So You Think You Can Dance & The FAT Guy

Oh NOES! FAT PEOPLE!

…is basically the attitude, right? Scary to even think of a fat person on a dance show. And this guy actually lifted his shirt to show his big fat belly during his dance, so of course that clip made the “coming up” segment before every commercial. Let’s laugh at the fat person!

But I happen to love So You Think You Can Dance so I decided to set aside my strong misgivings about the way fat people are treated and watch the season premiere last night. Overall, it wasn’t a great premiere; a lot more focus on gawking at the losers than at showcasing dance, but let’s get back to Fat Guy.

First, we are gawking at a fat guy. And not just any fat guy, a weird fat guy with a fur hat. Lookie! Fat people can’t dance, they can only do shtick. And that’s a choice. Hundreds upon hundreds of people auditioned; a dozen got shown on TV; fur hat guy was not the only big person who auditioned, so the choice was, let’s show someone laughable.

Second, the judges leap right into OMG FAT WILL KILL YOU. It’s unhealthy. We’re telling you this for your own good.

But there were a couple of things that I actually liked. Crazy, right?

First of all, these judges are choreographers and former dancers, so I have a certain sympathy for any anti-fat prejudice they may have; they are from a world where it is so much the norm, I kind of doubt they’ve been exposed to any alternate views. What Nigel ultimately said to the guy was this: ‘Every dancer’s heart rate goes up when they dance; health is measured by how quickly your heart rate comes back down. And look, you’re still panting. That’s not okay.’

That’s great advise, because it’s not about weight; if he’s fat and not panting that’s healthy, and if he’s thin and panting that’s unhealthy. So yay Nigel.

Finally, Mia pointed out that the guy’s written bio said he didn’t want to be a thin dancer, and she asked him about it, and the conversation got to that he didn’t think he was a good enough dancer to compete with “real” dancers, he just thought his size and costume made him amusing to watch. And Mia engaged that directly, telling him to learn to love himself and not to pigeonhole himself, and that perhaps he could be a great dancer but he needed to let go his own preconceptions and find out. And after the initial question about his size, she never added “and lose weight,” which I thought was miraculous.

Maybe it’s the tyranny of soft expectations. Maybe it’s like being so happy that a woman is allowed to get a job in a traditionally male field that you tolerate the lower pay. But after that offensive promo spot, there was something lovely about engaging with the guy as if he was a real human being. Fancy that.

7 comments

  1. MeM says:

    I wish there was less ageism on the show as well. There are fantastic dancers out there who are over 22. I still love to watch but I do get bored with only one type of person being picked for hte show. I think it would be so much more interesting to see non-stereotypical people who can dance.

  2. Tracy says:

    Our friend, Eddie, owns a catering business. Yes, he’s overweight, but he is also, by far, one of the best dancers I’ve ever seen.

    In thinking about this, I find it sad that overweight people are often portrayed as “funny”, while if anyone ever considered putting an anorexic person on TV for any reason that wasn’t either reality based or a documentary, people would find it appalling.

  3. deblipp says:

    We (as a society) don’t hate anorexic people; while the culture is fairly unambivalent about fat: It’s hateful and funny in a Stepin Fetchit way, we have mixed feelings about anorexia. It’s a tragic disease but you can’t be too rich or too thin.

  4. Tracy says:

    We went on a cruise several years ago. I met a girl who was anorexic. I honestly wanted to cry every time I looked at her. Whoever decided that you can’t be “too thin”, never met someone who looked as if they were on the verge of dying because of it.

  5. thatonekid says:

    does anyone know the name of that guy? i thought he was pretty good and i wanna see that clip again (even tho the judges went nuts on his ass… i mean hes a fat guy get used to it theres a lot of em)

  6. deblipp says:

    I tried to find it, thatonekid, but so far have not.

  7. Betsy says:

    i know some fat guys but they really do good in dancing. i think they are doin it as an exercise.