“Too Ugly for Love”
Talk about “catchy” TV program titles, “Too Ugly for Love?” is a reality show that commands and even virtually arrests viewers’ attention, practically requiring them to watch!
Upon viewing, it expectedly turns out to be a compilation of sob stories of plain-looking or downright deformed individuals who have to try much harder than more “normal-looking” folks to be liked—and loved.
The telecast we recently viewed featured a young woman who had a skin condition that made her epidermis blotchy, so she had to use heavy concealing makeup to pass for “normal.”
Another woman’s problem was her severe hair loss, which required her to wear a wig. That solved her problem some of the time.
But, when she dated a guy she really liked, the time came when she would have to reveal her “secret” to him, for fear of his accidentally discovering it during an “intimate” moment—and turning him off!
Other cases the show detailed in other telecasts included those of a “hunk” who unfortunately suffered from a medical condition that required an operation—and his having to wear and use a colostomy bag, which decidedly detracted from his “hunky” appeal.
Also deemed to be too medically compromised to be “lovable” is a woman with one leg much bigger than the other; a man who suffers from excessive sweating; an amputee trying to get back into the dating scene; the survivor of a disfiguring fire that scarred her face and arms; a man with severe “digestive issues”; a woman with excess skin, etc.
This doleful enumeration of physical woes and encumbrances would end up as an exploitative sequential depiction of hopeless losers.
But, thank goodness, the show avoids this downbeat denouement by depicting what happens when its sad seekers are able to find people who are capable of looking beyond their physical and medical problems, and discover the innate goodness and likability in them!
For the struggling seekers, this is already a blessing. But, a few of them are even able to savor being loved by their enlightened partners, who see them for who they really, deeply are.
It may not happen often, but that makes it even more precious—and a sterling source of inspiration and hope for other unloved (not inherently unlovable) seekers who have not yet been insightfully “rediscovered.”
Thus, the TV show’s featured stories can inspire even people who don’t suffer from a disfiguring or delimiting ailment or condition.
Even if they aren’t “ugly,” they too are aching to love and be loved—and, to them, the program says: never lose heart, your innate lovability will eventually attract and find its intended appreciator.
That’s an unexpected but beautiful denouement for a reality show that starts out being about so-called unlovable “freaks”—but ultimately proves that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And, all they have to do is wait for that enlightened partner to see them—for the good and loving persons they really are.