What Women Want

Nah. I'm not here to tell you what I think women want in a guy. It's the latest reality show I'm hooked on. What's particularly admirable about this reality show is that it's an original Malaysian effort, instead of being just a rip-off, like Malaysian Idol and One In A Million.

Plus it's good. (hey, I'm a girl too)

It starts off with 13 male contenders who have to do different tasks each week to prove that they really are what women want. What I like about it is that it's not some gooey show where the guys flex their biceps and cast macho shadows everywhere. It really tests the men's ability to create a positive first impression, intellectualism, interpersonal skills, durability and strength, sensitivity, and romanticism.

Episodes:

1. Audition + Filming of Hannah Tan's video
2. Rewards: Military-Style Challenge; Elimination: Paintball
3. Rewards: IQ Test; Elimination: Advertising
4. Rewards: Rock-climbing; Elimination: City Race
5. Rewards: Jewellery Search; Elimination: Salsa
6. Rewards: Salesman; Elimination: Culinary
7. Rewards: Kayak; Elimination: Jungle Endurance
8. Rewards: Foot Reflexology; Elimination: Serenade
9. Rewards: Test-Driving; Elimination: Boxing
10. Rewards: Fashion; Elimination: Photography
11. Not telling! Watch yourself! (Plus I also want to watch first =P)

I admit that I've only watched 2 episodes of the whole show =P The first was Episode 8 when there were only 6 contenders left. The second, Episode 9, when there were 4. Four because both Nicholl and Talha were eliminated from the previous episode.

Contenders:

Mohd Hafiz bin Adnan
Charmer But Slight Gayishness & Bad English
Junior hairstylist, Kedah

Charles Brunold (looks like Mark ^_^")
Competent, With Killer Eyes *swoon* But Too Much Of A Go-Getter
Expatriate businessman, France


Hisham Hamzah (Sham)
Soothing Voice & Admirable Comradeship But Horrible Serenading Skills
Radio announcer for local station Mix FM

Christian Neal Capes
Fantastic English + Perseverance But Questionable Character
English language and literature lecturer (now voted Most Eligible Bachelor)

Nicholl Eruthiaraj
Awesome Musician But Zero Originality
Food sciences student and Malaysian Idol alumnus, Penang

Talha Jamshaid
Great Cook But Mouth Has One Foot In It
Pakistani traveller born in Argentina

And the rest I tak tau but I copy-paste from Wikipedia anyway.

• Andrew Ting Lin — an advertising company employee from the United States
• Adzrool Idzwan Ismail (Tom) — a university student in communication course
• Ram Gopal Raj
• Aloysius Wee (Alloy) — an events manager
• Carliff Ridzwan bin Carleel — a business degree holder
• Adrian Jalaluddin — a historical studies degree holder
• Jasvinder Singh Gill — a university student (voted off cuz exam clashed with the challenge. kesian.)
  

Here's the way it works.

They have to face different types of tasks per week. The 1st one I watched was when they had to serenade a woman and create a good first impression in 5 minutes. If Aishah didn't like the serenading, the guy would be drenched wet with a bucketful of water. If she liked it, she'd throw a rose to him.



The 2nd one was when they had to drive a Lotus Elise (is that a good car? =.=) like a total pro around a course charted for them, and have a boxing match against each other. Fun to know Christian was a manual-noob (like me) and learned the Way of The Manual in just 2 hours and didn't wreak the car. All he squashed was the cone he was supposed to stop in front of.



The great thing about this show is not so much the guys' looks (although it plays a part... Charles is like *whoa*), but the fact that the real person within each of the men is captured and recorded. It's really nice to see them goofing about like some of the typical goofballs we have as friends =D And it's also really nice to see them not talking about sexual aspects of women when they're excited about the competition or when they're told they get a date with a girl. All Charles said when he won the boxing challenge and got a coffee date with a hot biker woman was:

"I like bikes. I like girls. So... *grins sheepishly* I like coffee!"

Cute. Guys are likable when they're being cute. *hint*

And I sincerely think male viewers can get something out of this show too. For example, I really admired Hafiz's sensitivity and his firm principles. He was so reluctant to beat up his roommate and contender - Chris - and Charles, although he so obviously could, because he didn't believe in fighting a friend. He compared it to beating up his own mum and dad, and in the end he was voted off by the other contenders and sent to the jury as a result of his "failure to rein in his emotions".

(Chris was sent to the jury automatically because he lost the boxing challenge)

I was telling Shaun that I would vote for Hafiz to stay because his spirit was really admirable. Hannah Tan, the hostess, herself reminded the contenders week after week that this competition was about what women want, and they should vote accordingly, not politically. I believe that by holding on to his principles, Hafiz already had one foot in women's hearts.

But the jury might have thought otherwise.

Whatever doubts they had about Hafiz, however, was washed away when Chris did that amazingly stupid (pardon the word) and childish thing of trying to make Hafiz look bad by accusing him of playing politics in the competition.

By the way, some people say Hafiz is gay.

Dots.

Well, if that's true...

Too bad la.

But he's still a nice guy, and I believe nice guys deserve a place in this world too. (gotta work on that gay thing though)

Charles is a true businessman (and the most mature of the lot, methinks). Read what he says:

“What Women Want is the fastest way to gain exposure. I am doing this to promote my business and my modelling career.”

Anyway, I agree with most bloggers when they say the guys are not that hot, but I'm not into this show for the hotness. I just really love seeing guys be nice people on TV, instead of being presented as sexually hungry creatures (although most of them probably are =.=)

Here's the clip of they did in Episode 1 (I think the last part is horrendous, though). The guys are all presented according to their professions. Easy to see why they put Charles last *swoons again* (modelling career sure jadi d la)