On Week 5's episode of the reality TV show Beauty & The Geek, the challenge for the boys is to go to a dog park with a dog and get as many phone numbers from women as they could.
Ethical Dilemma:
You're a man in a reality TV show with a money prize if you beat out the other contestants to be the last one standing. The task is to grab a dog and go to a dog park while trying to procure the phone numbers of as many women as possible. Is it ethical to involve unsuspecting innocents in your game and lie to them in order to get more phone numbers? If you get her number and say you'll call her, is there an ethical obligation to follow up and actually call her? Men apparently do this for free all the time, but does it change the ethics of the situation that this is done as part of a reality TV contest?
Who would do better in a challenge of ethics, a beauty or a geek? It could be a properly obscure area to test them all on!
I wish the TV show itself would directly address some of the ethics, but maybe that's why I've been on Neils's blog, reading comments about some of the stuff that went on. On that episode, Neils presumably didn't get any numbers and spoke of how "dirty" the challenge made him feel. Was it just insecurity and fear of rejection, as he apparently indicated on TV? Or was it about a larger question of principle and ethics, as he implies on his blog?
At this point in this case, I'm leaning toward the former, since this is from a blog of a guy who's constantly bragging about flirting and "vibing" with beautiful women. Does he get the permission of the women he flirts with to publish their encounters on his blog? As well, he gets income from coaching other men on how to flirt with women, so there's definitely a financial interest. Does he tell the women he meets that their encounter will be publicized and used to further his career? Does he get permission to publish what they say in private to him? If it's morally questionable to use a girl and get her phone number to win a challenge unbeknownst to her, surely it's questionable to flirt with girls and publish personal conversations to gain infamy.
Mario on the show seemed to have a good ethical solution to the Phone Number Challenge. He ran around telling people something that was basically true: he was asking for phone numbers to improve his self-esteem and social skills. He didn't seem to represent to anyone that the request was anything other than an exercise, or that he intended to call them.
From what Niels has revealed on the show and his blog, there has been a lot of inconsistency that for his sake, I hope he will address, in response to reader comments. Of course, if the whole thing is indeed meant to drum up business for his work, we'll be less likely to see that kind of personal integrity and this assessment might be right on the money.
So to speak.
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3 comments:
i liked your comments on niels's blog. and now i like your fascination with veggies and science experiments. who are you?
2 other factors should be considered:
1. The show is not only about winning the money, it is also supposed to teach the guys some social skills and help them communicate better with women.
(So it's kind of similar to Niels' seminars where he finds ways to teach men to flirt, isn't it?)
2. The show must have had the permission of the women who were asked or their faces could not have appeared on TV, right? So they must have known it was all for a show.
I liked your comment on his blog a lot and I look forward to reading your blog next :)
I think what makes the BATG show interesting is the possibility of seeing people honestly relating to each other in ways they might not have before.
It's about seeing beyond the superficial. That's why I find it particularly disappointing when the contestants on the show don't treat each other with respect and kindness.
It's just not what what we were promised!
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