At Last I’ve Seen It All… But They Can’t Make Me Watch
I’ve never been a big fan of plastic surgery for purely cosmetic reasons. Then again, I’ve always figured it was a decision up to the person considering it. I don’t think less of someone for having had breast implants or a nose job or a tummy tuck. As I said, it’s a personal decision.
And while it’s not something I would recommend, I’m certainly not going to rain on the parade of a bride who decides that before the wedding is the time to have her chin or cheekbones enhanced.
But now E! has ordered a new bridal reality show. What does this have to do with plastic surgery? Everything, as it turns out.
You see, Bridalplasty (yes, you read that correctly, Bridalplasty is the name of this horror) is a competition. Each week, the brides will compete in a new challenge. The winner of said challenge will win – wait for it! – her choice of plastic surgery from the ‘wish list’ she has submitted. She goes straight in for surgery and the audience will see the results the following week in the next episode.
Think about it. The average competitive reality show has somewhere between twelve and sixteen players. On each of these shows, there are always several competitors who never win a single challenge. On each of these shows, one or two competitors seem to wind up winning at least three or four challenges each. That means that at least a couple of these women are going home looking very, very different than they did when they left.
Each week the competing brides will vote off one of their rivals until just one bride is left standing. Said last bride standing will win a dream wedding at which, of course, she will wear a veil with full blusher so that the audience can enjoy that voyeuristic moment when the groom gets his first chance to see what his bride now looks like. That’s right, he doesn’t get to see her until she stands at the altar in a brand new face.
All of this is, of course, in the name of seeing a ‘perfect bride.’ Because, you know, a woman who hasn’t been touched up by a surgeon can’t be perfect.
My advice? Ignore this show. It’s just trying to sell us all more on the idea that we’re not good enough as we are, that we are automatically better if we change ourselves quite possibly to the point of being unrecognizable.
Even if you do decide you want to change something about yourself before the wedding photos, you still want your nearest and dearest to know who you are when you walk down the aisle. Trust me, you’re good enough as is that someone asked you to marry him or her. You don’t need to change a thing to be good enough to deserve a pretty wedding or a happily ever after.
Don’t fall for the hype. Be you on your wedding day.
And this show? Let’s all agree not to watch it. We don’t need the toxic messages or the sensationalism.
OMG. That’s a disgraceful idea. Who on earth would want to actually watch it for its merits? It sounds like it’s just like a car crash – horrible but you can’t turn away. I truly hope that people can though because a show like this only perpetuates the media’s notion of looking ‘perfect’ at any cost.
The plastic surgeon on this travesty is apparently the same guy behind “The Swan.” Yick. I saw a “Swan before-and-after” photo spread in People, and all of the women ended up looking identical. This doctor is about half a step away from building Stepford Wives.
@Gayle: I honestly don’t understand the appeal of shows like this, but you know the old saying: Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
@Melissa B.: I never watched The Swan (surprising, no?), but I did notice that he was the surgeon on this one. I guess he needs a new celebrity gig. And his tendency to make these women look alike just underscores my point.
I was hoping you’d hit this topic! Seriously, the idea behind this show disgusts me, and I most certainly will not be tuning in. I don’t need yet another show telling me that I need a nosejob to feel loving and loved or that I can’t be beautiful if I don’t get my legs surgically slimmed down.
@Christa Terry: As soon as I saw the story that the show was going to be made I knew I had to write about it here. I look in my wedding album and you know what? I was short, fat, flat-chested, snub-nosed, impossibly narrow-shouldered, and abso-fracking-lutely gorgeous, bunions and all. Mr. Twistie sees something special when he looks at me, and that’s more than enough for me.
I cannot express the depths of my loathing for those who try to tell us that pretty comes in only one size, shape, color, or configuration. It doesn’t.
@Twistie — I caught part of one episode of The Swan when I was incredibly sick and lying near-comatose on the couch. One of the women was a very attractive former cheerleader who had always been insecure about her large-ish nose. Stupidly, I thought, “oh, I guess all they’ll do is a nose job with her.” Uh … no. They signed her up for a nose job, chin implant, butt implants, cheekbone implants … it was seriously distressing. Not even my high fever could make that show tolerable viewing.
This is one show I will not watch. I totally agree with you on this one. I think it is wrong to feed into this thought that we need to change ourselves to be beautiful.
Another thought for why this is so wrong: The medical issues.
They’re saying these women will be competing every week even post surgery. Think about that. You can’t go to surgery at the drop of a hat, need some sort of minimal prep time first. Even if they work at lightening speed, that still only leaves 6 days for post-op recovery. While this may be okay (if cutting it on the short side and still potentially dangerous) for a nose-job, what about someone getting liposuction or breast implants? Those surgeries require more down from strenuous activity than just week.
Also what about anesthesia? Are they going to be put under for the surgeries? With what? For how long? How long will whatever they’ll be using stay in the system? I know twilight anesthesia tends to wear off in a few hours, but how long is it safe before they can readminister general anesthesia, especially to a post-op body?
What about aftercare? Etc.?
This isn’t only sick because of the message that you NEED surgery to look good, but that by making it a competition, they’re completely trivializing the fact that these women will still be undergoing surgery, and even if it ends up being relatively minor surgery, it’s still surgery and can still go catastrophically wrong, and yet, knowing the kinds of challenges reality shows do, they’re not exactly treating the post-op state with any of the seriousness it needs to be treated with, even if risks might be relatively minor.
@Anne: It sounds like most of the challenges won’t be very physically strenuous (one example given was writing vows), but the medical concerns are still very much valid. This show has way too much potential for disaster for my taste.
Could I watch it and not admit it to Neilson? Because it sounds horribly fascinating.
I am going to have my wedding next year so I have been researching websites and shows about weddings. But definitely I will not watch the Bridalplastic Show just because it seems fake. A normal woman would not want to change her whole body before her wedding just because sometimes plastic surgeries are not successful. If anything bad happened, you will not be able to change it very quickly. She should be happy that her fiancé loves her the way she is. I think we all should try to look fabulous on the day we walk down the aisle, but we do not need to perform any plastic surgeries. So I agree with Twistie. Let’s just ignore this show. Do not waste our time on something not worth it. Be the same woman you were when your fiancé fell in love with you.
People get plastic surgery everyday, these woman are not only brave enough to share with the world what they’re insecure about, but to actually have the procedures done on national television….probably a lot harder then you think. and as “stupid” as you may think these girls are it probably takes an extremely stable person to be able to endure such mental and physical stress. As far as the medical concerns go, do you seriously think that they would allow these women to have serious procedures performed once a week? Please use your heads and realize that obviously the producers would not set themselves up for a law suit. So for future blogs, hold all negative comments until you see the show. THANKS!