# MTV True Life casting call: I'm a Chubby Chaser



## Gendo Ikari (Mar 19, 2011)

Not sure if this has been brought up, if it has I'm sorry.

Anyways, sometimes I go on MTV.com to watch True Life, I'm admittedly a fan of it, and I was looking at the casting call section for upcoming episodes and I found this gem that's relevant to us:


> TRUE LIFE: I'M A CHUBBY CHASER
> Do you actively pursue plus-size women? Do you prefer your man to be carrying more than a few extra pounds? Do you have a passion for healthy curves? Are you in love with BBW (Big Beautiful Women) or SSBBW (Super-sized big beautiful women)? Is your girlfriend or boyfriend extra large? Do you feel that your friends and family judge you for having a big partner? If you are proud to call yourself a chubby-chaser, MTV wants to hear from you.
> 
> If you appear to be between the ages of 16 and 28, and you love 'em round and delectably plump, write us at [email protected]. Tell us about your passion for the plus-size, and be sure to include your name, location, phone number, and a recent photograph.



So, what do you think?

Any volunteer FAs?


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## The Orange Mage (Mar 19, 2011)

Do Not Want


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## Jon Blaze (Mar 20, 2011)

They're notorious for skewing the stories of a lot of their participants as the actual story may not be filled with enough drama. One of my friends who went on the "I'm happy to be fat" episode said many times that they screwed with the footage they shot, and a lot of things that did or didn't happen were fabricated.

If I knew things about me weren't going to be skewed, and if I had a partner: I'd be willing to do it. But neither are true. I'll probably watch it though just so I can yell at the TV. lol


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## Judge_Dre (Mar 20, 2011)

As a stutterer, I was impressed with their episodeon stuttering. I think this fat admiration episode could be a good thing. Especially in contrast to their previous fat episodes. This could be a chance for fat admiration to be promoted in a positive light if the right people volunteer.


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## Blackjack (Mar 20, 2011)

Judge_Dre said:


> As a stutterer, I was impressed with their episodeon stuttering. I think this fat admiration episode could be a good thing. Especially in contrast to their previous fat episodes. This could be a chance for fat admiration to be promoted in a positive light if the right people volunteer.



Reality TV doesn't paint anyone in a positive light.


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## Caleb (Mar 20, 2011)

Hmm... it will be made for the purposes of entertainment, but who's entertainment? Not sure I could trust a channel that already makes such programmes as 'my super sweet 16' which is just a vile exhibition of wealthy, spoiled brats hungry for celebrity with no discernible talent except looking disappointed their new Porsche is red instead of black.


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## kioewen (Mar 20, 2011)

This can only be unimaginably horrible, and anyone would be a fool to participate.


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## Webmaster (Mar 21, 2011)

MTV is so not with it anymore. Anyone who does the slightest bit of research into the plus-size scene knows that the term "chubby chaser" is used for gay guys who like fat men. It's never been used in any other way.


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## Deven (Mar 21, 2011)

Webmaster said:


> MTV is so not with it anymore. Anyone who does the slightest bit of research into the plus-size scene knows that the term "chubby chaser" is used for gay guys who like fat men. It's never been used in any other way.



I've only heard the terms "bear" and "bear lover" for BHMs within the gay community. And I am buried to my eyeballs in the GLBT community. I'll have to bring this up later to my gayboys, cause now I'm curious. I've seen Chubby Chaser used in reference to men liking women, including in Marvel's X-Men, where Big Bertha asks Deadpool if he's a chubby chaser.


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## LJ Rock (Mar 21, 2011)

Webmaster said:


> MTV is so not with it anymore. Anyone who does the slightest bit of research into the plus-size scene knows that the term "chubby chaser" is used for gay guys who like fat men. It's never been used in any other way.





DevenDoom said:


> I've only heard the terms "bear" and "bear lover" for BHMs within the gay community. And I am buried to my eyeballs in the GLBT community. I'll have to bring this up later to my gayboys, cause now I'm curious. I've seen Chubby Chaser used in reference to men liking women, including in Marvel's X-Men, where Big Bertha asks Deadpool if he's a chubby chaser.



I have seen it used in both contexts, but usually the term "chubby chaser" is applied to male FAs who are openly enamored with plus-size women by people who know nothing about the subset or preference, usually in a mildly patronizing or judgmental tone. 

And I agree, MTV is definitely "not with it" in any sense. Reality TV in general is sub-par dreck, in my opinion, a complete waste of time and contributes absolutely nothing positive to society.


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## Admiral_Snackbar (Mar 21, 2011)

Blackjack said:


> Reality TV doesn't paint anyone in a positive light.



It's not reality if it's scripted or designed to generate artificial drama. That was my issue with the subsequent seasons of the Real World. Let's take a cross section from every subculture and put them together and see what happens. Of course shit is going to happen, whether you manufacture it or not! :doh:


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## Webmaster (Mar 21, 2011)

DevenDoom said:


> I've only heard the terms "bear" and "bear lover" for BHMs within the gay community. And I am buried to my eyeballs in the GLBT community. I'll have to bring this up later to my gayboys, cause now I'm curious. I've seen Chubby Chaser used in reference to men liking women, including in Marvel's X-Men, where Big Bertha asks Deadpool if he's a chubby chaser.



I cannot speak for the gay community, but I know for certain that "chubby chaser" absolutely originated as a term for gay men who liked BHM partners/lovers. It was NEVER used in any other way, except for those outsiders lazy enough not to do any research. I am not fond of the term no matter who it is applied to, and would hate to see some clueless outfit like MTV re-popularize it.


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## disconnectedsmile (Mar 21, 2011)

DevenDoom said:


> I've seen Chubby Chaser used in reference to men liking women, including in Marvel's X-Men, where Big Bertha asks Deadpool if he's a chubby chaser.


i totally remember that


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## Judge_Dre (Mar 21, 2011)

I remember growing up in the 80's hearing the term "chubby chaser" used on straight men. The people who I heard used that term had no association with the gay community. If anything, I think gay men adopted the term after it was used by straights. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the gay FA scene developed later than the straight scene. I hope such a knee-jerk negative reaction to the term doesn't cover for any homophobic feelings some may have about being lumped in with gay FA's.

As for the show, True Life, has anyone seen the stuttering episode I mentioned earlier? I thought it was very well done and as a stutterer it really affected me in a postive way. It seems everyone is confusing True Life with Jersey Shore (a guilty pleasure that a BBW friend of mine has forced me to watch). Call me naive, but I think there is potential for some good to come out of this future episode. Young FA's can see a peer on TV and young BBWs can learn that their are people out there for them. We shouldn't boycott the media because of past failures. Hiding out in in the Internet may be more secure for many of us, but we should applaud those who dare to go on national televison to proudly say they love fat people. 

Afterall, before the Internet and back when talk shows were popular, I grew up watching "chubby chaser" episodes of Ricki Lake, Donahue, and Jenny Jones, etc. and being inspired by the guests. People said the same things about talk shows that they do now with reality shows. Surely not everyone will like what they will see, but let's not discount how many people can be reached through such programming. If I wasn't three years too old for the criterie they are looking for, I would volunteer for such an opportunity.


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## penguin (Mar 21, 2011)

Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I've heard chubby chaser used a lot here by straight men. My ex used it to describe himself, though he's into "plumpers", as he puts, rather than women like me.


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## Webmaster (Mar 21, 2011)

Negative kneejerk reaction? Homophobic feelings?! Hardly. All I am saying is that even when I started Dimensions in 1983, the term "chubby chaser" was already around in the gay scene. I never liked it no matter who uses it, and I would really not like for MTV, or anyone, to resurrect it, and certainly not improperly. And, actually, the gay FA scene has been around at least as long as the straight scene, if not longer.

The talk shows in the 80s did, in fact, properly use the term FA. I know because I was on almost all of them. 



Judge_Dre said:


> I remember growing up in the 80's hearing the term "chubby chaser" used on straight men. The people who I heard used that term had no association with the gay community. If anything, I think gay men adopted the term after it was used by straights. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the gay FA scene developed later than the straight scene. I hope such a knee-jerk negative reaction to the term doesn't cover for any homophobic feelings some may have about being lumped in with gay FA's.


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## Deven (Mar 21, 2011)

I've never actually heard being into heavier women a positive thing, outside of here, and the few FA's I've met outside of here.

One memorable encounter at a bar, some guy and I were having a good conversation, and his drunk friend wrapped his arm around him and said, "Are you going hoggin?" The guy that was talking to me looked at me apologetically, but our conversation was effectively killed.

So, I actually feel "Chubby chaser" is kinder than some of the other terms I've heard...


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## ThatFatGirl (Mar 21, 2011)

Jon Blaze said:


> They're notorious for skewing the stories of a lot of their participants as the actual story may not be filled with enough drama. One of my friends who went on the "I'm happy to be fat" episode said many times that they screwed with the footage they shot, and a lot of things that did or didn't happen were fabricated.
> 
> If I knew things about me weren't going to be skewed, and if I had a partner: I'd be willing to do it. But neither are true. I'll probably watch it though just so I can yell at the TV. lol




Are we thinking about the same show? Was there a "TL: I'm Happy Being Fat" as well as a "TL: I'm Obese" perhaps? The one that featured the really big gay guy I thought was handled pretty well.. each segment of that show seemed pretty realistic to my eyes, but if you know someone in it who says otherwise, I guess they would know. 

ETA: I looked at the list of episodes and those were two different shows. Can you say who was in the show that didn't agree with what MTV aired?

The thing with _True Life_ over the usual reality show offerings is it is more documentary than anything else. I watched a behind the scenes of True Life show once and was impressed with how much the producers tried to stay out of what was happening and just let the cameras roll. Of course they edit and choose what they air, but it wasn't scripted or staged like some other shows.


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## ThatFatGirl (Mar 21, 2011)

I thought the term was used for gay or straight and originated in the 1950's or something? I remember being aware of the term since I was a kid and in my very sheltered life knew nothing about gay culture until the mid-80's trash talk show era. It's definitely more a gay term now though as far as I know.


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## ThatFatGirl (Mar 21, 2011)

Judge_Dre said:


> I remember growing up in the 80's hearing the term "chubby chaser" used on straight men. The people who I heard used that term had no association with the gay community. If anything, I think gay men adopted the term after it was used by straights. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the gay FA scene developed later than the straight scene. I hope such a knee-jerk negative reaction to the term doesn't cover for any homophobic feelings some may have about being lumped in with gay FA's.
> 
> As for the show, True Life, has anyone seen the stuttering episode I mentioned earlier? I thought it was very well done and as a stutterer it really affected me in a postive way. It seems everyone is confusing True Life with Jersey Shore (a guilty pleasure that a BBW friend of mine has forced me to watch). Call me naive, but I think there is potential for some good to come out of this future episode. Young FA's can see a peer on TV and young BBWs can learn that their are people out there for them. We shouldn't boycott the media because of past failures. Hiding out in in the Internet may be more secure for many of us, but we should applaud those who dare to go on national televison to proudly say they love fat people.
> 
> Afterall, before the Internet and back when talk shows were popular, I grew up watching "chubby chaser" episodes of Ricki Lake, Donahue, and Jenny Jones, etc. and being inspired by the guests. People said the same things about talk shows that they do now with reality shows. Surely not everyone will like what they will see, but let's not discount how many people can be reached through such programming. If I wasn't three years too old for the criterie they are looking for, I would volunteer for such an opportunity.




I saw the stuttering episode of TL and agree it was a good one. I've enjoyed a lot of them now that I think about it (and browsed mtv.com for a reminder of their topics). It looks like full episodes are on their site: 
http://www.mtv.com/shows/truelife/episodes.jhtml


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## Wild Zero (Mar 21, 2011)

Yeah _True Life_ tends to be pretty even-handed in how it presents its subjects and is far more hard newsy than the rest of MTV's reality line-up. I haven't seen every episode but the ones I've seen (aside from the one on Crystal Meth, which you can't really present an "upside" to) were non-judgmental and just slice of life type shows.


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## J34 (Mar 23, 2011)

I can't believe they still call it MTV, I vaguely remember the last time I heard or saw any music on that channel


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## Admiral_Snackbar (Mar 23, 2011)

J34 said:


> I can't believe they still call it MTV, I vaguely remember the last time I heard or saw any music on that channel



Museum for
Total
Vapidity


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## CastingPearls (Mar 23, 2011)

The film The Ritz was released in '76 and there was more than one reference to chubby chasers in the dialogue. I believe the term was originally used within the gay community first.


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## UmbroUmbro (Mar 26, 2011)

Wheres my music? Oh wait....its MTV...


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## FA Punk (Mar 26, 2011)

Haha, oh yeah I could so trust a network like MTV....NOT!!!!!!!!!!


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## Mishty (Mar 27, 2011)

Oh god damn, I can only imagine what this is going to become in the hands of _Teen Mom_ producers, and _Jersey Shore_ creators. 

I'll watch it though, just like I watch Snooki. 

can't believe I admitted that.


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## liz (di-va) (Mar 27, 2011)

Webmaster said:


> Negative kneejerk reaction? Homophobic feelings?! Hardly. All I am saying is that even when I started Dimensions in 1983, the term "chubby chaser" was already around in the gay scene. I never liked it no matter who uses it, and I would really not like for MTV, or anyone, to resurrect it, and certainly not improperly. And, actually, the gay FA scene has been around at least as long as the straight scene, if not longer.
> 
> The talk shows in the 80s did, in fact, properly use the term FA. I know because I was on almost all of them.



Chubby chaser is used more broadly now; they're not 'resurrecting' it--it's just used differently.


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## bigmac (Mar 28, 2011)

CastingPearls said:


> The film The Ritz was released in '76 and there was more than one reference to chubby chasers in the dialogue. I believe the term was originally used within the gay community first.



All my gay friends know and use the term. However, many of my straight friends also use the term chubby chasers when talking about straight people who like fat partners.

Interestingly I've never heard the term FA used outside the SA/BBW community.


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## verucassault (Mar 28, 2011)

in jersey chubby chaser meant dudes that dig fat chicks. also in rochester new york where i went to univers. this was between the years of 1996-2001. just another reference point.
my boyfriend was coined a chubby chaser by his friends because he dated me. i dont have a penis...and didnt have one when i dated him


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## LoveBHMS (Mar 28, 2011)

penguin said:


> Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I've heard chubby chaser used a lot here by straight men. My ex used it to describe himself, though he's into "plumpers", as he puts, rather than women like me.



I distinctly recall it being used on the sitcom "Cheers" which was around late 80's/early 90's. A recurring character named Paul was fat, and on one episode he appears at the bar with a conventionally attractive woman. The barflies are astounded to see such pretty woman with the nerdish, awkward Paul and they ask him about her. He tells his friends that the woman is a "chubby chaser" and as such attracted to his weight.


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## Judge_Dre (Mar 29, 2011)

I see a lot of people are still skeptical of the show and it seems most have never watched it. It is far removed from Jersey shore and Teen Mom. It's more like an actual documentary series. Here's a full episode called "I'm Happy That I'm Fat." You can judge for yourself how fat postive it is.


http://www.mtv.com/videos/true-life-im-happy-to-be-fat/1579759/playlist.jhtml


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## Jon Blaze (Mar 29, 2011)

That was the one I referred to. It isn't as positive as it seems. Lots of things are inaccurate/skewed, but only from the perspective of my friend who was on it. 

I felt it was better than most, but still not quite there.

Roxie is a friend of mine. Unfortunately we aren't close now (Just haven't spoken in awhile, but not for any specific reason), but we were when the episode aired. This is a personal message sent to me on myspace. This is just scratching the surface of what was wrong. Many blogs in the fatosphere (Including mine when I was in it) 

"Hey sure, Well, the whole beginning about me being uncomfortable with men because of "lingering feelings of insecurity" about my body. That's not true at all, I told them I am awkward around men because my first boyfriend beat me. I have trust issues. The footage of me crying at the cast bonding session is because we were watching Schindler's List, not because Patrick didn't sit with me lol. Then, the footage of me crying after I asked Patrick out was actually from me crying over the stress of having to reshoot that awkward seen. I just felt like they portrayed all of us to be really lonely. Like they pointed out the positive but then had to go back and say yea, but none of them can find a date, what losers you know? I was also disappointed that they didn't use any of the footage of me pointing out all the real facts about "weight related illness". You can totally be fat and healthy. I just think it's sad that I was part of a show that reinforced false stereotypes.

Thanks so much for listening to my side.

Roxie"

And:

"While I do exercise very regularly doing yoga, swimming, and dancing, we didn't shoot any footage of it because we were so busy with the activist work. Things that they didn't show included an excellent size acceptance debate, me searching desperately for an academic adviser, hours of club meetings, and goodness knows what else.

*Thank you very much for the compliment. FYI the footage of me asking out Patrick is re-enacted, I totally asked him off camera and he said no.*"

Not exactly perfect.


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## joswitch (Mar 29, 2011)

I so do not look under 28! Probably just as well!


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## joswitch (Mar 29, 2011)

Mishty said:


> Oh god damn, I can only imagine what this is going to become in the hands of _Teen Mom_ producers, and _Jersey Shore_ creators.
> 
> I'll watch it though, just like I watch Snooki.
> 
> can't believe I admitted that.



Fo' shame! Gimme 20 pushups, now!


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## joswitch (Mar 29, 2011)

verucassault said:


> in jersey chubby chaser meant dudes that dig fat chicks. also in rochester new york where i went to univers. this was between the years of 1996-2001. just another reference point.
> my boyfriend was coined a chubby chaser by his friends because he dated me. i dont have a penis...and didnt have one when i dated him



Maximum cool points for nonchalance!


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## BigBeautifulMe (Mar 29, 2011)

Wow, that was an interesting episode. Interesting just how much I could identify with all three of them.


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## BigBeautifulMe (Mar 29, 2011)

Judge_Dre said:


> As for the show, True Life, has anyone seen the stuttering episode I mentioned earlier? I thought it was very well done and as a stutterer it really affected me in a postive way.



I'm a stutterer, too -- lifelong. The show was validating, if painful for me to watch... I guess because of the serious amount of empathy and understanding you naturally have when you've gone through it yourself. Tim's situation just killed me. I've been there. There were some blocks I just couldn't watch.


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## FA Punk (Mar 29, 2011)

Jon Blaze said:


> That was the one I referred to. It isn't as positive as it seems. Lots of things are inaccurate/skewed, but only from the perspective of my friend who was on it.
> 
> I felt it was better than most, but still not quite there.
> 
> ...



Thanks Jon. This is the issue I would have aswell, the fact they would edit everything I would say or do. I have a problem with rambling and putting my foot in mouth so I couldn't imagine what ''gold'' mtv would get from me saying something off the cuff. And why the hell did they make them watch Schindler's List of all things?


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## verucassault (Apr 3, 2011)

joswitch said:


> Maximum cool points for nonchalance!



if got excited everytime i had to confirm what was in my pants....
oh nevermind


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## Weirdo890 (Apr 4, 2011)

Not interested. I'm not touching this show with a 39 1/2 foot pole.


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## thatgirl08 (Apr 5, 2011)

People in my everyday life use chubby chaser to refer to a man attracted to big women. I literally never heard it used for the gay community until I came here. My close friend, who is gay, recently used the word 'bear' and I was surprised to even hear him say it because I hadn't heard it used anywhere but here. I don't know what the original connotations of everything was but chubby chaser has never been associated with the LGBTQ community for me, nor has it really taken on a negative connotation as others have said. Maybe it's generational?


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## Alzison (Apr 6, 2011)

Does anyone else feel uncomfortable about the fact that this topic need exist, along with others like "Happy Being Fat" etc etc? To me it further stigmatizes the FA population and pulls the concept away from "acceptable" or "normal"... no matter what light it is painted in. Just a thought...


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## thatgirl08 (Apr 6, 2011)

I think it has the potential to be a good thing because a lot of people don't know this community exists at all.. before we can normalize it we have to somehow let people know it exists, if that makes sense. However, every single TV show EVER has ruined it so I don't trust it.


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## Jon Blaze (Apr 8, 2011)

thatgirl08 said:


> I think it has the potential to be a good thing because a lot of people don't know this community exists at all.. before we can normalize it we have to somehow let people know it exists, if that makes sense. However, every single TV show EVER has ruined it so I don't trust it.



Plus Juan.


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## mickyj (Apr 19, 2011)

Surely we've all wizened up to this sort of stuff, haven't we?
They'll choose the weirdest FA they can find and then edit the footage out to make all FAs look like complete and utter freaks and weirdos.
Anyone who puts themselves forward for this should know what they're getting into and will only have themselves to blame for the outcome.


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## BlueBurning (Apr 19, 2011)

mickyj said:


> Surely we've all wizened up to this sort of stuff, haven't we?
> They'll choose the weirdest FA they can find and then edit the footage out to make all FAs look like complete and utter freaks and weirdos.
> Anyone who puts themselves forward for this should know what they're getting into and will only have themselves to blame for the outcome.



The actual series True Life has done a decent job in past episodes of presenting a relatively fair view on different issues including issues around body image.


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