Regular people across the United States signed up for experiences they had no point of reference for. From castaways on Survivor to aspiring supermodels on America's Next Top Model, thousands auditioned to be part of something brand new. And in 2004, thousands of women applied for a Fox show that promised to turn "ugly ducklings" into manufactured beauties.
Now a new Hulu documentary, The Swan: Behind the Mirror, examines what the show did to the women who lived it. Director Erin Lee Carr, who as a teen viewer "felt fairly ugly on the outside," bought the pitch for the show until the cracks started to show. "It [The Swan] became what was supposed to be about female empowerment, then moved into this slow-moving car crash of how much can we do to these women," Carr told Newsweek’s Parting Shot podcast.
"It wasn't about celebrity," she said. "It sort of snuck under the skin of everyday teenagers like me and has never left. And do I know the definitive answer as to why?
It was so wild that it's hard to believe that it happened." The Swan lasted just two seasons, both in 2004, but the women who took part still feel it. Over three months, contestants were cut off from friends and family while undergoing intense cosmetic surgery and fitness regimens. The top transformations advanced to a beauty pageant, where one woman was crowned the Swan.
Carr calls the offer "a literal Willy Wonka golden ticket." "Everything about you that you've ever felt bad about yourself, we're gonna take you away from your circumstances, from your family, from your husband, from anybody who's ever needed you," she said. "It is the first time in your life that we are gonna focus on you." The catch? Most of them had no idea what was waiting at the end.
"The craziest thing that I found out was when they signed people up for [The Swan], they didn't know about the pageant," Carr said. "They didn't know that they were gonna be competing against their own roommate. So, 'Oh, you're gonna transform my life, you're going to give me a Willy Wonka ticket, amazing, great.
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