by George Hamilton? How do you beat that?

- Nice to see that LARPer Boy Dave is warming up to Jasmine. And it was cute how she consoled him after her got (rightfully) scolded by Shay and Joshua. I think I had her pegged right, and she has pretty much taken the role of the hard-to-hate person, which I originally thought was going to be Holly until they were eliminated. Dave seems to be an okay guy, just used to his own way and not very patient. But Jasmine is hard to hate outright, so it was inevitable that he would try to connect with her more. And he did a fine job coaching her in acting the part. Dave looked like a proud father when he heard the feedback. Jasmine's superhero idea was pretty good. Heck, doesn't DC have like three or four sleep-related comic characters that aren't Sandman? And her superhero name is Princess Bed-Head. I know a certain bloggess who is going to be contacting a lawyer soon.

- William was being a complete jackass to Jen, and she needed to confront him about it. The girl came up with a good idea, and he shoots her down because it doesn't make sense to him. Will, flying through space on a surfboard is unrealistic, but men being hypnotized by boobs is historical and scientific fact. She played to her strengths, and didn't pretend to be something she wasn't. And out of all the girls, she is the one most built like a female superhero, so they actually had a bit of a bonus. So for him to be in such a snit was ridiculous. I mean, if I was him, I would have at least asked her to take off her shirt and demonstrate said idea before judging it. ;D

- But I do see why he was so upset. They made a point of putting him up as the definitive comic book geek, and they (okay, we) can get pretty serious about that stuff. Plus, they were going to be at ComiCon, which is literally the Mecca of geeks (as in the worship of deities, praying, fasting, well maybe not fasting per se). So I think he let his excitement for it cloud his judgment (and his memory that Jen could probably bench press him), and he turned into a raving lunatic who wouldn't listen to reason, i.e. a geek. When the guy from Wizard Magazine looks like he's thinking "God, you are such a knob," maybe it is time for you to settle down some. But it was obvious from the costume that he still held some very hard feelings against her. They should have dominated this one, but instead they fizzled.

- Anyone else see the irony of Sam, the preening pretty boy, saying "who cares" about comics? This is the same guy who spends more time in the bathroom than anyone on the show and that is his daily ritual.

- Natalie was quite ingenious when she decided to play a villain instead of a hero. But her description of her character, while very creative, was pretty damn freaky. Did anyone else think "tentacle porn", or was that just me? As keeping with my track record of finding women attractive for various (some might say random or confusing) reasons, that (the character idea, not the tentacle porn thing) kinda makes her hotter to me.

- Shay was quite brave to go out there first and I think it is a hoot that she was so nervous. I believe her when she says she has never done that (meaning being so scared she forgets her speech) before. She may be a beauty queen, but nobody is ever fully prepared for that kind of judgment. I think this gave her a little taste of how it must be for Joshua whenever he has to do something similar, and hopefully she realizes that his timidity isn't just in his head.

- Erin owned her shit as Aqualite Splash. She could have fallen on her face, but she treated it with dead seriousness and made it work for her. She had a well-developed and thought-out character concept (even compared to some published comic heroes) and immersed herself in the role. Honestly, was she any worse than any of the contestants on Who Wants to be a Superhero? And anyone who can keep a straight face while talking about "top-scale dolphins" with telekinesis deserves some sort of recognition. Jesse did a fine job on the outfit as well, I might add.

- The judges were pretty entertaining in their own right. In reference to Jen as Venus, the Hypnotic Temptress: "I didn't even notice the boob thing until she pointed it out. I was looking at her eyes." Priceless.

- Back to this Sam thing. I thin I figured it out. Sam simply doesn't know when to quit. He has the massive confidence that everybody else wants form this show. We know the geeks want it in general, and we are shown that the female beauties aren't as secure as they perceive themselves to be. But Sam just doesn't stop. Somebody must have bought him a Tony Robbins tape or something back in the day, because this man just powers through challenges like they aren't even there. Plus, unlike the other pairs, he doesn't care if Nicole is pissed at him (she clearly is) or what anyone thinks of him. He knows he is awesome, and you can't tell him different. Yeah, he is laughably self-obsessed and bordering on the homoerotic. But he knows it and lives it, dammit, and I can't knock him for that.

- Anyone else think that host was picking on Erin and Jesse? I mean, who says stuff like "don't congratulate him too much"? And he completely freaked out Erin with that line about "an even playing field" for Jesse. Dude was being such a tool.