TV

Participatory TV

Participatory TV “Ladette to Lady” takes Britain's ten “most extreme binge drinking, sexually shameless, anti-social rebels,” chucks them into one of its kind school - an old-fashioned finishing school, under the iron-fisted tutors, where they embark on the five-week diploma course to become a lady(Andrejevic, 2007). Hell breaks loose at Britain's attempt to tame its wildest young rebels. Faced with daunting challenges - from cooking a four-course dinner for the eligible bachelors, to learn how to negotiate their way through a minefield of etiquette to host a dinner dance for some distinguished guests. You'll watch in horror and amusement as the girls attempt to accomplish this task for which they undertake lessons to present a classic buffet, create elaborate flower arrangement, wear corsets they made in needlework and on the top of it, they must master the art of being a gracious hostess.

What follows in the task of trying to transform a band of loud-mouthed ladettes into well-mannered ladies in a boot camp of etiquettes is foul language, which flows as fast as the champagne consumed by the girls. In one episode, girls after downing a couple of drinks start to lose their inhibitions and in another a wine-tasting session goes belly up when one ladette gets intoxicated and belches 'til her heart's content. Channel Nine's amusing reality show will keep you hooked and won't bore you one bit week after week. You'll find it hard to figure out when the show is more hilarious - while the girls aren't busy screeching or swearing or when they're in a squabble and are driving their snooty instructresses up to the wall.

The Biggest Loser Sometimes the game seems a little unfair...it appears that every week, whoever wins the challenge for that week gets some cushy prize. The team that loses the challenge stays home and gets extra workout time. Does this seem like cheating to anyone else? It always seems to be that the team that wins the challenge loses the weigh-in. Hopefully if this show sees a second season (which I hope), this problem will be addressed.

While some have complained that the show should focus more on maintaining a low weight instead of just shedding the pounds, the fine print at the end of each episode says that they trainers and show mentors DO address this! As well, each contestant, as least as far as I can tell, is dangerously overweight and needed to shed that many pounds, so I don't know where some reviewers on here get off saying that the contestants should be focusing less on rapid weight loss. Rapid weight loss is dangerous for people of AVERAGE body weight. As well, each contestant has been medically consulted.

Lastly, it is important to note that the show is also inspirational in many aspects. It shows that people who are overweight can still achieve things they would not have normally thought were possible. Each and every contestant has stated this, and I feel it is important to reinforce on ...