Overcoming differences with sweetness: Beauties, Geeks learn to get along

by Jennifer Conlee, co-associate editor

I’m not really a fan of reality television. 

I can survive without “Survivor”, “Big Brother” is no big deal, and all the shows about finding true love just remind me that I have yet to find my true love.

However, one show on television has managed to sneak past my critical mind and into my heart.  Ashton Kutcher’s “Beauty and the Geek” has made it to its third season on the CW, formerly known at the WB network.  The show, which has been dubbed the “ultimate social experiment,” chronicles the lives of eight beautiful, academically-challenged women (most make their living as baristas and models), and eight geeky, socially-inhibited men, who move into a gorgeous mansion for several weeks.

The basis of the show is to prove that beautiful women can be smart, and that geeks can become socially acceptable, while at the same time seeing how well the people from two different worlds can work together.

In the past, I have not been able to watch this show, because when it was the WB, it was not part of local television programming.  I adore the people who decided to allow those who choose not to spend their money on 100 channels they will never watch the chance to access this popular channel.

At the beginning of the show, the teams pick partners (one man and one woman).  The first episode had me rolling my eyes as the clichéd comments rolled off the women’s lips.  However, by the end of the second episode, I was addicted to the sweetness of the geeks and the brashness of the women.

I watched as the women begin to fall for their men, and the men began their transformations into socially acceptable beings.  So far, the men have learned how to stand and speak in front of people, how to approach women on the street, how to dress nicely, and how to exercise.

The women, on the other hand, have been given tasks such as electrical engineering, television interviewing, building doghouses, and aeronautics.

Each week, another team is kicked out of the house, leading to the winning team, which will receive $250,000. 

I was very disappointed, when, within the first three weeks, the brunettes were all cast off by the “blondtourage.”  From the beginning, the blondes formed a connection, and anyone with dark hair was not a part of their clique.

The only teams left include the gorgeous, not so smart blond girls, and the men who are left have transformed from geeks to nice-looking, young men.  I’m rooting for Scooter and Megan. 

Megan is the blonde who actually displays brains and a heart.  The other blondes seem to have it out for everyone else, and they torture their men into obedience.

I love how the show demonstrates how everyone is the same, no matter how they look.  However, it’s ridiculous that they are accentuating bias that beautiful girls are all stupid.  Even the girls who are proving themselves to be quite brilliant keep acting dumb.

I enjoy watching the transformations that take place during each episode.  My favorite episode was when the men had to learn to listen, because that’s one thing that women want: a good listener.  Only Mario understood what was going on when the naked model, who the men were given 15 minutes to paint, began to chatter endlessly about herself.  Even though his painting was not the best, he knew the answers to every question that was asked about the model.

I also like how the men are beginning to stand up for themselves.  At the beginning, they yeilded to all the demands of their beautiful partners, and did whatever the women wanted them to do.  In one episode, however, the audience witnessed how the men could stand up for what they believe in.  The teams were each given a dog as part of their challenge.  When C.C. put bracelets on her Chihuahua’s neck, her partner, Nate, put his foot down, took the dog away, and cut the bracelets off.

I can’t wait to see who wins this season.  I can only hope that it will truly be the girl who has brains and the guy who is more than a geek.

Hopefully, my addiction to this show will not extend to other useless reality shows.