Money, husbands, record deals or a free stay at a celebrity sober living house.
Just when you thought there couldn’t be a more shocking trade-off for national exposure on a reality show, E! brings you “Bridalplasty.”
The new series, set to make its debut November 28 at 9 p.m., will feature 12 brides-to-be competing for a different plastic surgery each week as they prepare to walk down the aisle.
Despite “Bridalplasty’s” unsettling tagline — “the only show where the winner gets cut” — the reality competition follows a surprisingly standard format: Each week, the contestants will participate in a wedding- or relationship-themed challenge, such as picking the perfect dress, according to Jason Sarlanis, vice president of original programming and series development for E!
So what’s the grand prize? The last bride standing will receive her dream wedding, paid for by the show, and the remaining procedures on a “wish list,” which she drafts at the beginning of the season with the help of Dr. Terry Dubrow, who appeared on Fox’s “The Swan” in 2004. The procedures will range from veneers and Botox to breast augmentations and tummy tucks.
And like many reality competition shows, a winner is granted immunity each week and thus is exempt from competing the following episode. But, on “Bridalplasty,” immunity is also a form of “medical leave.”
“[Contestants] will wait until they’re ready to return — doctor’s orders,” Sarlanis said. “They won’t participate in any part of the episode that could mess with recuperation.”
But recovery time is not the only concern for Dr. John Diaz, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California, who is not affiliated with the show. Diaz says, “By competing in a show like this, patients might feel pressured to undergo surgeries they wouldn’t have under normal circumstances.”
That pressure, he says, can stem from contestants’ peers on the show, as well as the fact that the surgeries are free.
