For those of you who haven’t seen the television reality show Beauty and the Geek, a synopsis: Pretty girls are matched up with classic geeky men as a “social experiment” of sorts – the girls try to teach the geeks basic social skills, while the geeks try to teach the girls basic skills in quantum mechanics, rocket science and relativity theory. (Or at least, how to change a tire.) The show always stresses that it’s not a dating show, but usually a geek or two gets a makeover and hooks up with one of the girls anyway. It’s a symbiotic relationship that’s fascinating to watch, provided that you love the CW (check) and reality television (check.)
But one geek that definitely will NOT be hooking up with the girls is Greg: a 23 year old “Sole Proprietor/Clothing Designer/Pastry Chef” and self-proclaimed Gaysian. Because he’s gay AND Asian! Aaah, good times.
I’ll be honest: I’m totally on the fence on this one, even as a fellow Gaysian. While I’m all for more of us on TV, look at him – he’s got the hipster glasses, the Panic and the Disco! haircut, the fabulous gray shirt / argyle sweater combo. If he was spotted in the Mission district in San Francisco, people wouldn’t think “geek” so much as they’d think “on his way to buy a soy latte at Ritual Roasters.” Also, since when has a clothing designer become a geeky job? Are the girls going to teach him how to dress? He designs clothes. Add to that that the Beauties now compete against the geeks. Shark jumping, anyone?
The show did introduce the world to Rubik’s Cube world championship solver Tyson Mao, however, so I’m still keeping the faith. And who am I kidding? If Greg sticks around for the makeover episode, I’ll be keeping notes; I do have the same glasses and haircut as the guy.
