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Rejected for the Undateables again!?!

Mr Allen

Mr Allen

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
Southern bias my arse.

This is like the THIRD time I've been rejected in the last 2 years.
 
NothingToSeeHere said:
Undateables probably gets hundreds if not thousands of applications. You will just be one of many who has been repeatedly rejected.
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Not to mention just how capricious- and secretive such a selection process may entail. Probably more typical than not in most television game/reality shows on both sides of the pond.
 
Undateables? What's that?

Maybe there are other options.

I just left my ex at the end of April so I am currently NOT looking.

I dread the online dating sites as much as I dread having to find someone f2f. I may try a small meet up group if I can find one related to one of my passions.

Meh.

If Undateables is some kind of television program, it may be just as well not to. TV show these days in front of an audience tend to showcase pain and the audiences can be mean.

Disappointing for you and here I am not able to offer other ideas.

My apologies for that.
 
The Undateables is a well meaning but voyeuristic TV program which follows the dating progress of various disabled people who are matched up by dating agencies specifically aimed towards that market. Some of them are Autistic, some have physical disabilities, Downs or Intellectual Disabilities. I have watched it but I have issues with the way they portray disabled people and to some degree the people they choose. The overall message is positive but they tend to pick on people who are conventionally attractive or "cute" in some fashion.

In addition, there are rarely liaisons between disabled people and non-disabled and/or neurotypical people.
The typical candidate is visibly or audibly disabled, is non-confrontational and is willing (or their guardians are) to have large portions of their lives exposed in a semi-scripted fashion for the world to see. It's kind of like a "Real Wives of..." wherever for disability.

You're well out of it Rich. You don't want to be exposed that way. All the comments you make that start "contrary to popular opinion..." are testament to that. How would you like MILLIONS of people having those opinions?
 
That sounds terribly offensive, something I'd hope would only exist in fiction.
 
NothingToSeeHere said:
Undateables probably gets hundreds if not thousands of applications. You will just be one of many who has been repeatedly rejected.
Click to expand...

I think they probably value some people's disabilities higher than others. My Tourette's group on Facebook get all sorts of people from TV companies wanting some of us to feature in one programme or another. :unamused:

Sometimes, Rich, programmes like this are nothing more than disability porn. Undateables feels like that to me. They're probably doing you a favour overall by 'rejecting' you. I know you'd like the idea of being on television but they can make you a target.

But I'm not going to tell you what you can and cannot do. So if I was you I'd make my own YouTube videos. Sooner or later you're going to attract the eyes of people from television companies. Quite a few people I know in the Tourette's community that have been on TV have had YouTube channels before. Although I don't know if the two are necessarily linked to getting onto TV. But think of it as like a CV for these sort of applications. ...Just be careful of what you put out there.
 
You should be grateful you weren’t selected. Given how angrily you respond to anything remotely resembling mild criticism on these forums, I think the last thing you’d want to do is expose yourself to the masses. You’ll be a target for exploitation, mocking, and criticism all over the UK if not the world. I honestly don’t see how you’d be able to cope with that.
 
Here's a trailer for one of the early shows. The reason I post it in particular is because of Richard who you can see speaking at around 13 seconds in wearing a brown check shirt. Richard is Aspie, not a bad looking fellow but he has a very distinctive high pitched voice. The voice is why he was chosen - it's unusual and "cute". Unfortunately, ever since some schoolkids (even ones who have never seen the programme) now take the mickey out of him and other autistic people by adopting a similar high pitched voice. He has become a figure of fun to some. It's horrendous, but it's an example of how "disability porn" can backfire.
The video should play in the US - it did through my VPN anyway :)


You can find the clip where Richard is first introduced into the show also but I haven't linked it because there's a bit of swearing in it. It's worth watching if you don't mind the language (it's only one word). They focus on how Richard has purchased a title - a lordship - because he thought it would attract girls. It's done in a way that seems sympathetic on the surface, but the undertone is one of ridicule.
 
Why does this program even exist? I've never heard of it before and the example posted above just horrifies me. In one sense - sure, it presents the disabled to the public so as to raise awareness, acceptance and understanding. But on the other hand, it looks to be scripted in a way there is a very strong undercurrent of mockery, so I agree with @Autistamatic. It's like an updated version of a Victorian Freak Show. I think it's the format I have an objection to, because I've seen shows with and about people with disabilities that are much more sympathetic and present them as part of society rather than apart.
 
Funnily enough "Circus freak show" is exactly the phrase Mrs Autistamatic just used when we watched a couple of clips.
It's an unfortunate aspect of modern society and can have damaging effects. In a similar vein programmes that voyeurise benefits cheats or border patrols contribute to the impression that all people on benefits are scroungers (which the OP has frequently pointed out is not true in his case) or that the country is being overrun by illegal immigrants when there is no truth in either case. Benefits fraud in the UK is extremely low and illegal immigration has been falling for years.
 
For anyone in the UK who may care to view The Undateables, the latest series starts at 9 PM on Channel 4 tonight.

I don't know if it's available in the USA or Canada

I'm recording the show because at 9 PM tonight I'll be in the Pub for the quiz.
 
Autistamatic said:
I'm puzzled? What would the "good reason" be?
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Because I know from personal experience that some Americans don't like people who are, I shudder to use the word "differently abled".

When I was first diagnosed and it was announced to the world that I'm on the spectrum (not by me, some idiot hacked my Blog), I cant repeat some of the stuff I was called.
 
Mr Allen said:
Because I know from personal experience that some Americans don't like people who are, I shudder to use the word "differently abled".
Click to expand...

While we don't have a show like "The Undateables", we do have "Push Girls", which has been on the air since 2012. A reality tv show about four very real women in wheelchairs.

Clearly their demographic has differing opinions from yours.

Bigotry has no flags. It can be found anywhere.

Push Girls - Wikipedia
 
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