Tonight airs the second episode of the Australian version of ’10 Years Younger in 10 days’ hosted by Miss Tina Sparkles, er, I mean Sonia Kruger – something I was looking forward to initially. I mean, I *love* a good before and after! And the fact that they had people that looked immeasurably older than they actually were, was fascinating! How would they do it? What fashion styling experts could they bring in to stop them dressing from gramps or nannas? But the premiere episode that aired last week brought a kind of a shock to the system. In the hour that I sat there watching it (and tweeting with friends over certain moments with ‘what?! They said WHAT?!’) I will be watching tonight; but it could be the last time.
In the age of Biggest Loser where they have obese people learning a healthy lifestyle, but also exercise an unrealistic amount of time a day in a short amount of time; in the end, they are still learning something valuable about living a healthy lifestyle in order to live longer. I’m definitely not under the naive belief that any kind of ‘reality show’ is completely realistic, and that it represents the true circumstance of what they are presenting. After all, it has to be in order to be more entertaining. However; in the case of Channel 7′s ’10 Years Younger in 10 Days’ – they are turning this mentality on its head. Becoming younger can be done quickly! With lots of money to visit a cosmetic dentist, or a plastic surgeon! (Note the sarcasm here..)
The first couple shown on last week’s episode lived in a mining town in Australia; no makeup, ordinary clothes, and the husband looked like Rupert Boneham from Survivor: Pearl Islands. A pirate essentially! (Not in a Jack Sparrow type of way though..)
Maybe I’m old fashioned but I thought okay; shave the beard, get a facial, don’t look like a pirate; look younger! Stop wearing flannel? Take another year? I mean – generally, people that live in a mining town, and work in that industry are NEVER going to wear heels, or have access to designer labels. Why would they need to?
Yet to encourage seeing a plastic surgeon? Peering at you wondering what ‘problems’ with your face, what can we ‘fix up’ – what kind of message is that sending? Do they even try to explore the reasons that they’ve ‘let themselves go’ and why they want to look ‘better’? (Actually have they tried exercising – because when the guy was on a spin bike; it was as if the gym was a completely foreign concept)
The message being conveyed in this program are actually quite damaging; because apart from being displayed in a glass case… (I’M IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTION!) and having strangers say wow I think she looks OLD, or whoa.. he looks like a grandpa – any self esteem they had would be shot to the ground.
Doesn’t one have to be content with themselves; or content with their partners? The after-shots were great, and of course you’re going to feel better after thousands upon thousands of dollars have gone into you being styled to look like you could walk down a runway. But for anyone not currently on a ‘reality’ TV show; what does that mean for us? I certainly will NOT be stepping into a glass case just to be judged on the street. I know I don’t look like a B grade TV star, or have had work done to lift my eyelids, or enhance my cheekbones, and no I have not had a colostomy like they forced that poor guy to go through – but ya know what? Even without that – if I look older or younger than my age – that is not what I base living my life on.
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