In The Surjury – already branded ‘tawdry and exploitative’ – people desperate for cosmetic surgery beg 12 strangers to give them the go-ahead. Haven’t we moved on from this?
It’s never particularly good when a television series is forced to defend its own existence before it has even aired, but that’s the situation The Surjury finds itself in. The series has already been at the centre of a Commons culture select committee meeting about reality TV, with one MP calling it “tawdry, voyeuristic, titillating and essentially exploitative”. Its host Caroline Flack is already on the back foot on
Instagram, after her announcement post drew questions over whether or not it constitutes a ‘freak show’. Channel 4 is making it very clear, as often as possible, that all participants will be psychologically assessed before they appear.
Of course, there’s a reason for all this controversy, and that’s because The Surjury sounds absolutely awful. It’s going to be a series about cosmetic surgery, where people who want free cosmetic surgery have to appear on television and essentially beg for a procedure. Whether they get it or not depends on the aforementioned surjury; 12 strangers who hold the final decision. If 75% of them agree with the contestant, it is performed. If they don’t, the contestant has to head home more miserable than ever.