BBC_Z Reviews

I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! (2003– )

I'm a viewer, Get me away from this show!

[23 March 2003]

This show suffered from four fatal flaws:

1) The list of celebrities. I realize that C-List celebs are perfect for these types of shows, but when they are at the bottom of that list, do they even qualify for 'celebrity' status anymore? I was only able to associate 4 or 5 of them to the event that made them 'famous'. It is a good decision that they had their names on their clothing or I would never of known who was who.

2) Telephone vote-outs. When the contestants are not involved in the process of who leaves, it makes for a very bland show (see Big Brother 1). No scheming, no alliances, nothing. Just a bunch of people sitting around, acting chummy-chummy waiting for the days to pass.

3) Airing in real time. This CAN work when done properly (Big Brother 2), but it takes quite a bit of skill and a lot of time. This show lasted 14 days, hardly enough time to really get to know any of these people or for any storylines to emerge on their own.

4) Celebrities being given practically everything they asked for. They had lip balm, plenty of food, shelter when it rained etc. It seemed to me that these people were living better on the show than in their real lives!

"I'm a Celeb.." was a boring, poorly done survivor-clone and I doubt we will ever see another one.

Are You Hot? The Search for America's Sexiest People (2003– )

It's American Idol without the whole 'talent' thing.

[23 March 2003]

'Are you Hot?' features some of the dumbest (and funniest) things I have ever seen on 'Reality' Television.

1) "Lorenzo Lamas' Flaw Finder", a glorified laser pointer that he uses to point out specific body parts outlining why a contestant is not Hot.

2) The expression on the contestants faces when he is picking them apart on national television.

3) Lorenzo (again) telling young contestants that "They will have a lot of sex appeal and will 'grow' into it when they get older".

4) The complete arbitrary-ness of the scores given by the judges. Each contestant is rated out of 10 for Face, Body and Sex Appeal with no guidelines for anything. So one person comes out, gets a 9.1. The next comes out and gets an 7.2 or an 8.6. HOW CAN THEY BE GIVING OUT TENTHS OF A POINT?? What is the difference between someone's body being a 8.2 or an 8.3?

5) Contestants receiving 5 or 6's for 'Face' (OUCH!)

6) Losing contestants crying back stage, telling the camera their dream is not over. Their dream of what? Being Hot? Is that really a life's work? huh?

7) Contestants being told "Sorry, you are not HOT enough to continue" after losing in the telephone poll.

8) Dividing up the USA into four 'Hot Zones'. As if they actually canvassed all those states to find the hotties.

If you watch this show, you will find that most of your time is spent laughing AT it. This is not the serious, scientific evaluation to find Americas hottest people that you expected.

Rating: 2/10. There actually are worse things on Television than this. Just not much.