Checking Out "Beauty and the Geek"

I'm a sucker for the loopy charms of CW's Beauty and the Geek, so I was curious to see how this season's well-publicized "twist" would play out and how it would throw the social experiment into upheaval.

For those of you not in the know, that "twist" is the inclusion for the first time ever (or as the host emphatically put it, "in the history of Beauty and the Geek") that a female geek and a male beauty have been introduced into the game. Sure, it's not the biggest spanner in the works ever to hit a reality series, but it does cut through to the heart of the series' overaching premise: the tug of war between brains and beauties. I think it's about time that a female geek--in dire need of a makeover from the look of the socks n' shoes combo she was sporting in the season premiere--received the benefits of some social adjustments. As for the himbo they brought in as the first male beauty (who just screams stripper), it will be interesting to see how much he really gets out of this. Something tells me that he's really not going to be attracted to academic advancement, but rather towards the, er, enhancements of some of the female contestants.

For the rest of them, I already to have some favorites that I hope make it far in the competition. On the geeks' side, I can already see the potential in both 23-year-old electrical engineering student Luke, bowtie-clad medical student Tony, and 22-year-old electrical engineering and physics Master's candidate/analog circuit designer/amateur juggler John. I can honestly see them coming out of the other end of this season as more socially adjusted guys who could actually, you know, go on dates with women. And Tony is just, well, so adorably clueless as the sage Cher Horowitz would say.

On the beauties' side, I already adore 26-year-old Bettie Boop impersonator Hollie, who wowed me with her intelligence during the psychology segment (she was the only one to correctly identify "reading between the lines" and "tricycle" during the analysis), and
26-year-old bartender Shalandra (a.k.a. Shay), who is simply gorgeous but also truly a down-to-earth girl who tells it like it is.

I'm already beyond ready for space cadet Jasmine and LARPer David to hit the bricks. As for Joshua, what can I say? It's as though the producers try their damnest to find that season's Richard and they've done so with with the awkward stylings of 26-year-old grad student Joshua, who called his mother during the introductions so she could share his good qualities with the ladies. (Um, we won't touch that with a six-foot pole.)

And so another season of study books, dating advice, and extreme makeovers begins. Who are your fave beauties and geeks? Who do you think will hook up? (My money's still on Luke and Hollie.) And who will come the farthest and who will remain stuck in their little social pigeonhole? Discuss.

Next week on Beauty and the Geek ("Opposites Attract"), the male beauty and female geek move into the mansion and the couples face their first challenge: the geeks must perform homemade raps in front of Three 6 Mafia, while the beauties face a political debate.