Is An Elimination Reality Show The Best Format for VH1’s The Pickup Artist?

After reading Kevin Feng’s blog entry about being the second guy eliminated, I began to wonder if the VH1’s The Pickup Artist should be an episodic elimination format.

First, I was shocked he got eliminated so quickly. When I wrote that I thought the others were going to blow past him, I really thought it would take a few episodes—not two.

For those not paying attention, The Pickup Artist is a reality show where contestants are eliminated at the end of every episode based upon (essentially) performance.

So Kevin’g blog said he was nervous, “really really really really nervous.” Why? Because another guy got eliminated.

Problem is that no guy should be nervous about running game. One of the keys to success is indifference. If the guy doesn’t care whether the “set” “hooks” or not, he’ll be halfway to success. If a guy rolls with not giving a shit if he gets blown out, he probably won’t get blown out.

Other the other hand, if a show puts contestants feet to the fire and says, “if you don’t get a number, we’re giving you the ax,” how s insanely stressful is that? Lots of the guys are massively nervous walking up and talking to girls without the cameras rolling.

So what if the Pickup Artist was an 8 episode show without eliminations? What if every episode just ranked the contestants? Make the loser clean the bathroom or do something embarrassing, but don’t deny him the opportunity to learn. I think it would be funny to see the loser of each episode wear a dress for the entire next episode.

Ever since Survivor premiered in 2000, all reality competition shows seem to follow the episodic elimination format. For Survivor, that was all fine and dandy, but for a show that focuses on helping guys, maybe elimination is not the best idea.