Have you ever heard of The Swan? Well, it was a short-lived reality TV show that aired on FOX back in 2004.
According to Wikipedia, the premise of the show was pretty intense, to say the least: "Each episode of the series followed two self-proclaimed 'ugly ducklings' who, over the course of a three-month period, experienced an extreme makeover from a team that included a personal trainer, therapist, dentist, and cosmetic surgeons."
"Whichever woman was deemed more attractive at the end of the three months would move forward to compete in a beauty pageant held at the end of the season."
Pretty intense, right? Well, per Page Six, one woman has detailed her pretty harrowing experience of the reality show. In the words of Kerrie Bravada, a contestant on the show, The Swan pretty much said "You're ugly and we're going to make you pretty, but then we're going to make you compete until you're still good enough."
Bravada has claimed that she never actually woke up from the anesthesia following her surgeries. She says that her lungs had filled with fluid and she ended up needing to be placed on oxygen.
She said that while her surgeries were televised, when things went wrong, the camera crews weren't allowed into the room. "I was never told details of what happened," she recalled. "It's scary that I'll probably never know."
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A New Documentary is Set to Expose the Reality Show
The Swan: Behind the Mirror is an upcoming documentary which is set to expose what had happened. Erin Lee Carr, the director behind the documentary, says that "I think it was one of the most sadistic reality shows of all time."
"They were given therapists, too, ostensibly to work on their self-esteem and inner beauty," she added.
Another former contestant, Kristi Garza, said that she didn't even know what exact surgeries she had had. "I know that they tweaked my eyes," she remembers - "I know I had a little bit of fat transfer here and there, but I couldn't even tell you the exact surgeries I had."
She added that at the time, she was "scared to death". "I think that that was the general consensus of all of us," she added.
