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How geeky is Beauty and the Geek?

Updated: For the second time in its two seasons, a Beauty & the Geek contestant is accused of ramping-up his Geek factor.

For the second time in its two seasons, questions are being asked about the “Geek factor” on Beauty and the Geek Australia.

NineMSN reports one of the participants this season, 23 year old Daniel Iachini, is a lot more socially adept than he appears in the Seven show.

The molecular biologist is said to have had several girlfriends in the past, including a long term relationship of 18 months.

On the series the Geeks are regularly presented as being desperate and dateless, until they are paired with attractive young women who are supposedly not very worldly.

An unnamed acquaintance tells the website, “Why is Daniel on that show? Since when did preppy G-Star clothes and a long beard make someone a geek?”

“I’m all for people having fun and giving things a go but it’s not really fair and it obviously compromises the integrity of the show when for starters, the geeks aren’t really geeks.”

Iachini was also a previous contestant on Hot Seat, where he cracked jokes about picking up women in nightclubs by saying he was a stripper rather than a scientist. Most TV shows ask applicants “Have you ever participated in or applied for any television shows previously?” to avoid later surprises.

The first season used a casting company, but drew similar attention when host Bernard Curry told NineMSN one contestant may have been more experienced with women than he let on to producers.

At the time a source told TV Tonight: “All the geeks have been styled to look like your stereotypical “geek” for the program, that there is no doubt. But, the point is though, is that they are all academics and geeks. A lot of time was spent researching to find potential applicants to ensure they are the real deal, which all of them most definitely are.”

On its official website Iachini says he doesn’t label himself a Geek.

“But my mum said I should apply. So I asked my friends if I was a little bit of a nerd. I got the same response everywhere – they said, ‘Daniel you sleep on a bunk bed at home, you play video games, World of Warcraft and Starcraft, you do magic tricks and you love talking about science.’”

The prize for the winning pair on the show is $100,000.

Updated: A Seven Spokesperson told TV Tonight, “Not only is Daniel an internationally published molecular biologist, but he also sleeps in a bunk bed, is a classically trained pianist and plays extensive amounts of video games. He’s had one serious girlfriend but admits to having struggles with women. These qualities absolutely meet the show’s ‘geeky’ requirements.”

21 Responses

  1. Jeez people lighten up! This show is hilarious at times! A complete put on but who cares?! Far far more enjoyable than yet another formulaic cop/crime/lawyer/medical melodrama they keep rebadging and churning out! Oh and Jessie, you are the hottest sweetie in the world!

  2. Another ridiculous show that Ch7 has bought from a foreign network and ‘Australian-ised’.
    How about some original home-grown programming that doesn’t involve arcane stereotypes or home renovations???

  3. I agree with TomK. Does anyone really think of the word “integrity” when they think of this show? If you’re beautiful, you are dumb and like to wear bikinis? If you’re a geek, you wear glasses? Yawn.

  4. John, he may have tried to crack-on to one of the girls the previous week, however he completely put his foot in it later on, resulting in said girl being extremely miffed. If he was indeed genuine about wanting to get it on with this girl, then he genuinely has no idea “what women want” – if he did have a past girlfriend, then she must’ve had thick skin… or maybe that’s why she’s a past girlfriend!

  5. As someone who tried out this year, I can tell you that Tim from WA did not look nor act like that at the auditions. He was looked like (and was) a heavy metal fan with long hair and band T-Shirt…which is fairly different to what they have him wearing on TV. He didn’t wear his hair like that. Clearly they ‘geek’ them up but is seems they’re taking it too extremely and making them play caricatures of geek stereotypes rather than themselves. This takes away the legitimacy of the show.

    And surely that cowboy bushranger ‘geek’ is an actor?

  6. It’s not that surprising. I thought it was pretty clear that he’d been given a “geek” make-over to look more geeky and probably told to try to highlight his geekier personality traits. It’s much the same as the “geek” from the first season who had simply been handed a pair of glasses on the first day of filming, but in real life had a child with an ex-girlfriend.

    The remainder of the cast all seem like “natural” geeks with the possible exception of Marlon (sp?). Besides, it’s “reality” TV. Who expects it to reflect actual reality when it is all pre-planned to obtain the most exciting footage possible.

  7. Sadly, of all the shows that Southern Star were casting recently, this is one they chose to go with … ignoring the fact that this season is basically the same as last season and so it is very predictable and incapable of engaging a reasonable size audience. Seen it all before …….
    Give us something new, for pity sake! We all know that these “reality shows” are far from reality!

  8. I watched a bit of this last night. Daniel isn’t even good at pretending he is a geek. By cracking on to one of the beauties so early and knowing the answers to the modelling quiz. It’s a shame the other guy got eliminated because he was good value. And his reaction to his photo showed there was a lot of narcissism there, not very geek-like behaviour.

  9. If we, the public, voted for a winner then thats a different story. In the end we don’t.

    I have always taken this show with a grain of salt. It is obviously scripted and over acted and over played. I just go with the ride.

  10. Can we stop talking about this show like it is anything other than a mysogynistic, blatant exploitation of women? The whole premise is highly offensive and I find it surprising that you David, yourself a member of an often victimised minority, do not take umbrage at this. It is appalling.

  11. I agree with the second last paragraph – it’s “beauty and the geek” not “beauty and the desperate & dateless”, though they do obviously try for the latter.

  12. the integrity of the show? really?
    does anyone out there watch the show for its integrity- last week they had the girls eating witchetty grubs as part of a maths challenge.
    i like the show and find it funny but it is hardly a high end television show. it is there for a laugh who cares how many girlfriends he has had. a geek is a geek. i get what they are sayig about them pretending to be desperate and dateless, but the girls also pretend to be dumb- there is no way a human could function in the world with how stupid these ladies are portrayed, which again is all part of the fun!

    does anyone actually watch a reality show thinking that it is actually reality anymore? surely we have grown to accept the truth by now…

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