I Thought I Was Going To Hate Beauty & The Geek, But Instead It’s Made Me A Sobbing Mess

Beauty & The Geek

Maybe I’m just so fed up with dating apps at the moment, but I am genuinely loving Beauty & The Geek so far and yes, I did actually shed a tear.

I was expecting to hate Beauty & The Geek because the concept of putting beautiful ditzy women and geeky looking guys together doesn’t sit too well with me. It’s a narrative that we see play out on TV and in movies all the time, just look at any Seth Rogan movie.

I don’t like it because I believe it reinforces backwards stereotypes that women can’t be beautiful and intelligent, while geeky men can’t be charismatic and confident. I also don’t want to live in a world where Seth Rogan is endgame.

However, I honestly think they’ve done a really good job with casting on BATG this season, and all the contestants seem to be genuine and quite three-dimensional. No bitches and no incels in sight, thank god!

I love that everyone is really open to the experience and I especially love that they haven’t tried to make the beauties out to be shallow – because they’re not. In a society that still expects men to be the initiators when it comes to dating, it means that both beauties and geeks don’t get an opportunity to interact in the real world. Beauties are getting approached by dickheads, and geeks aren’t actually doing any approaching.

Watching the opening of the show, when they gave a little teaser of what’s to come for the season – I genuinely had a big ol’ sook. I think I’m turning into my mum because anything remotely wholesome will literally set me off. But the reason I found it so emotional was because you could really tell that both the beauties and the geeks have felt vulnerable and unloved before, so forming a connection with someone who actually cares is so special.

Of course, there are certainly things the show could improve on as well. For starters introducing some lady geeks and himbos would have been a great addition. I just feel like society isn’t ready to accept that there’s more to a woman than her appearance. Have we learned nothing from The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf???

I still think it’s a great show and this season of Beauty & The Geek feels a little more wholesome than the one’s before it. The concept in itself also makes an interesting point about online dating and hook up culture. The point being that surface level interactions never really work, and maybe we should start finding other ways to meet people that aren’t through an app? There are just wayyy too many red flags to sift through and I’m so tired of looking at fucking fish.

Normalise going on a national TV show to meet geeks (!!) and don’t be surprised if I audition for next season (!!!).

Catch up on the first ep on 9Now here.

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