''Beauty and the Geek'' 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 on

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

on June 1, 2005. It has been advertised as "The Ultimate Social Experiment" and is produced by

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a S ...

Jason Goldberg Jason Goldberg (born 1972) is an American film and television producer. Goldberg is the producer of the films ''Guess Who'' and ''The Butterfly Effect'' and executive producer of the shows ''Beauty and the Geek'' and ''Punk'd''. He often works ...

and J.D. Roth. The show's title is a parody of ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

''. This was the first show produced by the

Fox Television Studios The second incarnation of Touchstone Television (formerly known as Fox 21 Television Studios) was an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Disney Media Networks' Walt Disney Television owned by The Walt Disney Company. It ...

sub-division Fox 21. The show follows groups of "Beauties" (people — almost always women — who rely on their attractiveness and outgoing personalities but typically lack intellect) and "Geeks" (people — almost always men — who rely on their intellect, but typically lack social ability) who must pair up to compete in challenges to avoid elimination. The final pair remaining is declared as being "More than just a Beauty and a Geek" and wins the grand prize of $250,000. While a competition, the show is also billed as a social experiment, in which each contestant typically learns from their teammate. During the competition, the contestants live in a mansion and compete in a series of challenges, with the beauties competing in challenges of intellect, and the geeks competing in challenges involving social ability.

Production

The theme song, "

Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their debut studio album, ''Please'' (1986). It was released as a single in 1985 and re-recorded and reissued in 1986, gaining greater popularity ...

" by the

Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...

(originally released in 1985), is used also on the British, Danish and Belgian-Dutch versions. Commercial promos for the show featured a different theme song, "

The Geeks Get the Girls ''Hearts on Parade'' is the third studio album by American rock band American Hi-Fi. It was released on April 12, 2005, through Maverick Records. The album peaked at #129 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. ''Hearts on Parade'' received a nominatio ...

" by

American Hi-Fi American Hi-Fi is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1998. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Stacy Jones, lead guitarist Jamie Arentzen, bassist and backing vocalist Drew Parsons, and drummer Brian Nolan. Prior t ...

. Following the second season, the American version moved to

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, the new network formed when both

and

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

ceased operations in September 2006. The two-hour season premiere for the third season aired Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. EST on The CW. The fourth season premiered on September 18, making ''BATG'' the first series to premiere for the CW for the 2007-08 television season. ''Beauty and the Geek'' was renewed for a fifth season, which premiered on March 12, 2008. After the fifth season, the show was put on indefinite hiatus in order to stoke renewed interest in the show, and perhaps the addition of innovative twists to the format. In October 2008, casting began for a sixth season, scheduled to air on MTV, with minor celebrities as the beauties. However, a sixth season never materialized.

Season 1

Cast

Challenges and eliminations

Episode progress

: The contestants won the competition. : The contestant won the challenge and their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant's partner won the challenge and they were safe from elimination. : The contestant did not win the challenge, but their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant and their partner survived elimination. : The contestant and their partner was eliminated. : The contestant or their partner won the challenge and were also eliminated.

Season 2

Cast

Episode progress

: The contestants won the competition. : The contestant won the challenge and their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant's partner won the challenge and they were safe from elimination. : The contestant did not win the challenge but their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant and their partner survived elimination. : The contestant and their partner was eliminated.

Challenges and eliminations

Season 3

Cast

Episode progress

: The contestants won the competition. : The contestant won the challenge and their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant's partner won the challenge and they were safe from elimination. : The contestant did not win the challenge but their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant and their partner survived elimination. : The contestant and their partner was eliminated.

Challenges and eliminations

Season 4

Cast

Episode progress

: The contestants won the competition. : The contestant won the challenge and their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant's partner won the challenge and they were safe from elimination. : The contestant did not win the challenge but their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant and their partner survived elimination. : The contestant and their partner were eliminated.

Challenges and eliminations

Season 5

Season 5 premiered on March 11, 2008, taking over the timeslot of ''

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''. For the first three episodes, the beauties competed as a group against the team of geeks. The remaining beauties and geeks then paired off to compete against the other pairs, as in previous seasons.

Cast

Note: John, Amber and Jillian were all eliminated before the teams paired. Jonathan was left without a partner and was therefore eliminated.

Episode progress

: The contestants won the competition. : The contestant won the challenge and their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant's partner won the challenge and they were safe from elimination. : The contestant did not win the challenge but their pair was safe from elimination. : The contestant and their partner survived elimination. : The contestant and their partner was eliminated.

Challenges and eliminations

Contestants who appeared on other competition shows

* Richard Rubin would later appear on '' 1 vs 100'' as a member of the mob. *

Tyson Mao Tyson Mao (born May 8, 1984, in San Francisco, California) is an American Rubik's Cube speedsolver. He is a co-founder and a former board member of the World Cube Association, an organization that holds competitive events for the Rubik's Cube. ...

appeared on ''Identity'' as a stranger. *

Megan Hauserman Megan Hauserman (born November 5, 1981) is an American model and reality television personality, best known for her repeated appearances on VH1 including second season of ''Rock of Love with Bret Michaels'', the first season of ''I Love Money' ...

appeared on the second season of ''

Rock of Love with Bret Michaels ''Rock of Love with Bret Michaels'' is an American reality television dating game show. It stars Bret Michaels, the lead singer from the band Poison. The show closely resembles the show ''Flavor of Love''. The first season featured 25 women comp ...

'', finishing in 5th place; the first season of ''

I Love Money ''I Love Money'' is an American reality television series that aired on VH1 and was produced by 51 Minds Entertainment, a subsidiary of Endemol, and was a spin-off of ''Flavor of Love'', '' Charm School'', ''I Love New York'', ''Rock of Love'' ...

'', where she quit on the last episode, officially finishing in 3rd place; and '' Rock of Love: Charm School'', getting expelled on the 4th episode. She would later get her own dating game show: ''

Megan Wants a Millionaire ''Megan Wants a Millionaire'' is an American reality television show on VH1 in which former ''Rock of Love'' contestant Megan Hauserman has seventeen wealthy single men compete for her love. The show originated from a comment made by Hauserman d ...

''. * Greggy Soriano competed on the first season of ''

Cake Boss ''Cake Boss'' is an American reality television series, which originally aired on the cable television network TLC. The series premiered on April 19, 2009, and has spawned four spin-offs: ''Next Great Baker'', ''Kitchen Boss'', ''Bake You Rich' ...

''s ''

Next Great Baker ''Next Great Baker'' (also known as ''Cake Boss: Next Great Baker'') is an American television series that airs on TLC, hosted by Buddy Valastro, the star of his own reality series, ''Cake Boss''. The show features contestants participating in ch ...

'', where he was eliminated in 7th place. * Jason Prager appeared on season 1 of ''

The Gong Show ''The Gong Show'' is an American amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976, through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976 to 1 ...

'' revival.

International versions

: Currently airing franchise : Franchise no longer in production In Brazil, the original American show aired on the cable television network

Multishow Multishow is an entertainment channel owned by Canais Globo, Grupo Globo's cable and satellite television channel operator. It was launched in 1991, as one of the company's first four channels (with Telecine, Top Sport – now SporTV – and GNT) ...

under the title ''As Gostosas e os Geeks'' (''The Hotties and the Geeks'').

References

External links

''Beauty and the Geek'' (WB site)

''Beauty and the Geek'' (CW site)
*
''Beauty and the Geek'' USA, UK, RU
{{The CW programming 2000s American reality television series 2005 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings 20th Television franchises American dating and relationship reality television series English-language television shows Nerd culture Television duos Television series by 20th Century Fox Television The WB original programming The CW original programming