Beauty and the Geek

According to the Wikipedia, "The word geek has recently come to be used to refer to a person who is fascinated by knowledge and imagination, usually electronic or virtual in nature. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word geek as "1: a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken, bat or snake 2: a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked 3: an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity". The American Heritage Dictionary's 1976 edition included only the first of those definitions."

This is a show where 8 "beauties" (young women who have relied primarily on their looks thus far in life) and 8 "geeks" (young men who have relied primarily on intellect and are socially inept) are paired up to compete as couples for $250,000 and other prizes.

When I first watched this reality tv shows, it really attracted me. Where the geeks are really "geek", and the beauties are really beautiful (but not really intelligent in life and knowledge). You can see how the beauties learn their general knowledge (some doesn't even know who is their US vice president and where is a single state is located), and how the geeks are tranformed into smart and good-looking guys. Actually you are able to learn a lot from this show too. Something you even miss it in your life, for example, what does USB stand for? (It's the question in the 2nd season.)

One reason for this kind of reality tv shows is so popular, and it shows the real characteristics in oneself. You can see people fighting, manipulating, setting up each other, one minute he is your friend, but next minute he will be the one who stab your back. Although it exposes the ugly face of a human, everybody enjoys watching them.

I don't know which is the foremost reality tv game show in the history, but what I could remember is, the first ever I watched is "Survivor". First time I saw people thinking all the way to win the game, building good relationship with deception... and I've also learnt what is loyalty, integrity, alliance......

The popularity of this kind of shows actually not a good phenomenon, as it always exposes the bad part of human behavior and character, and also reflect the weakness of relationship, teaches you on manipulation.... However, although it's not much educational, it's still fun and entertaining. Despite all the "ugly faces" of the contestants, I still enjoy to watch these shows.