Former contestants of the reality series The Swan have spoken about their experiences on the controversial show (Picture: Fox)
In the early noughties, boundary-pushing reality series started flooding our screens.
From Big Brother, Survivor, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and American Idol, some stood the test of time and still draw in millions of viewers two decades on.
However, there were also plenty of reality TV concepts that took things too far, including a plethora that took advantage of women’s insecurities and promised to provide apparently life-changing makeovers.
One of those was The Swan, which was produced by Fox and premiered in 2004.
Hosted by Irish television presenter Amanda Byram, each episode followed two self-proclaimed ‘ugly ducklings’ who, over the course of a three-month period, experienced an extreme makeover from a team that included a personal trainer, therapist, dentist, and cosmetic surgeons.
At the end, whichever woman was deemed more attractive would move forward to compete in a beauty pageant held at the end of the season, being pitted against others before one was eventually given the title of The Swan.
It ran for two seasons in 2004 and was largely slammed (Picture: Fox)
Unsurprisingly, the series was slammed by many, however it did manage to average around nine million viewers over the course of its first season.
After less than a year on screen, it was cancelled.
However, 20 years on, several ex-contestants have now spoken about their experiences on the show.
Those behind the series claimed The Swan attracted over 200,000 applications during its two seasons, but ultimately it was 16 women who were selected to be transformed each time.
The experts were plastic surgeons Terry Dubrow and Randal Haworth, fitness trainer Greg Comeaux, Lynn Ianni, cosmetic dentist Sherri Worth (who surrendered her license in 2017) and the show’s creator Nely Galan, who played the role of life coach.
The process for the makeovers each began with a full-body graphic of them being shown on screen, in which the women were dressed in saggy grey underwear and bralettes, as the experts commented on their body and what ‘improvements’ could be carried out.
It saw women undergoing plastic surgery before competing in beauty pageants (Picture: Fox)
In one episode, an expert described the ‘biggest problem’ of one woman being her ‘long nostrils’, before saying her ‘sad look’ required liposuction on her chin, a breast lift, and a total body liposuction.
After this, participants were followed by cameras as they went under the knife and recovered from surgery, before undergoing gruelling workouts and therapy sessions.
One of these women was Kelly Alemi, a then 28-year-old flight attendant whose mum tried to discourage her from attending an audition by saying: ‘I’m not trying to be mean, but you’re not ugly enough for them to take you.’
Speaking to the LA Times, Kelly reflected how during that time filming the show, ‘going to the gym was our job’.
Despite running seven miles and doing hundreds of sit-ups a day, she was told she needed to lose more weight.
At one point, she demanded a scale to weigh her newly enhanced breasts, which she suspected were adding several pounds to her frame.
Some women have said they were shocked at the results (Picture: Fox)
For those three months the women, who were put up in apartments together and largely cut off from their families, were also banned from looking at themselves in mirrors for fear of spoiling the final reveal.
Kelly remembered thinking the show was ‘the dumbest concept I’ve ever heard’ after it seemingly encouraged boosting women’s self esteem before making them compete against one another.
Recalling her response to the reveal, Kelly said: ‘This is ridiculous. What the hell have you all done with me?’
After being told by producers they needed a stronger, and more positive reaction, she squealed and began to weep on cue to keep them happy.
Returning to her hotel that evening Kelly said she was ‘horrified’ with her new appearance.
Others said they didn’t regret signing up for the makeover show (Picture: Fox)
Another contestant, Kelly Becker-Berdyck, then 25, had always wanted rhinoplasty after being bullied as a child and called a ‘witch’.
However, when it was suggested she also get check implants and an ear lobe reduction, she started to ‘look at myself differently’ and questioned the changes.
While each woman received around $200,000 (£158,000) worth of treatment, the winner won $50,000 in cash, a fur coat and a $10,000 scholarship to Tony Robbins Mastery University, however the last two were turned down by season 1’s Swan, Rachel Love.
Despite the controversy, Rachel also told the publication that while they were all ‘definitely taken advantage of’, it didn’t ‘negate all of the good things that came out of it’.
One of the experts said he ‘certainly wouldn’t do it today’ (Picture: Fox)
The reality show winner said she was ‘100% happy with who I am as an individual now, partly due to The Swan’.
Other women contacted by the LA Times said the show had a ‘lasting and largely positive influence on their lives’, with nearly all saying they’d do it again.
However, Terry, who now appears in the E! reality show Botched said he grew disillusioned with his profession for years after The Swan and how it suggested women ‘weren’t good enough the way you are’.
‘I certainly wouldn’t do it today.’
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