Hi everyone, Michael here, and when Jessie and I won Beauty and the Geek Australia in 2010 we looked something like this:

But we’re last year’s news now, there are two new champions in town, and you can find their story here!

The episode began with our remaining four couples discussing just how far they’ve come in their time in the mansion. Firstly we had Sarah telling Lachlan about how he has given her the extra confidence she needs to believe in herself, and that she now wants to study after the show. Jimmy and Mackenzie were getting a bit soppy, with Mackenzie and Jimmy being glad they went through the highs and lows of the show together. Gilbert told Jacelle that his ability to deal with girls has greatly increased, and not just because of Dolly. He also admits that Jacelle has played a big part in it too, and that goes to show that while the romances in the house get the most attention, the friendships made play an equally, if not more, important part in the contestants’ development. Jordan and Julian also had a heartfelt conversation about how well they’ve supported each other in a very moving scene. One thing Julian commented on that I agree on is that the show seems to be good at getting geeks to hug people more.

The theme of this year’s final episode was graduation, and appropriately the first set of challenges was exams in the format of some high school challenges. Firstly the beauties had to build rockets out of a soft drink bottle, a pump, some cardboard fins and some fuel (water). Jordan and Mackenzie excelled while Sarah struggled with both the assembly of the rocket and the speed with which she did it, putting her and Lachlan in last place early on.

The next challenge was home economics, for the geeks. They were made to make a cake that resembled their beauty. Lachlan put Sarah’s distinctive smile (which has really grown on me as the season progressed) on the cake, as well as the pink leopard print she seems so fond of. Julian makes Jordan a “star”. Jimmy struggled with his cake, and while his theory was sound, he didn’t quite pull it off as well as I’m sure he had in mind.

Ch.7 focus group: “They like beauties and they like geeks, and one kid seems to love the Speedo man”

The third challenge brought the weekly piece of near-nudity in Speedo form (although it was at least kind of justified by the challenge) with a synchronised diving challenge. Commonwealth Games silver medallist Ethan Warren was there to help instruct the teams. From what I saw Gilbert and Jacelle appeared to be the most confident. Jordan and Jimmy seemed the most nervous, and Jimmy found himself unable to complete the 7m div (which I’ll admit would seem bloody high). Mackenzie was very supportive of her partner’s decision which to me shows the great improvement in their relationship that they have been talking about. Just from the way it was portrayed, it was clear who the bottom two were. Unfortunately, by a small margin Jimmy and Mackenzie were “expelled”.

With three teams remaining, Bernard announced that the next part of the graduation would be a school formal with a dance off challenge and a few surprises. This to me was a clear parallel to the wedding challenge last year. Julian was pleased to know he could finally bring a date to a formal. Lachlan was pleased he would have a chance to do ridiculous dancing, a passion him and I both share. All three teams seemed to have a lot of fun training which is good to see at this time in the game.

It’s all in the hips!

The girls got highly excited when they were picked up in a pink stretch hummer. I was excited when I saw the awesome disco floor in the dance hall. Bernard announced the first challenge was a kissing booth. Jordan seemed very divided over this challenge, looking forward to getting Julian his first kisses but obviously not liking the idea of a crowd of girls kissing her boyfriend. Jacelle did a great job at promoting Gilbert and his massive muscles. Although he seemed nervous, Julian went ahead with his first kiss and appeared to love it.

Ladies of NSW, he appeared to enjoy it, so you may be able to get one from him in the future ;-)

A cautions Lachlan tried to make sure he took his kisses on the cheek lest he incur the wrath of Jordan yet again. Luckily for the geeks, the crowd was almost completely made of girls, although Sarah tried her best to get Lachlan one, Gilbert drew a short straw and got a man-kiss. While I didn’t experience that on the show, I know what it’s like to get the man when everyone else gets a lady.

I had to rub down his muscles.

Next up was the dance-off. I found them pretty had to pick apart from what I saw. Gilbert and Jacelle were not afraid to throw a few hip-thrusts out there, with Gilbert confirming that sexy has been brought back by them. Lachlan continued his tradition of having Sarah’s name written in his pants by also putting it on his underwear and Julian showed he too has a ferocious competitive streak, shoving Lachlan out of the way to bust out his own moves (I’m sure it was all in good fun, they always seem to get on well).

In our wedding challenge, we had to do a presentation with our partner over a slideshow of photos the producers had chosen for us, in order to further convince the audience we were the closest couple. It was cut from the show due to time constraints but I wonder whether a similar situation occurred in this season as from what we saw I found it very hard to pick a clear favourite. Then again, the audience also struggled, with less than 5 votes separating all three teams. Unfortunately for them, one to four fewer people voted for Jacelle and Gilbert, and they were eliminated from the concert. In a way though, I think the two teams that made it to the final had been dominant the entire season and were definitely worthy of their places.

Despite what would have been an obvious disappointment to them due to coming so close to the end and not making it, I’m sure they would have been very happy with their overall experience. Gilbert managed to participate in every single challenge in the contest except for elimination quizzes, and Jacelle got a second chance in the show to do much more than she ever would have dreamed of at the time she got eliminated with Theo.

Still winners in every meaning of the word (except for the literal one)

The remaining two teams were given a graduation ceremony where they were to speak about their partner and what they meant to each other. These speeches were quite beautiful, and people I know watching it even got a little teary at them. Jordy expressed how strong their bond was and how much they have transformed. Julian told Jordan about his fear of affection before the show but explained how she, a “truly awesome … bright centre of the universe” had turned him into a hug addict. Sarah called Lachlan her best friend and talked about how lucky she was to have him. Lachlan joked (I hope) that he would have to buy a pair of jeggings when he left the house. He encouraged Sarah to believe in herself, which is something a lot of beauties find hard to do as many of them have been told for a long time by many people (indirectly) that they are not smart and aren’t capable of doing many things. This is simply not true and I think this is a big thing that many of the beauties learn while in the house, but is harder to see on TV than the geeks’ makeovers.

The Bendestache! It’s back!

Many of the other past contestants were watching on in the crowd, although on my second inspection I did see that some of the interstate contestants from the further locations from Sydney were not present, which was a little disappointing (everyone getting back together at the end of the series was a highlight for me), although there were two exciting pieces of news:

1. Bendeguz’s moustache, like a mighty phoenix, was starting to rise from the ashes (moust-ashes?)

2. Troy and Mackenzie announced their engagement!

I had heard rumours of this before but I found it hard to believe as I know that filming of a series like Beauty and the Geek only lasts for a few weeks. But I guess love can work in mysterious ways. Congratulations to both of them, and while the show is a life-changing experience for many contestants, it seems that if everything goes as planned it could make an enormous change to the lives of these two beauties.

I would also like to commend Jimmy on his accurate prediction that Kim Kardashian’s wedding was doomed to fail. At the time of filming, that would not have yet happened. Perhaps next year Jimmy should go on that psychic reality show (particularly since I hear he’s actually into comedy and I think psychic phenomena claims are a joke).

After graduation Lachlan and Jordan had a final discussion before they faced off for the $100 000. I was in a similar situation with Tamika, where we had something going on (though with little expectation of continuing anything outside the house, unlike Lachlan and Jordan) but were playing against each other for the money. Even so we both knew we would be happy for each other either way. Jordan and Lachlan’s relationship after a few rocky spots appears to be mended and the news articles say it’s still even going to this day.

As always the final quiz was a test on how much each player had learnt about their partner. It was revealed that when an ambulance passes, Jordan feels the need to hold her belly button until a bird flies past. That has to be one of the weirdest things I’ve ever heard, but I love people’s different quirks so I was highly amused. Julian knew the answer too!

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Lachlan correctly guessed Sarah’s shoes and brand of handbag but Julian mixed up Jordan’s eyes and nose, putting Lachlan and Sarah I the lead at half time. Jordan figured out which magazine Julian had a published article in and his high school nickname. Sarah knew that Lachlan broke his arm playing superman but couldn’t recall the details of his striptease dance. This put the show into a tie-breaker, which to me is fitting seeing that both the teams that have been so strong all season. The beauties both knew their geeks’ ages and how to multiply by 5.

When Bernard said that the final question would be a “closest to” question I was about to become extremely angry until I discovered that the question would be different for each beauty, as they each had to guess their own geek’s height. Both beauties were on the low side, and I suspect this is because they would compare them to their own height, but not take into account the fact that they would very frequently be wearing high heels. Anyway, Sarah was slightly closer and my reign as champion came to an end as Sarah and Lachlan were crowned the new winners!

Lachlan and Sarah, now with 100 000 more reasons to be glad they participated in the show.

Congratulations to both Sarah and Lachlan, their teamwork, effort and attitude helped them work all the way through the show to rise above their competition and take the prize, but them, and all the other contestants have won much more than that. Beauty and the Geek is a unique experience that no contestant who has participated on it will ever forget. Boundaries are explored, new things are tried, friendships (and in some cases romances) are formed and people generally end up much more confident of themselves than when they entered. To me, this show is about proving that you can be more than just a beauty or a geek, and Lachlan and Sarah (as well as the other finalists) are fine examples of this.

Well that concludes my blogging of Beauty and the Geek Australia, Season 3. For those of you who managed to read all the way down to here, I hope you enjoyed what I wrote and I’d love to hear any feedback in the forums. It’s been a long but fun experience trying my hand at blogging. I also hope to any contestants who may be reading this out there that I gave a reasonable interpretation of what was going on. It was all guesswork based on the footage that made it to air and my own experiences so I am sure I made mistakes along the way, but hopefully I helped explain things. I wish all the contestants the best for their experience post show, which can be just as dramatic as the show itself.

Anyway, if you know a person you consider to be ditsy or dorky, a bimbo or a nerd, a beauty or a geek, take a closer look at them. You’ll find out none of us are just a stereotype.

Michael, signing out!

http://mobro.co/michaelgeek