Casting call for reality TV surgery

Auditions take place in Hollywood on Wednesday for people who want to take part in America's latest reality TV show - and win plastic surgery.

According to the producers of Extreme Makeover, the programme will "make dreams come true for three special people".

The ABC network is looking for Americans, two women and one man, who are prepared to go under the knife of a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon in an effort to change their appearance.

It will also involve sessions with a "dream team of hair, make-up and wardrobe people and personal trainers".

The surgery will come first.

Nip and tuck

"I consider that 'sundae'," says producer, Dawn Stroupe. "Then the sprinkles on the sundae are the hair and the makeup - what I call an Oprah make-over."

Participants must be US citizens, at least 21 years old and in good physical condition.

Additional casting call sessions are being held around the country and the special one-hour show will be broadcast in November.

People hoping to take part, with every nip and tuck caught on camera, have to supply two recent photos - one full body and one close-up - and a two-minute videotape explaining why they want to be a candidate for The Extreme Makeover.

There is no shortage of people who want to give it a go.

"My nose, it's crooked," says Diane Campbell with a laugh. "I would love to have it made a little bit smaller or something changed to make my nose look smaller, possibly my eyes lifted."

Another Los Angeles hopeful, Olivia Newton Perkins, acknowledges her need for a full body makeover.

"I have moles that are coming and I need a facial peel and I need tucking here and tucking there," she says.

Family

Some potential candidates say they are motivated by reasons other than pure vanity. Natasha Washington was injured in a fire and wants some marks removed from her face.

"I would like these scars to be taken away," she says.

Extreme Makeover is just one of many new reality shows in the pipeline.

The ABC network is also searching for an American family to star in My Life is a Sitcom. Producers are sifting through audition tapes to find what they consider to be the nation's funniest family.

They will star as themselves in a television sitcom based on their real life. The series will start next January.

Comment

The US has struck gold with some recent reality TV ideas such as MTV's The Osbournes, which has made international stars of rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his family.

Other celebrities such as Liza Minnelli and Anna Nicole-Smith are tapping in on the trend with their own reality shows.

But other shows have been considered to be in poorer taste. A 2001 show based around a small-town murder mystery, Murder in Small Town X, provoked comment that murder should not be seen as entertainment.

And a German reality TV show the same year which followed the exploits of a group of overweight people was dropped because of poor ratings.