I need a new reality show. I’ve grown tired of Tyra’s sobbing farewells, wearied of waiting for Heidi’s return to the runway, and frankly, I’m feeling a little bloated after the latest season of Top Chef. Yes, I need a new reality show—not just another reality show,—a new one, and I just wish I could jerry-rig my neighbor’s satellite dish to beam BBC3 onto my TV. See, BBC3 has a new reality show starting this month called Britain’s Missing Top Model, and I’m already a fan.
The name suggests that this show will be a glamorous murder mystery, but it’s not—though I would have happily tuned in to see a few gorgeous supermodels fall off the runway-radar/face of the earth. In fact, it’s a reality show that documents and provides a welcome insight into the lives of eight disabled models.
It’s got the same set up as America’s Next Top Model (and Britain’s Next Top Model), where the aspiring models compete to win a modeling contract and a photo shoot in a top glam rag—in this case with British Marie Claire. But these models don’t just hope to make it big; they hope to challenge and confront deeply-ingrained perceptions of beauty.
The contestants include Debbie Van der Putten, who lost her right arm in a bus accident (but posed for Playboy last year); Kellie Moody, who is deaf and can hear nothing without hearing aids; and Jessica Kellgren-Hayes who requires a wheelchair to travel long distances. Jessica has a condition known as hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies, which can cause her to become paralyzed at any time. (She spent nine months of last year in a wheelchair after a night out dancing left her leg paralyzed.) Check out the models in the BBC3 preview:
It’s not the first time the fashion industry has tried to push the boundaries of how we see “beautiful”—photographer Nick Night and designer Alexander McQueen collaborated with double-amputee paralympian and model Aimee Mullins (among others) for their 1998 shoot, Fashion-Able. And America’s Next Top Model (ANTP) included Amanda (who is legally blind) in season three, and Heather (who has Asperger’s Syndrome) in season nine, though it often felt their disabilities were glossed over—not confronted.
