9 Jaw-Dropping Details About Extreme Makeover Show ‘The Swan’ From ‘Dark Side of Reality TV’

Makeover shows reached a new level of controversy in 2004, when The Swan debuted on Fox. The show was an answer to ABC’s Extreme Makeover and took the concept of a beauty overhaul to the true maximum, pitting a group of women who were called “ugly ducklings” against each other to see who could transform the most through unlimited plastic surgeries and a very rough course of physical fitness training. The inaugural episode of Vice TV’s Dark Side of Reality TV offers some disturbing details about this twisted bit of TV history.

Here are the most shocking details this new docuseries reveals about The Swan.

1. The women weren’t told in advance that it would be a competition  

Appearing in the docuseries are several contestants from the first season of The Swan: Cindy Ingle, Tawnya Cook, and Belinda Bessant. Each of them had different reasons for wanting to join the show, but the one thing they all had in common was that they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into… because they weren’t told. They were all surprised to find out after they were cast on the show and whisked away to a phone- and mirror-free hotel life for three months that they’d be competing to make it to the finale, a pageant. 

At least one producer, Michael Addis, still thinks it was the only way they could’ve done the show, saying in his interview segment, “It’s TV, man. I dont think it would’ve given you a satisfying conclusion to have women feeling better about themselves and not turn it into a contest.”

2. Their “ugly duckling” photos were staged to be as “ugly” as possible

The contestants revealed that they were given supportless bras and oversized underwear to enhance the appearance that the contestants were all unattractive. Bessant even reported having to get a pair of glasses to wear because she normally wore contacts, but her glasses were supposedly less flattering.

3. One doctor had a massive outburst over a patient simply having questions

There were two plastic surgeons who participated in the show: Drs. Terry Dubrow, who’d later become known for his work on Botched, and Randal Haworth. In the docuseries, the latter is accused by Cook of throwing a conniption when she approached him with questions about her recommended procedures: She said he threw her legal pad with questions on it down and shouted, “Then have Dubrow do your surgeries!” instead of answering them.

4. Show creator filled in as “life coach” when hiree dropped out of show

The show was created by Nely Galan, who took a second role in the show unexpectedly.  According to the former contestants, they were promised a “life coach” as part of the makeover package, which is what enticed Cook, who was going through divorce and the death of her brother, to join the show in the first place. However, the person hired walked away from the show, so Galan herself served as the lifestyle coach, reportedly focusing most of her counseling on encouraging further surgeries.

5. Some of the women had to pay for their own surgical repairs after the show 

Ingle reported having to have one of her breast implants replaced by Dr. Haworth when it popped and leaked — and she had to foot the $10,000 bill for it, too. Plus, Bessant said she had upwards of $10,000 worth of dental upkeep work following the transformation.

6. Even one of the producers felt what they were doing was wrong

Addis might’ve been okay with turning the makeovers into a competition, but he said even he felt “queasy” when he saw how much pain the women were in after their extensive producers: “There’s a circle of hell that we’re going to be in because of what we’re doing on this show,” he thought. “Is this a Frankenstein experiment we’re doing on this show?”

7. The doctors performed months’ worth of surgery in two weeks 

According to Dubrow, who appears in the docuseries despite not wanting to upset Galan or Fox, he and Haworth did a year’s worth of surgeries in the space of two weeks … and that wasn’t even as intense as it could’ve been. He explained that the producers asked him to do each participant’s surgeries all at once, which they refused. In the end, he estimated they did around 200 surgeries in all but believed they were safe. (Their personal trainer, Greg Commeaux, wasn’t so convinced; he reported worrying constantly that he was pushing them too hard, too soon after their surgeries and feared one would die of a clot while in his care.)

Fox/Courtesy: Everett Collection

8. Dubrow admits he’d do things differently now if the show came back

As gruesome as the surgeries were, and as barbaric as the competition element may seem, Dr. Dubrow still thinks The Swan would draw in 150,000 applicants if it were taking place today. One thing that would be different, however, is how extensive his surgical approach might be. He said that now since he’s had the experience of fixing so many failed surgeries on Botched, he’d be more conservative with his scalpel nowadays.

9. At least one of the contestants would do it all again, despite her complaints

Cook felt that she was eliminated early from the series for refusing to get the type of rhinoplasty that was recommended to her — citing the fact that her daughters and dad all had the same “bump.” Still, though, she said that if she had to do it all over again, she still would.