Beauty and the Geek (American TV series)


Beauty and the Geek is an American reality television series that premiered on The WB on June 1, 2005. It has been advertised as "The Ultimate Social Experiment" and is produced by Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg and J. D. Roth. The show's title is a parody of Beauty and the Beast. This was the first show produced by the Fox Television Studios sub-division Fox 21.
The show follows groups of "Beauties" and "Geeks" 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)" by the Pet Shop Boys, 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" by American Hi-Fi.
Following the second season, the American version moved to The CW, the new network formed when both The WB and UPN 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 5

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

Contestants who appeared on other competition shows