“America’s Next Top Model,” move over. The hot new reality show on Fox, “The Swan” isn’t your average beauty pageant or makeover show. “The Swan,” makes the point of how one can go through hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of plastic surgery and cosmetic dentistry, work out twice a day with a personal trainer for three months, get “Hollywood-like” hair extensions and a fancy black party dress and still not be pretty enough to make it in society today. The purpose of the show is to take 16 “average,” (society’s definition) unattractive women and focus on the transformation of two of them each episode. Each woman gives herself over to the show’s team of experts and doesn’t look in a mirror for three months. At the end of the hour, she reveals what she’s become, gets a look at herself in Snow White’s evil stepmother’s looking glass and then is either sent home or allowed to stick around for the beauty contest at the end. This experience appears to be thought of as one where women are given the opportunity to get their outsides to match their insides, but judging from the premiere it’s more a look-who’s-better contest rather than the usual makeover. Girls from all around the states signed up for this once-in-a-lifetime event. However, like anything else only a certain number of girls will get through to the final round and actually have the opportunity to appear on the show.
Kelly, from Maryland, is a flight attendant and Rachel is married and is from Washington. Luckily for these women, years of crushing self-esteem will be fixed by undergoing hours and hours of surgical procedures that are glossed over in mere minutes.
There is always one in the group that has the boyfriend back home or the husband waiting at home with the kids. In this show, Rachel is the one that feels she is going to have problems from her unsupportive husband. However, as soon as she realizes that she isn’t saddled by her long nostrils anymore, she’ll realize that she can catch herself a man who’ll let her have pets with fur.
In the end, both women do look better, but in a way that shows these ladies had a lot of work done. Rachel’s chin puckers oddly when she smiles, which is still an improvement over Kelly, who appears to be unable to turn up the corners of her mouth. Rachel makes the cut and will stick around to be judged further, while Kelly’s surgeon expresses disappointment that Kelly didn’t show the necessary amount of commitment needed to shed 39 pounds.
Whatever happened to the saying “Beauty is only skin deep?” For these ladies, not only is beauty skin deep, it’s also expensive, stressful, and hard to achieve without the help of FOX.