Is There Really More to 'More to Love' Than a Plus-Size 'Bachelor'?

While more and more tricks and stunts are being pulled on contestants of ABC's The Bachelor and The Bachelorette to revive a dying concept (e.g. post-show breakups, previously dismissed suitors turning up to rat on others, contenders with girlfriends back home, last-minute proposals from unexpected sources), another new show from the same producer debuted last night. In More to Love both the bachelor and the female contestants are described as 'real' (code for 'a size not usually seen on TV outside weight-loss reality shows.')

At the Fox website for the show, the clips showing the casting and the auditions include sassy, confident women which suggest that fat acceptance may figure prominently in the show. Producer Sally Ann Salsano has a generous figure, and that fact adds greater credibility when she stands in front of the camera and says, "There are no twists, no turns in this show. It is straight up....I think that people in America are starting to realize that the average-size person is plus size. For a woman, size 14/16 is the average American woman, and those women are never shown on TV."

One wannabe contestant says it memorably: "My box may be bigger, but my bow is just as pretty."

Salsano's track record, according to IMBD.com, includes producing Oxygen's Dance Your Ass Off, MTV's A Shot at Love, and The Bachelorette. But will her own experiences as a larger person translate to a show that is truly accepting of an 'average' woman? She is, after all, working in an industry where the name of the game is ratings, not sensitivity. Advertisers want the former, and are significantly less interested in the latter unless large numbers of people like you and me rise up and use the word 'boycott' when tasteless depictions of fat people insult and offend.

I hope it won't come to that for More to Love.

Although I didn't see the entire show, one less-than-sensitive aspect struck me; the female contestants were ID'ed differently on More to Love than any other reality dating show. Not only were their their names and ages displayed onscreen, but viewers also saw their height and weight. This immediately set off a warning bell. If weight is a non-issue, then why broadcast it? We've never seen this done on The Bachelor. Why should a contestant's height/weight ratio matter to the audience if this is truly a 'straight up' dating show and a judgment-free zone?

I'd like to believe that More to Love isn't out to hurt or humiliate anyone, intentionally or unintentionally. Many of the women contestants are downright beautiful, and care and attention have been paid to their hair, makeup, and wardrobe. On top of that, the show is hosted by Emme, the celebrity-style expert who initially made a name for herself as the first plus-sized supermodel. I've met Emme in the past, and I know she's active in NEDA, the National Eating Disorders Association, and also lends her support to a small upstate New York non-profit, Ophelia's Place, which helps young women struggling with food issues and self-image. So I'm inclined to believe that Emme wouldn't have signed onto a show that would negatively portray larger women.

Still, others in the blogosphere share my concerns, including Samhita at Feministing.com and Marianne Kirby at The Daily Beast, who has seen the show in its entirety and writes with candor, compassion,and even some anger at the way the bachelor and his dates are portrayed.

Weight-based prejudice continues to be the one form of bias we seem unwilling to acknowledge or do anything about. Yet we've all seen the hidden-camera segments on various TV shows in which skinny celebrities don fat suits and find out how cruel the world can be to a fat woman or man. They should have told us something long ago -- that the same media that exposes this prejudice also promotes it and occasionally revels in it.

Until the fat acceptance movement becomes as prominent as other 'disenfranchised groups,' chances are little will change. We'll have to see if More to Love offers more as the series develops. It has the chance to make a statement. I'm hoping it chooses the high road in the weight and body-issue wars, and doesn't make its subjects one giant continuous punch line in an ongoing series that's nothing more than a big fat joke.