The Swan: Inside Reality TV's Most Brutal Makeover Show (with Director Erin Lee Carr)

*SUBSCRIBE to the Back Row newsletter for more coverage like this: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe. Go Premium and save three months on an annual subscription.* Referenced in this episode: Facelift confessions, part 1: https://www.backrow.net/p/facelift-confessions-part-1-the-brutal-realities-of-getting-work-done Facelift confessions, part 2: https://www.backrow.net/p/facelift-confessions-part-2-expect-an-emotional-tollIn 2004, Fox turned plastic surgery into primetime entertainment. The Swan reality show gave contestants about $200,000 worth of surgery each, put them on crash diets, banned mirrors for three months, and then put them in a beauty pageant. Nine million people watched. Erin Lee Carr, director of 'Mommy Dead and Dearest' and 'Britney vs Spears,' goes back to the women 20 years later in her hit Hulu documentary, The Swan: Behind the Mirror — and tells Amy what the documentary couldn't.CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 04:45 Getting the Swans to talk again 10:00 "I almost died for reality television" 19:30 How much choice did they have? "1%" 22:45 Starvation diets and spoonfuls of peanut butter 26:00 The nude photos Dr. Haworth kept 28:50 The $5 million contract 36:50 "Would you do it again?" 40:00 A classic Anna Wintour story Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.