Common Sense Media Review
By Kari Croop
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Plus-sized dating competition favors weight, not waifs.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
More to Love
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In MORE TO LOVE, plus-size supermodel Emme plays host as 20 full-figured women compete for the affections of one "husky hunk," a successful real estate investor who's looking for love among a sea of strangers. Dreamed up by the creator of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, the series employs now-familiar elimination techniques designed to whittle the pool down to a manageable number. But in the end, only one woman can keep her "promise ring" -- and win the bachelor's heart.
Is It Any Good?
If you're already a fan of shows like The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, you might want to give More to Love a try. After all, it's basically the same show with curvier contestants. Opulent mansion? Check. Overly dramatic outdoor lighting? Check. Catty women? Check. Prospective dates pulling up in limousines, embarrassing conversations about romance, and awkward PDA? Check, check, and check.
Based on the guilty-pleasure popularity of reality dating shows -- with women especially -- More to Love might find an audience. (And who knows? It might even spawn a spin-off with a plus-sized bachelorette.) But aside from its sometimes-overbearing focus on weight, it doesn't really add anything new to the genre. It means well, but it loses points for things like posting how much participants weigh alongside their name, age, and occupation. After all, if who we are inside is what's truly important, why is that necessary?
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the contestants on this show differ from those you see on other reality competitions and elsewhere on television. Why do most of the women we consider "beautiful" tend to be thinner than the average female?
Is the show sending girls positive messages about body image, or is it sending mixed signals? Do all of the contestants seem truly comfortable with their bodies? Is it possible to be plus-sized and healthy?
Would the show be substantively different if the person looking for love was a plus-sized woman instead of a plus-sized man? Why do you think the producers launched the series around a man instead of a woman?
TV Details
- Premiere date : July 28, 2009
- Cast : Emme
- Network : Fox
- Genre : Reality TV
- TV rating :
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
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