''Are You Hot?: The Search for America's Sexiest People'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series that premiered February 13, 2003 on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. A panel of judges including

Lorenzo Lamas Lorenzo Fernando Lamas (born January 20, 1958) is an American actor. He is widely known for his role of Lance Cumson, the irresponsible grandson of Angela Channing—played by Jane Wyman—in the soap opera ''Falcon Crest'' (1981–1990), for ...

Rachel Hunter Rachel Hunter (born 8 September 1969) is a New Zealand model, actress and the host of Imagination Television's ''Rachel Hunter's Tour of Beauty''. She has appeared on several magazine covers, including ''Vogue'', ''Elle'', ''Rolling Stone'', ' ...

, and Randolph Duke evaluated contestants on the sole

criterion Criterion, or its plural form criteria, may refer to: General * Criterion, Oregon, a historic unincorporated community in the United States * Criterion Place, a proposed skyscraper in West Yorkshire, England * Criterion Restaurant, in London, Eng ...

of their

physical attractiveness Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from either. There are many ...

. It was cancelled after one

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

due to low ratings. The winner of the lone season was

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

native Chantille Boudousque. While aired on prime time, many male contestants appearing bare-chested were censored at times due to lower body hair being exposed.

Format

From coast to coast, thousands of hopefuls gathered to get the chance to compete for the crown of the sexiest man or woman in America. Talent, personality and strategy are not required, only physical beauty and innate sexiness. TV viewers had their chance to vote on the Hot Zone/Round One participants from each regions as they face a celebrity panel of experts including:

, Randolph Duke and

. Crisscrossing America for casting calls in many cities and poring over audition tapes, the producers divided the country into "Hot Zones" that included every state. From the thousands who tried only thirty-two people from each zone made the cut. They were judged by the three celebrity panel members and at the end of each episode, viewers were invited to vote for their favorite male and female participants. The following week, viewers would find out whom America has chosen and repeat the whole process of 32 candidates from "Hot Zone 2" and so on until one breathtaking man and one stunning woman are crowned as "The Sexiest People in America".

Lawsuit

A lawsuit filed by

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...

and his production company claimed that the premise and format of ''Are You Hot?'' was lifted from the Stern radio show's regular segment ''The Evaluators'' as former Stern TV producer Scott Einziger was a producer and exec on ''Are You Hot?'' ABC and Stern settled the suit since the ABC/Einziger version of the show was a ratings failure.

Parodies

In 2003, the series was spoofed by ''SNL'' for its "

TV Funhouse ''Saturday TV Funhouse'' is a segment on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' featuring cartoons created by ''SNL'' writer Robert Smigel. 101 "TV Funhouse" segments aired on ''SNL'' between 1996 and 2008, with one further segment airing in 2011. It also ...

" segment as ''Are You Hot?: The Search For America's Sexiest Cartoons'', in which a 2D version of Lorenzo Lamas judges 11 popular cartoon characters, including

Betty Boop Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer ...

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

Olive Oyl Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed ''Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a ...

Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry shortcake may refer to: * Strawberry shortcake (dessert), a shortcake served with strawberries * "Strawberry Shortcake, Huckleberry Pie," a song published in 1956; a version by The Brother Sisters was released by Mercury Records in 196 ...

Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro-Go ...

Marvin the Martian Marvin the Martian is an extraterrestrial character from Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons. He frequently appears as a villain in cartoons and video games, and wears a helmet and skirt. The character has been voice ...

, Dagwood,

Optimus Prime Optimus Prime, , is a fictional Character (arts), character in the ''Transformers'' franchise. The Transformers characters were developed for an American market after Hasbro representatives visited the 1983 Tokyo Toy Show. The characters were ...

Yosemite Sam Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bugs ...

, and

Barney Rubble Barney Rubble is a fictional character who appears in the television animated series ''The Flintstones''. He is the diminutive, blond-haired caveman husband of Betty Rubble and adoptive father of Bamm-Bamm Rubble. His best friend is his next d ...

.TV Funhouse: Am I Hot? - Saturday Night Live on YouTube
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External links

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References

{{Reflist American Broadcasting Company original programming 2000s American reality television series 2003 American television series debuts 2003 American television series endings Television series by Telepictures Reality competition television series