- Beauty and the Geek
Infobox Television
show_name = Beauty and the Geek
caption =
format = Reality
camera =
picture_format =
runtime = 42 minutes (60 with commercials)
creator =
developer =
executive_producer =Ashton Kutcher Jason Goldberg Nick Santora
starring =Brian McFayden
Mike Richards
narrated =
opentheme =Pet Shop Boys - "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) "
endtheme =
country = USA
network = The WB (2005-2006)
The CW (2007-2008)
first_aired =June 1 2005
last_aired =May 13 2008
num_seasons = 5
num_episodes = 48
website =
imdb_id = 0460625
tv_com_id = 32037"Beauty and the Geek" is a
reality television series on The CW. It has been advertised as "The Ultimate Social Experiment" and is produced byAshton Kutcher ,Jason Goldberg andNick Santora .The premise of the show consists of a group of "Beauties" (young women who have relied primarily on their looks and are intellectually inept) and a group of "Geeks" (young men who have relied primarily on intellect and are socially inept) who are paired up to compete as couples for a shared $250,000 and other prizes. (For the fourth season, the producers modified the formula to include an extra team consisting of a male "beauty" and a female "geek". For the fifth season, the beauties and geeks competed against each other at first, and teams of one beauty and one geek were not selected until the end of episode three.) Each beauty lives together in a room with her geek during the course of the competition. There are challenges shown each episode, one testing the beauties on a primarily academic subject, and another that has the geeks competing in a more popular/social realm. The winners of the challenges select a total of two teams to compete against each other in a pure "quiz show" type question and answer session, with the team getting the fewest number of questions correct being eliminated.
By the end of the competition, many of the contestants say that they have learned much about interacting with people from a different social group (and positive lessons about the character of people from that group), positive things about themselves and their own character, and often something about human nature in general.
The theme song, "
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) " by thePet Shop Boys (originally released in 1985), is used also on the British and Belgian-Dutch versions. Commercial promos for the show featured a different theme song, "The Geeks Get the Girls " byAmerican Hi-Fi .Following the second season, the American version moved to
The CW Television Network , the new network formed when both The WB andUPN ceased operations inSeptember 2006 . The two-hour season premiere for the third season aired Wednesday,January 3 ,2007 at 8:00 p.m. EST on The CW. The fourth season premiered onSeptember 18 , making "BATG" the first series to premiere for the CW for the 2007-08 television season. "Beauty and the Geek" was renewed for a fifth season, which premiered onMarch 12 ,2008 .The fifth season will be the final one until enough time has passed to make the format seem fresh again or if producers come up with a new twist to the format. [Adalian, Josef. [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117984775.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&nid=2562 "'Geek' not very popular with CW"] , "Variety", April 28, 2008]
Season 1
Cast
"
Note: Original partners Chris and Amanda won the first week's quiz challenge and were given the power to switch the partner of one team with another team or they themselves can switch partners. They choose the latter and broke up the team of Brandon and Tristin.
Challenges & Eliminations
All previously eliminated contestants were brought back to spend one more night in the mansion and to assess which of the final two teams had undergone the most personal change. Their votes on this question would determine the winner of the $250,000 grand prize. The majority of the contestants were torn between wanting Nate to win, and his partner, Cecille, to lose. Nate, believing that winning would only reinforce Cecille's behavior, asked contestants to vote against him. This led to Megan and Scooter winning 7 to 2.
Note: Jennylee admitted having a crush on Nate, and by Episode 5 they had kissed. After Jennylee and Niels were eliminated, Nate snuck out of the mansion to say goodbye to Jennylee.
Season 4
Season 4 featured several changes and was by far the most controversial one. One male beauty is paired with one female geek, but the rest of the pairs remained the same way (i.e. a male geek and a female beauty). The season was also extended from 8/9 episodes to 13, featuring a recap on week 7 and the cast growing from eight pairs to ten. This was also the first season to have a pair voted out (Natalie and John on week 8) instead of eliminated through a quiz, which sparked some controversy, much like Sam's previous experience in show business, despite the fact that many other beauties had some previous acting experience as well. In episode 6 the geeks have their make-overs
Cast
Note: John, Amber and Jillian were all eliminated before the teams paired. Jonathan was left without a partner and was therefore eliminated.
Challenges & Eliminations
fnb|1 For this challenge, one member of each team was to temporarily join the opposing team. It was then revealed that if the team lost their new member would be automatically eliminated.
fnb|2 The remaining beauties were asked to pair up with a geek. Tara, the last beauty, chose Joe, eliminating Jonathan since he was left with no partner.
fnb|3 After winning the challenge, Leticia & Matt were given the right to pick one team to go with them at the world premiere of "Prom Night" and chose Randi and Greg. The four remaining teams had to send one team to elimination for the next week and had chosen Tara and Joe after a geek drag fashion show contest.
fnb|4 Instead of elimination trivia, each losing team cast a vote for another team to be eliminated. Since the teams all had one vote, Tommy and Amanda picked Kristina and Jason as a tie breaker, sending them home.
Ratings
:"Seasonal rankings (based on average total estimated viewers per episode) of "Beauty and the Geek" on The WB and The CW:"
International versions
* A Finnish version of the show, "Kaunotar ja nörtti" ("The Beauty and The Nerd") started at
September 4 ,2005 onMTV3 . The show was filmed inEstonia .
* A Bulgarian version of the show started atOctober 3 ,2005 on bTV.
* OnFebruary 7 ,2006 a British version of the show debuted on E4. Although there is no host, voiceovers are provided by David Mitchell.
* A Norwegian version will start on Norwegian TV3 in March2006 . It has been given the name "Prinsessen og Professoren" ("The Princess and the Professor").
* InDenmark , the original American show is aired with Danish subtitles.
* InFrance , the original American show is aired with French dubbing on NRJ12.
* An Italian version started onItalia 1 in September2006 , called "La pupa e il secchione" ("The Doll and the Nerd"), hitting ratings records for the channel.
* An Estonian version also started on Estonian TV3 in September 2006 called "Kaunitar ja geenius" ("The Beauty and the Genius")
* A Colombian version debuted onCanal Caracol in May 2006, called [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Bella_y_el_Nerdo "La Bella y el Nerdo"] ("The Beauty and The Nerd").
* A Portuguese version started March 2007, called "A Bela e o Mestre" ("The Beauty and the Master"). The "master" word was used because there is no word in Portuguese that has the same meaning as geek.
* A Russian version has aired onREN TV , called "Красавицы и Умники" ("Beauties and Smarties") [http://www.soblazn.tv/] .
* A new version of the show is now set to debut onTF1 inFrance under the title "Bimbo et Intello", however recent reports claim it will not be aired anytime soon [ [http://www.leblogtvnews.com/article-14171579.html Bimbos et Intellos : dossier dans Entrevue. - Tvnews, actu de la télévision et des médias au quotidien ] ] , and other one in Mexico under the title [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Bella_y_el_Nerd_(MEXICO) "La Bella y el Nerd"] which is being transmitted by TV Azteca now. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117963152.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 Mip Briefs: France takes 'Beauty' - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety ] ] The first episode of TurkishShow TV 's "Güzel ve Dahi" ("The Beauty and The Genius") was aired onJuly 7 2007 . [ [http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2007/07/13/son/sonsiy02.asp Çubukçu, 'Güzel ve Dahi' programı için RTÜK'e başvurdu / Siyaset / Milliyet İnternet ] ] But after some public pressure against showing unintelligent contestant girls, the producers had to cancel the show.Fact|date=December 2007
* In Belgium and the Netherlands, a Dutch version of the show is produced by VTM andRTL 5 . The first season aired late 2006 and a second season aired in September 2007. The Dutch version is called "Beauty & de Nerd".
* A Spanish version, broadcasted byTelecinco , was called "Nadie es Perfecto" ("No-one is Perfect"), and it was a failure.
* InIsrael , a Hebrew version of the show, produced by Abott Reif Hemeiri, began airing onJuly 23 ,2008 onIsrael 10 . The casting was done with the temporary title "היפה והגאון" ("The beauty and the genius") [ [http://www.flix.co.il/tapuz/showVideo.asp?m=2127041 Casting video for the Israeli version] ] , while the final title was "היפה והחנון" ("The beauty and the geek").References
External links
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* [http://www.beautyandthegeek.co.uk/ Beauty and the Geek Fansite] Including Season 5 Gallery and News
* [http://www.beauty-and-the-geek.co.uk/ Beauty and the Geek UK]
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