Do you remember that Fox show The Swan which aired in 2004 and was like Extreme Makeover: pageant edition? They would take a bunch of supposedly unattractive women and give them multiple plastic surgery procedures and makeovers and then have them compete in a beauty contest at the end of the season. Most of those women weren’t bad looking and would have looked much better with just simple hair, makeup and wardrobe changes, but at the end of each episode they looked like freaky plastic clones. The show was widely criticized for being exploitive and promoting plastic surgery.

Now comes news of a show that takes the best in dream wedding competitions and combines it with plastic surgery. E! is developing a show called Bridalplasty in which brides-to-be compete to earn a plastic surgery procedure each week and ultimately a dream wedding. At least they don’t give competitors total body surgery all at once, but it still sounds terrible. Shanna Moakler, who claimed in her resignation statement from the Miss California pageant that she wanted “to be a role model for young women with high hopes of pageantry” will host the show. The big climax will focus on the groom’s shocked reaction as he sees his would-be bride with chipmunk cheeks and fish lips right before he pledges to spend the rest of his life with her.

In one of the most shocking reality TV ideas yet, E! has ordered a new series that crosses a wedding competition with extreme plastic surgery.

The network is set to announce “Bridalplasty,” where brides-to-be compete in wedding-themed challenges to win extensive surgical procedures.

Each week, a group of women competes head-to-head in such challenges as writing wedding vows and planning honeymoons. The winner receives the chance to choose a plastic surgery procedure from her “wish list.” She’s given the procedure immediately, and results are shown at the start of the following week’s episode.

One by one, the women are voted out by their competitors and, according to the show’s description, “possibly walking away with nothing and losing [their] chance to be the perfect bride.”

The last bride standing will receive a “dream wedding,” where she will reveal her new appearance to friends, family and the groom. “Viewers will witness his emotional and possibly shocked reaction as they stand at the altar and he lifts her veil to see her for the first time following her extreme plastic surgery,” E! said.

Celebrity surgeon Terry Dubrow (Fox’s infamous “The Swan”) will lend his expertise to the procedures, and celebrity bride Shanna Moakler (ex-wife of Blink-182’s Travis Barker) will host.

Giuliana Rancic executive produces the show, as do Mark Cronin and Cris Abrego of 51 Minds, the company behind VH1’s “The Surreal Life” and “Rock of Love” franchises.

[From The Hollywood Reporter via Popeater]

Extreme Makeover wasn’t a competition like The Swan was, and that’s probably why is lasted for five years instead of just one. It was still unsettling to see all these superficial changes made to one person who usually had much deeper problems that were barely even mentioned. Now we’ll see Bridezillas fighting for plastic surgery and a dream wedding on E!, the channel that cursed us with the Kardashians. I hope that people are over these type of shows. You can’t combine that many lowbrow reality show concepts in one and expect it to fly. This is like the television equivalent of chicken fried bacon.