Beauty and the Geek: A Beautiful Mess

The social experiment Beauty and the Geek, which airs on the CW (formerly the WB) is produced by Ashton Kutcher and puts so called "beauties" and "geeks" together in one house. Each beauty is teamed up with a geek and each beauty/geek team then competes in challenges against the other teams for the right not to be eliminated from the show.

The challenges are made to help each beauty or geek to break out of their stereotype and see that they are much more than just pretty or smart. For example, one challenge for the geeks was to collect as many phone numbers as possible in a specific time period from women walking in a public park. This taught the geeks social skills and improved confidence when talking to women.

As for the beauties, one challenge had them build a dog house from scratch. This taught the beauties that they are more than just a pretty face and could use their brains to build something worthwhile. The winners of each challenge would then be exempt from being eliminated from the show for that week and furthermore would have the opportunity to choose which teams to send to the elimination room. Once in the elimination room, the two teams would be asked questions to test what they had learned from the challenges. The team who answered the least number of questions correctly would be eliminated. This continues until one team is left. That team would then win $250,000.

Now that you are familiar with the premise of the show, you might ask, "Why should I watch?" For starters, the show is entertaining. Watching the awkward geeks interact with women is extremely funny. Also, watching the geeks try to teach the beauties how to study is equally amusing. However, the latest installment (season 3) failed to produce the quality of the previous two seasons. Anyone who has watched the show from the beginning will tell you that one of the most memorable characters was Richard from season 1.

Richard had no social skills, was boisterous and overly energetic. To watch him interact with the rest of the cast, especially with his nemesis, Chuck was hilarious. The two subsequent seasons have failed to produce a character as memorable as Richard. Also, the quality of the beauties has deteriorated as well. Perhaps the show should be renamed "Average Looking Girls and the Geek." Even with these flaws, I will continue to watch the show. "Why," you ask? The simple answer is: I like to see people embarrass themselves on national television. That alone will keep me glued to the television set.