Adriana Carpio

The Reality Show that Ended it All

It was over the moment he commented on the new T.V. reality show. At that moment their five year marriage collapsed to an end. It’s hard to justify how a five year relationship can come to an end over a T.V reality show but that’s exactly what happened. It wasn’t that Gloria was a jealous person. It didn’t bother her when Tom had said the woman in T.V was “hot”. She wasn’t drop dead gorgeous but she had never had complaints about her physical appearance and she knew better than to base her worth on her looks. She possessed all the good traits of youth at her prime 25. It had never bothered her when Tom commented on the ‘hot’ girl in T.V. Gloria could see and agree to Tom’s judgment most of the time. “Yeah she’s beautiful” she would say. This time was different because Tom’s comment would lift a curtain from Gloria’s eyes, letting her see ‘reality’.

The reality show that broke them up was not original. It had the same idea of other shows; take something ugly and make beautiful. What was so new about it was that unlike Pimp Up My Ride, it was not a beat up car, it was not a dingy house, it was women. Gloria could almost hear the slogan “Pimp up my gal”. It was a show about women with low self-esteems who were depressed because they didn’t fit the norm of ‘beautiful’. In the show they were cut-up, stretched out, silicone got inserted, fat got removed, tummies were tucked, noses were broken and reshaped, lips where plumped, hair was electrocuted out of its follicle and ugly teeth were covered with veneers. All this in prime time T.V.

Gloria sat there next to Tom (it was their quality time). Judging from Gloria’s contorted face anyone could have guessed she was watching a horror movie. The woman on T.V was being taken to an operating table. She was anesthetized and soon she became a piece of clay under the surgeon’s gloved hands. His bloody gloved hands cut and molded her body with shiny dangerous looking tools.—.If they got rid of the fluorescent lighting and put in dim lights it would look like a scene out of Frankenstein—Gloria thought—they’re inserting the heart now. What’s this? Another heart? No, wait it looks like clear jell-o. Oh, it’s her new breast.—Gloria couldn’t help a little smile. Her smile faded and her face soon returned to the contorted face of disgust. Her stomach churned when she saw yellow chunks mixed with blood being vacuumed out of the woman’s abdomen. The surgeon’s hands pressed here and there as if to squeeze it all out.

Oblivious to the pained expression in Gloria’s face Tom sat there enjoying the show. –Oh, God that poor ugly girl really needs a nose job (and I thought I needed one). How in the world are they going to fix her stomach!!! Eww, look at that thing it looks like the Blob except with stretch marks. What pregnancy does! Thank God I’m not a chick. These surgeons better be miracle workers. This was the side of Tom that remained exactly where it was right now; in his head. Gloria was too naïve to catch on to his comments that revealed this side of him. “Baby, you really should start exercising. I want you to be healthy.”, or “I’m worried about you. You should really get some sleep; those bags under your eyes don’t flatter you.” To Gloria this was all part of his caring nature all she heard was “I want you to be healthy” and “I’m worried about you” after all that’s all she needed to hear. Tom had been good to her, he truly did love her. He always told her “I’m so lucky to have you because you’re so special.” Tom loved her because she was beautiful and smart and damaged.

Gloria could put up with a lot because in a way she had been desensitized. She had married Tom at twenty because it was her way of conforming. Tom knew this but he didn’t care as long as he had her. She didn’t believe in love so she married the closest thing to it, friendship. Her parents had been divorced as far as her memory went. Her parents marriage had been a ‘mistake’, in a way it was arranged, more like forced, it had never involved love. Growing up in Los Angeles the capital of pre-nuptial agreements, divorce, and short-term commitment it was hard to believe in love. It was especially hard for Gloria who had never seen or grown up with a good example of a functional loving marriage. She cared about Tom and saying yes to a “will you marry me?” question seemed like the natural thing to do when he had asked at a family party in front of expectant people was to. Tom liked that Gloria didn’t expect much her negative experience had brought her to him. She had learn that all guys are naturally inclined to cheat, her great grandfather had cheated, her grandfather had cheated, her father had cheated, her neighbor had cheated, her uncle had cheated, and once she took biology she learned it was natural so she forgave him when he cheated. Tom loved her logic and believed that her disillusionment lowered her expectations.

As the show progressed their worlds couldn’t be farther from each other. They both stared at the screen dumbfounded. Gloria was still lost in her thoughts: --Why would they subject themselves to pain voluntarily? I couldn’t even donate blood because I’m afraid of needles. If this were a game of Snakes and Ladders feminist would land on a snake with this show and take several paces back Oh God! They are hammering her nose! – Coming out the operations the women looked like they had been in a major car wreck. –Now that looks like it hurts. I don’t care how much anesthetic they used on them the bruises and swelling tell a whole different story--. Gloria couldn’t believe that this woman was putting herself through such torture in the name of vanity. –All they forgot was to break and bind their feet to be able to squeeze them in doll-sized shoes--.

Many worlds away Tom was lost in his own thoughts. He was hypnotized by the results. It was like magic before his eyes. –Oh, Wow! Look at her face that nose job really made a difference. There’re no more wrinkles and her extra chin is gone. She’s actually pretty... Maybe I should get that nose job after all. OH MY GOD, look at her in that bikini! She is drop dead gorgeous; she looks like a bikini model. How in the world did they fix her stomach? It’s so flat and smooth, Oh and those tits! I can’t believe the saggy pouches became big luscious firm breast. I can’t believe she’s a mother of two. Those plastic surgeons really are ‘artists’, they performed a miracle on her. When the show ended, Tom and Gloria were both blown away by the show. Unfortunately no in the same way. Like any couple who has spent too much time together they began uttering the same words at the same time:

“Wasn’t that such a…” they both stop.

“You go first.” Tom offered.

“No, no, you go first. I’m really interested in what you thought.”

“It was such a GREAT show. I couldn’t believe it was the same person at the end. She was so hot.”

“I know, she was a total different person, it was extreme…” She stopped dead in her tracks. All of a sudden a word he had used to refer to the show struck her like cold ice in her back.

“Wait, did you just say it was great?”

“Yeah, a real Cinderella story. I mean did you see her nose at the beginning, and her stomach. I never knew that girl’s stomachs looked like that after pregnancy. It was so gross but did you see how perfect it looked at the end?..” Gloria could feel the trembling of the trench cracking between them. “Well, you saw it. The miracle they performed on that girl!” The trench opened wider and deeper. Tom continued, “I’m even inspired to fix the bump in my nose…” Gloria could see his lips moving at a distance but she could no longer hear what he was saying she was focused on the trench getting deeper. “…and her breasts, did you see how they looked? She looked like a bikini…” Gloria was in a rocket blasting off from Tom’s world. From the window she could see him getting smaller with the distance until he was an indistinguishable speck. Tom stopped raving about the surgeon’s miracle. He was aware that Gloria hadn’t said anything but he caught the smell in the atmosphere. The air around them reeked of ending.

Her realization had come to sudden to make anything out of it. She had chosen Tom because even though they were different: his heart was in the right place. She has settled all these years with the idea of being married because she thought Tom genuinely loved her. –We’ve been married five years, what is he going to think of me when I get pregnant? Is he going to expect me to get a tummy tuck?--. She pictured herself in that operating table and shuttered.--Is he going to stop loving me when I’m no longer attractive --. Her thoughts were interrupted by Tom. “It was only a show why are you getting all worked up about it?

“Because you thought it was great,”

“You can’t tell me she didn’t look great. Come on you’ve never been jealous”

“No, wait you are not getting. I always thought there was one world in which we all lived. A world all humanity shared. Watching your reaction towards that show I see I was wrong.” Tom looked at her perplexed like a puppy who is being scolded at but doesn’t quite know chewing the furniture was a bad thing. She continued, “You’ve made me realize that there is no world that we share, every individual lives in their own world. Your world and mine are too far away from each other and I can’t recognize you from the distance you’ve made me aware of today.” Tom made one last attempt. “Our worlds aren’t that different. We can agree that that girl looked great at the end and that she really needed that so she would stop being depressed.” If she had any feelings and respect left for him, those last words he uttered killed it like an angry shoe crushing a bug. Gloria stood there looking indifferent she didn’t need to say anything, the stench in the air got to heavy for both of them.

Thinking about it Gloria knows it sounds silly.—We got divorced over a T.V reality show. Five years all evaporated into thin air in that moment. Now you see it, now you don’t--. Everyone was socked to hear about their separation and much more how it had come. To Gloria that show was a turning point in her relationship with Tom. Her divorce had set her free to roam her own world, which thanks to Tom, she was now aware of. At the end Gloria laughed at the idea --That reality show was a real reality check, ha ha--.