# New reality TV show - Men unknowingly date drag queen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295 "2004-05-03T16:42:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/1 "2004-05-03T16:42:21Z")
Hi, This Monday night on Australia’s channel Ten, I saw an ad about a “woman” in a bikini (who I think was called Miriam) and I think she was sitting in front of a black background. I think the ad said that the others (men?) date her and don’t know that “she” is really a “he”. I thought they said it would be on Tuesday but I can’t see it in the TV guide. I searched all over the internet but I can’t find anything… does anyone know what that show is called? (I don’t want to miss it) Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/2 "2004-05-03T16:49:39Z")
Nevermind… I found out that it is called “There’s Something About Miriam”. It took me a while to find that out since I’d just been looking through all the US reality tv shows and this one is a UK one. [http://www.realitytvlinks.com/ukmiriam.html](http://www.realitytvlinks.com/ukmiriam.html) At least in the past there have been problems with it going to air: [http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve\_main/1,1002,271|84453|1|,00.html](http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271%7C84453%7C1%7C,00.html) > [@](#): > > …A British broadcaster has shelved a dating show after several of its contestants threatened to sue over the program’s surprise twist. And it was one helluva twist. > Six men took part in Sky TV’s “There’s Something About Miriam,” thinking they were wooing a beautiful young woman on the island of Ibiza. The “something,” however, turned out to be that Miriam is a pre-operative, male-to-female transsexual. > > According to reports in the British press, the six men want an injunction to keep the show from airing… ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/3 "2004-05-03T16:52:00Z")
If you’d like to move this to the Pit, I can think of a few words I’d like to say about everyone connected with this piece of excrement, including its camera-whore “heroine.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/4 "2004-05-03T16:58:02Z")
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/news/entertainment/040219\_miriam.shtml](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/news/entertainment/040219_miriam.shtml) It looks like it was shown in the UK after all, and I guess it will be coming to Australia soon too sometime… 🆒 The official site: [http://www.skyone.co.uk/programmes/mainprogram.asp?id=21&title=miriam](http://www.skyone.co.uk/programmes/mainprogram.asp?id=21&title=miriam) ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/5 "2004-05-03T17:14:05Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > If you’d like to move this to the Pit, I can think of a few words I’d like to say about everyone connected with this piece of excrement, including its camera-whore “heroine.” By your measure, how is this manipulative mind-fuck different than “Joe Millionaire” or “My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance”? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/6 "2004-05-03T18:01:21Z")
“So, did you get to third base? And when you did, was there a man on third?” ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/7 "2004-05-03T18:14:00Z")
I have to say that I’m very relieved…that FOX isn’t responsable for this. I really was starting to think that FOX was the tool of the anti-christ to destroy everything I like about society. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/8 "2004-05-03T18:21:14Z")
> [@Hey you!](#): > > By your measure, how is this manipulative mind-fuck different than “Joe > Millionaire” or “My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance”? It’s not. I thought they were shit, too. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/9 "2004-05-03T18:31:12Z")
I know there’s been at least one thread on this show before but I’ve run a couple of searches and I can’t find it. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/10 "2004-05-03T18:36:42Z")
I tried to log onto the show’s web site but my computer crashed. It’s nice to know my computer is looking out for me. I’m getting it some Puter Treats tonight. As for the show itself: “Ha Ha! We _tricked_ you into dating a _transsexual!_ That makes you a _faggot_, you know—he’s just a _man_ in a _dress!_ Everyone knows transsexuals are just pathetic, laughable freaks who have no business dating _real_ people! They should get back to the sideshow where they belong!” If I want that shit, I’ll go have dinner with **Joe Cool** and **Jersey Diamond** , I don’t need to see it on my teevee. Oh, and Miriam? I hope you make enough money from this show to afford surgery. And that you never come out from under the anesthesia. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/11 "2004-05-03T19:16:37Z")
There was something about this or a show similar to this, **Otto**. It was in the Pit. As I recall, there was a law suit by the suiters trying to prevent the airing of the show. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/12 "2004-05-03T19:18:44Z")
I think the show is focused around the guy that wins. I believe it’s called “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/13 "2004-05-03T19:23:56Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I think the show is focused around the guy that wins. > I believe it’s called “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”. And why, exactly, was Alexander’s day “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad?” Explain, please. Oh, and it’s “gigolo,” not “gigilo.” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/14 "2004-05-03T19:42:12Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > And why, exactly, was Alexander’s day “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad?” Explain, please. I think I can explain. A person’s sexual and gender identity is often very, very tied up in who they are, is often central to their identity as a person. Often this means that it’s central to a person’s identity that they’re sexually attracted to a specific gender and/or orientation, **as they define gender and/or orientation**. Finding out that this isn’t true–that you were tricked into courting behavior toward a person of a gender you don’t consider yourself attracted toward–can therefore be a serious blow to a person’s self-identity, and can be very painful. Furthermore, courting behavior makes you vulnerable. Finding out that someone was stringing you along with a lie in order to humiliate you on national TV in the middle of your courting behavior can pretty much ruin your day. 'Course, that’s just SOP on reality shows. It’s not that transsexuals are freaks who shouldn’t be dating normal people; it’s that nobody should intentionally inflict such a blow to someone’s core identity, no matter what the sap’s preference is. That said, I confess gaining a bit of delight from doing just this in my younger days. I’ll never forget my curvy, leather-jacket-wearing friend who, when guys would holler at her from passing pickups, would shout back in her best _basso profundo_, “BITE MY DICK!” Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/15 "2004-05-03T19:57:40Z")
> [@Darkhold](#): > > I have to say that I’m very relieved…that FOX isn’t responsable for this. I really was starting to think that FOX was the tool of the anti-christ to destroy everything I like about society. The show is produced by the Sky network. The Sky network is owned by an Australian corporation named NewsCorp. One of the arrows in the NewsCorp quill is…Fox. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/16 "2004-05-03T20:48:55Z")
It was shown in the UK, a month or two ago - rumour has it that the participants got five- or six-figure sums to soothe their hurt pride. Sky One , the channel it was shown on, is the cable entertainment channel owned by Uncle Rupert, so you can indeed thank the evil hand of News Corporation/Fox. Miriam did look like a very, very beautiful woman (from the trailers; you couldn’t pay me to watch the reality TV tripe that Sky One broadcasts). ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/17 "2004-05-03T21:19:35Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > I think I can explain. A person’s sexual and gender identity is often very, very tied up in who they are, is often central to their identity as a person. Often this means that it’s central to a person’s identity that they’re sexually attracted to a specific gender and/or orientation, **as they define gender and/or orientation**. > > Finding out that this isn’t true–that you were tricked into courting behavior toward a person of a gender you don’t consider yourself attracted toward–can therefore be a serious blow to a person’s self-identity, and can be very painful. But see, Miriam is of the correct gender for these guys. Miriam identifies as a straight female, therefore she only wants to date straight males and only straight males would be attracted to her. Futhermore, the winner keeps refering to Miriam as “she” and “her” even after learning that she was born a man, somethign that shows that even the men who were tricked identify her as a woman. From the articles I’ve read where they interview the men who were in the contest, most of them say that they are angry because they feel they were lied to. I think they purposefully picked very homophobic/anti-transsexual men for this show. In my own experience, I know many guys that can pass for girls. One of these, my ex-boyfriend, is transgendered but not transsexual. Many straight men hit on him thinking that is a girl and are shocked when they know the truth. However, most of them either laugh it off or **still hit on him.** Then again, maybe we have just been blessed in the type of people we’ve encountered. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/18 "2004-05-03T21:39:11Z")
> [@Crusoe](#): > > Miriam did look like a very, very beautiful woman (from the trailers; you couldn’t pay me to watch the reality TV tripe that Sky One broadcasts). That’s because Miriam IS a beautiful _woman_. Just because she was born with the wrong plumbing, it doesn’t make her a man, or a drag queen as mentioned in the title. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/19 "2004-05-04T01:57:09Z")
I really, really hate the entire “guess what, she’s really a MAN” trick. I hated it as far back as Bugs Bunny vamping Elmer Fudd, I despised The Crying Game, and this latest instance scrapes the bottom of the barrel. Here’s a scenerio for you: A lesbian woman goes to a lesbian bar, hooks up with a gorgeous sexy woman, and takes her back to her apartment. When they get there and get to the steamy part, she finds out her date is really **a straight man in drag** , hoping that he could seduce her if he just got her aroused enough. Anyone think this would be the least bit risque or clever? No, most people would think she had the right to castrate him then and there. But when it’s a GAY MAN in drag, THEN it becomes a lesson in tolerance and gender roles. :rolleyes: Give me a break. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295/20 "2004-05-04T01:59:44Z")
. . . And Miriam is not even a “gay man in drag.” She’s a straight, male-to-female transsexual. _And_ a shameless camera-whore, as well as an embarrasment to transsexuals everywhere. . . . Well, maybe not to that transsexual who climbed a tree in Central Park, had nekkid sex and demanded Vanilla Pepsi . . . [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-reality-tv-show-men-unknowingly-date-drag-queen/243295.md?page=2)