Television Is a Farce

So as you know, I was at a taping of a television show last, last Saturday morning.

If you haven't seen the show, here is the synopsis:

It's based on first impressions....

Someone is being interviewed to talk about how crappy their life is and how shitty they look.
At the end of the interview they realize that there is a jury of 9 people sitting behind a two-way mirror that have been judging them the whole time they have been in the interview. THEY GET TO WATCH the jury's first impressions which are NOT VERY NICE, on purpose. The person is told that they are going to get a makeover.

They get the makeover. Teeth, skin, hair, makeup, fitness, clothes, counselling, etc. Eight weeks later, they come back for an interview.

9 different jury members have been judging them, and they hear all of the comments to make them feel wonderful.

Ok, so I was HOPING that it would be the after-jury. I wasn't so lucky.

Here we had to sit, making fun of these FRAGILE, RUN DOWN, women, while they cried behind the glass. I couldn't do it. What I did say wasn't mean, but some of the other jury members were BRUTAL. These women had gross, greasy hair, shoddy clothes, facial hair, etc. I'm pretty sure that they were told to grow their facial hair, because I can't see someone going for an interview without taking care of it beforehand. It wasn't long - it was stubble at that point. Dead giveaway.

Television is soooooooooo staged. We all had to smile on cue, nod on cue, laugh on cue, and at one point, the producer asked me to repeat the sentence:

" She needs to find her inner bombshell."

You all realize I would never say anything like that...but I'm assuming they needed SOMETHING from me so they instructed me to say it.

At one point, we all got the giggles...the guy beside me was my friend's brother...he has some weird condition that when there are bright lights, his eyes burn and start to tear. Its painful for him. Here he was, looking away from the mirror, tears streaming down his face. We were all howling with laughter while the candidate pretended that she saw us behind the glass for the first time. Meanwhile, it was like the 5th time. Anyhow, when the lights came on, we couldn't compose ourselves. We were pissing our pants. When the lights went off and we could see the candidate again, she was crying. I hope she didn't think we were laughing at her. God, I hope that wasn't the case.

I wanted to hug both of these women. I can't wait to discover how the makeover transformed them, physically and emotionally. They could both use some TLC.

I mean, who the f&*% were we to judge these women? Half of us in the jury needed our OWN makeovers.

Now let's talk about the host. I thought he was kinda cute before the show. After the show, I thought he was the most egotistical, self-absorbed individual. It was actually funny. We were behind the mirror and through the taping of both shows, I would estimate that he was either adjusting or looking at himself in that mirror about 75 times. No word of a lie. He thought he was all that and a bag of chips. Sad, really.

By the end of the taping, I was soooo happy to get out of there.

It won't air until the spring. They say the camera adds 10 lbs so that will be nice to see. Not.

We couldn't wear black, white, red, stripes or designs, ribbed shirts, etc. Doesn't leave a lot for me to wear, since most of my closet is made up of those colours.

Anyhooo that was my 15 minutes I guess. Not sure that I would do it again.

If I learned one thing from this whole experience, it's that I won't believe anything I see on TV from now on. Everything is staged. Everything.