Caroline’s taking Flack over her new TV show
LoveIsland has been a high, but is Caroline Flack’s new show set to be an all-time low in reality TV?
Caroline Flack must thrive off controversy. She hosts LoveIsland for a start, the reality show where the prerequisite seems to be a model body and cosmetic surgery.
Now, the 39-year-old will front Channel 4 reality show The Surjury which, though not on screens until next year, is already proving controversial.
A remake of the American show of the same name, contestants will pitch to a 12-strong jury, hoping to win the plastic surgery of their dreams – from ‘ bum lifts to nose jobs, sculpted abs to breast enlargement’.
Channel 4 has promised it won’t glamourise the procedures. Yet if people signing up already have body hang-ups, surely broadcasting them to an audience of millions (all ready to hit social media) is, at best, questionable and, at worst, dangerous?
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons said, ‘The concept of this programme goes against all the safety standards that the BAAPS, as a professional body dedicated to patient safety, strives to maintain. We strongly oppose its release.’
It added, ‘Any decision to have aesthetic surgery should be made entirely by the individual. For this decision to be placed in the hands of a television jury is extremely reckless.
‘Aesthetic plastic surgery offers a multitude of psychological and physical benefits. However, trivialising this decision for shock value entertainment sends a dangerous and misleading message.’
But production company Gobstopper Television calls it a ‘totally new way of doing peerto-peer advice. Our pitchers will either get the surgery they’ve always wanted, or a massive boost in confidence when the public rules they don’t need work at all!’
Not everyone is convinced, however. When Caroline announced her new gig on Instagram, some fans were shocked. ‘I just can’t get behind any show that treats plastic surgery like some prize to be won,’ one wrote. Another: ‘Give the contestants some therapy instead!’
Defending it, Caroline wrote, ‘My feeling… is that it opens up conversations on why some people turn to surgery to help them lead the life that they believe will make them happier.’
Actress Jameela Jamil referenced Netflix’s dark sci-fi hit series as she slammed The Surjury on Twitter, writing: ‘ Welp. Black Mirror is officially happening guys. It’s here.’ Caroline retorted, ‘Have you managed to see a copy before me? Please forward... am desperate to see.’
Cosmetic surgeon Dr Esho, star of E4’s Body Fixers, confessed he’d been approached, but turned producers down, saying, ‘Any procedure has big risks and I can’t think of any doctor who would take part…’ and Loose Women’s Saira Khan wrote in her newspaper column that in this already ‘image-obsessed’ world, Caroline’s show is one ‘we could do without’.
Like it or loathe it – when this divisive show airs, it will be on everyone’s lips.