I’ve been following the show True Beauty, hosted by Vanessa Minnillo with Carson Kressley and Beth Ostrosky.

We are at episode 6 with only four contestants remaining. It is getting more and more difficult to decide who doesn’t exude inner beauty.

Today it dawned on me that this show runs on the concept that if the end justifies the means then it is okay to unleash unethical means.

By “unethical” I mean putting the contestants through a series of “character tests” without them knowing, and to carry out those tests, the “spies” (as Minnillo calls them) lie.

The recent “lie”? The florist, a spy, tells contestants that one of the couples getting married is a friend and she will ask that friend to vote for the contestant.

The “character test” for the week was whether the contestants would console a plus-sized bride who was being ridiculed by her mother for her weight.

The show has the “mother” really beating down the real plus-sized girl on her weight and for not fitting into her gown.

While the “bride” is paid by the producers of the show, it doesn’t make it okay to ridicule her.

I mean, she may be all, “that’s ok, it’s only for the show”, I am certain that it does happen (however small, infrequently and non-bridal related) in the real life of this plus-sized girl. Not fun subjecting her to such emotional hurt.

No amount of money justifies that, and the show probably made her sign some steel-clad waiver releasing them from any damages.

So really, does the means justify the end? So what if a good looking person with an alright heart wins a spread in People’s magazine? The hurt the show causes to its “spies” as well as the contestants who are booted off in shame surely does not justify the win.

Aside, I’ve found it irritating to watch Minnillo and felt like she is trying too hard, and almost imitating Tyra Banks in America’s Next Top Model. I just learned that Banks is the creator of this show!