I've never really understood the whole reality tv thing. Sure I've been watching "Making the Cut" weekly, but that's because it's hockey. After watching "He's a Lady," however, I think I can see the appeal.
Last week my brother called me down to watch a show he'd randomly stumbled upon, a show about men playing the role of women for a quarter of a million dollars. Apparently they were initially told that they were going to be in an "all-American man" contest, and then were surprised with the real nature of the competition.
At first I was interested because it was really funny to see the guys dressed as women and struggling with housework and baking an apple pie. But what really hooked me was their stories, or the story of one contestant in particular. This guy David, he was a pretty big guy, and he really didn't look like a woman at all, but boy did he ever have heart. Hearing him talk about how he wanted to win the contest to help deal with his family's financial problems, and how the whole experience made him love and appreciate his wife so much more was just so sweet.
It's hard to explain, but even though the first episode I watched was the second last one, it was more than enough to get me planning to watch the finale. I really really wanted David to win, and I had to watch.
So today's episode. the finale, was a beauty paegant (coincidentally, Steph, Nate and I watched "Miss Congeniality" this weekend! =P). Poor David, the other two finalists got these very elegant, flattering, sexy (well, they would be sexy on women) dresses, and his was beautiful too, but it didn't make quite the same statement. As he put it, "you can put sugar on poop, but it's still poop." So in terms of the "beauty" part, he wasn't the most confident. Then there was the opening number, and he's a big guy, and you could totally tell that he wasn't all that comfortable doing the strut and dance stuff, even without his saying it.
Nonetheless, as the paegant coordinator said, he was the "sleeper" pick, because his heart just shone through. Each of the contestants had to prepare an answer to the question: "What did you, as a woman, learn about being a man?" David's answer made all of the judges and audience just tear up, it was really touching. He talked about how all the guys, because they were playing women, were able to put aside the machismo and bravado to reveal compassionate, caring people. And he talked about how through the experience he was able to realize how hurtful it could be for women when men placed so much emphasis on external beauty that they ignored inner character (remember, in terms of looks, he was a rather awful woman). "Inner beauty" sounds cliché, but the way he said it, it was totally sincere, and very moving.
So anyway, there's no way I can adequately express just how touching his answer was, or how quick and easy it was to feel for David and to want him to win, but I guess I just had to write about it. I used to think that reality tv was just a gimmicky stupid thing, but now I realize that the appeal, for some shows anyway, is not the silliness or outrageousness of the things the contestants have to do, it's their stories. Sure the situations are contrived, but the emotions and the goals and dream are very real. (Especially in the only two reality shows I've ever actually watched!)
