Brits and reality shows: Twice as screwy

I'll admit this right now: I'm not a big fan of reality TV. I don't think I've watched more than a few minutes of Survivor (I think I watched the finale of the first season, when Richard Hatch won), American Idol, or The Apprentice. Not that I'm being snobbish -- I could probably win a trivia contest about the first half-dozen seasons of The Real World -- but for the most part, I just don't find the premise of most reality programming to be that interesting.

Maybe I'm living in the wrong country. When I was in London over the last couple of weeks, I saw ads for some pretty f---ed up reality shows that were going to be aired not only on the UK's newer independent channels, but also on the old mainstay, the BBC.

One of the shows I saw advertised was Gender Swap, which will air on Channel Five later in the month. In this show, two celebrities submit to makeup-induced sex changes and attend a speed dating event. The picture above shows the results when presenter Carol Smillie (left) became a "man" for an evening (right). Of course, a male presenter also became a woman for the same event. From what I've been reading, Channel Five will be doing other Swaps, like age swaps (which the BBC has already done), and class swaps. All of this is making ABC's Wife Swap look like child's play.

Considering most of the reality shows that are shown here originated in the UK, I'm sure it won't be too long before this show hits American shores. Can we stand to see Kathy Griffin as a man? Omarosa as a white woman? Martha Stewart as a bag lady? The possibilities are endless.