Life > February 27, 2003

By Ryan Eanes

Old Gold and Black Reviewer

People who enjoy reality TV shows, as I’ve mentioned in the past, have had no shortage of programs to watch the past several years, but even more specifically, there’s been a huge influx of entertainment or music related “reality” shows, where the idea is mainly elimination. For instance, we’ve seen both boy and girl bands assembled on Making the Band and Pop Stars, a revival of Star Search, and we’re on our second incarnation of American Idol.

But on some level, they’re all about the same thing. For instance, have you ever noticed that none of the winners of any of these programs are ever ugly? That’s right … the entertainment industry loves the beautiful people, and now we’ve got a new show that purportedly cuts out all of that annoying talent stuff and gives everyone exactly what they want — beautiful people.

ABC’s new interactive television competition — it’s not so much a “reality” show as it is a huge co-ed beauty pageant — entitled Are You Hot? will air its third episode Feb. 27 at 9 p.m.

The premise is simple: the country has been divided into four “hot zones,” and from each of these zones, 16 men and 16 women have been selected as “representatives.” Each episode focuses on each of these “hot zones” and whittles down the contestants to a more manageable eight, divided into four men and four women.

At the start of the program, each of these contestants parades out one at a time on to a catwalk as an enormous (I’d even say too large and too rambunctious) studio audience cheers or screams.

One at a time, these 32 initial contestants are chopped down the center into two categories, “Hot” or “Not.”

Following this initial divide, the remaining 16 contestants emerge one at a time, this time wearing nothing but their swimsuits, and must face the judges panel. This group, made up of model Rachel Hunter, fashion designer Randolph Duke, and television actor and self-proclaimed “international heartthrob” Lorenzo Lamas, rate each contestant from one to 10 in the categories “Face,” “Body” and “Sex Appeal.”

These critiques can be pretty harsh. In the first week, one contestant was forced to open his mouth as wide as he could while the cameras zoomed in painfully tight so that the judges could check out his slightly crooked bite.

Lamas’ “fault finder,” a green laser pointer is also pretty brutal, as he uses it to point out specific body parts that need work. His favorite sore spots? Thick knees and thighs that don’t touch together. The other two judges don’t use laser pointers, but their comments are often just as brash.

The first time I watched this show, it came across as highly disturbing, primarily because the audience is just too big and too loud. It puts any The Price Is Right audience to shame.

Audience members are constantly screaming and jeering at contestants, and people who are highly attractive are often booed off the stage by these hypocritical viewers.

Additionally, the set is unsightly, and combines the worst elements of biker chic (the orange and red “flames” painted across the stage, for instance) and The Weakest Link to create a fashion show-style catwalk/stage that looks as if it could have come from a late 80’s sci-fi/action movie. It’s distracting, ugly and overdramatic, much like the show itself.

I have to admit that I was guilty of logging on to the program’s Web site (http://abc.go.com/primetime/areyouhot) and voting for finalists; the two men and two women out of the final eight that receive the highest number of votes online from viewers will be those that get to advance to what are presumably the semifinals.

This program is honestly nothing more than a glorified, tactless co-ed beauty pageant, and even further, its flagrant proclamation that “talent is overrated” is both belittling and dangerous to younger, more impressionable viewers.

I’m typically not an alarmist when it comes to television, but this show is full of potential pitfalls.