Ever heard of a little show on Oxygen called "Mo'Nique's F.A.T. Chance"? Apparently it's been on once per year for three years now, but I only just heard of it. It's basically a fat girl beauty pageant, which is cool in and of itself. Recently I watched a rerun of the 2006 version, and also this year's, which took place in Paris, France. I thought I'd love it, but didn't.
What I did like was the lead-up to the pageant. On the 2006 show, Mo'Nique took the pageant contestants horse back riding. One of the women was freaked out, presumably because it was her first time on a horse and because she felt like she'd break its back under her weight. Mo'Nique soothed the woman in part by saying, "It's okay, baby. I'm trying to change the way fat girls live." Meaning, presumably, that fat women generally do not horse back ride or even entertain the notion of horse back riding. Hell, I rode horses as a kid but as a fat adult, I'd certainly have some hesitations and breaking the horse's back would be one of them.
On the 2007 show, Mo'Nique had her contestants - and herself - painted in full body makeup and then pose nude (except for a thong) for pictures. It was a cool idea, and fun to see Mo'Nique in full glory as well. I liked that fat bodies were shown on TV, and NOT because they were getting weighed in for a weight loss reality show or some shit like that. I also liked that the contestant who won the competition was the one most eager to participate in the nude exercise.
In terms of the actual pageant I liked the 2007 version better, in which the contestants wore high fashion clothing and paraded down a runway, similar to a fashion show. The fashions were - gasp! - similar to what thin women wear, and I appreciated that. The judges all sat down together afterwards and chatted to decide a winner.
In 2006, it was literally like a beauty pageant, in which there were different categories that contestants were judged on, including the heinous question and answer portion. I thought the clothes the contestants wore were pretty icksville for the most part. They vacillated from the typical big flowy loose shirt over tight-ish jeans to so skin-tight that you could see everyone's lumps and bumps. Now, fat women have lumps and bumps and hiding them should not be a necessity but did they have to go all the way to the other end of the spectrum, to evening dresses that were practically painted on?
Like I said, I didn't love it... but only because I was so excited when I first heard of the show and the reality of it knocked the wind out of my sails. If any of you have seen it, I'd love to know what you thought.
ps. I just read a little feature about Mo'Nique in People (the one with Katie Holmes on the cover), and it was pretty good! She's such an interesting person. Mo'Nique, I dig you!
