Beauty and the Geek

Beauty and the Geek No, not another Erika Ebbel entry. Shes way too classy. Instead, this. Ruth 07, field reporter for http://sam.mitblogs.com, discovered this curious flyer outside of the Athena cluster in building 24 (aka a computer lab on campus). I particularly love the warning this is not a dating show, but a competition. Okay, so maybe its a little stereotypical to be advertising an open casting call for geeks at MIT, but this is actually a really exciting opportunity. To my knowledge, there has never been an MIT affiliate appearing as a contestant on a reality television show. And believe me, my knowledge of reality television is pretty deep. (Yes, I do know that Chris Vu passed the first round of auditions for American Idol 2, but I dont think he got to appear on television as a result of that even though Carmen Rasmusen did life is unfair sometimes) So, who should we get to go to this audition? Ben is married with children, Matt is in Southeast Asia, and I dont think that either Spencer or Kevin really fit the geek image that theyre going for. I, of course, have no shame and quiver with delight at the prospect of one day appearing on a network reality television show, but Im also only 19 years old. If any qualified man in the Boston area reading this would like to check out this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you can have a guest entry on my blog (readership roughly equal to that of the Washington Times) describing your experiences. Ill also throw in my Harvard Book Store frequent buyers card, good for 20% off your next purchase of up to $200. Ive actually never watched Beauty and the Geek. Come on, its on the WB. However, I once had half of an episode described to me and I think its kind of a cross between Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Jeopardy!the beauties and geeks have to help each other study, and then the beauties have to solve theoretical astrophysics problems while the geeks have to answer questions about the life of Manolo Blahnik and identify fake Louis Vuitton bags with hilarious results! Mitra, of course, would easily win the entire show as either a beauty or a geek, although shed naturally have much better luck entering as a beauty. The reason that Ive never seen this show is that it falls just below my theoretical line of self-respect for watching reality shows. My hypothesis is that you can create a hierarchy of all reality shows based on the amount of self-respect you need to lose if youre going to lower your standards enough to enjoy them. Everyone must have a fixed minimum quantity of self-respect that therefore dictates what reality shows they can and cannot enjoy. Heres mine: The Amazing Race Iron Chef Project Runway Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Hells Kitchen The Apprentice Nanny 911 Survivor American Idol Americas Next Top Model The Newlyweds -line of my own self-respect The Bachelor(ette) Beauty and the Geek Joe Millionaire Boy Meets Boy For Love or Money The Littlest Groom American Juniors The Real Gilligans Island Extreme Makeover Who Wants To Be a Hilton? Temptation Island Bachelorettes in Alaska Love Cruise The Simple Life The Swan Britney and Kevin: Chaotic How many have you seen? Its a spectacular night here in Boston, with nearby summer lightning setting off a pandemonium of car alarms under the hazy red sky. If I didnt know better, Id say that some force of nature was trying to destroy Beauty and the Geek.