Extreme Makeover

Over the weekend I watched the TV show "Extreme Makeover," which I personally find incredibly boring and repetitive, but to some it's fairly polarizing and promotes self-improvement. This show, hosted originally by ABC, involves individuals who volunteer to receive a full body makeover. This includes major plastic surgery, workouts sessions, new hair and make-up, as well as a whole new wardrobe. Basically if chosen for this show, you come out a completely different person. People love this type of television because they see it as motivating and inspiring, and often overlook the negative and superficial values that it reinforces. At the end of the show their "new self" is presented to their spouses, families, and friends and the joy of the participants seems quite apparent. But what goes on off air is all of the negative side effects there so called makeovers have on not only the candidate, but their family and friends as well. I did some research after watching this show and a research group following similar television programs show that complete makeovers such as this result in 1 in 2 casual dating relationships end as well as 1 in 4 married couples get a divorce, because of jealousy issues of not feeling like an adequate spouse to their newly transformed partner. Not only do shows like this have negative effects on the candidate's family, but it can also affect anyone who takes part in watching these shows. This show may boost someone's self-esteem but it is a disgrace to the Kingdom of God by portraying that the appearance of the average American is not good enough, as well as it has devastating results for the families involved. If maybe shows like this started to show the after effects to such extreme transformations then maybe the amount of Americans getting plastic surgery would decrease.