The Swan — Season 1, Episode 3: Cindy & Tawnya
Reality • 60 min • 2 seasons, 21 episodes • ★ 3.3/10
Episode synopsis
Meet Cindy, 32-year-old mom from San Diego, California. Cindy grew up in a small town with a big nose. In her elementary school Halloween program she was chosen to play the witch and that's how she's felt about herself ever since. Cindy's husband thinks she's beautiful, on the inside and out, but that doesn't seem to change the way she thinks about herself. After pregnancy, everything changed - her body widened and drooped and her face grew unwanted hair. Cindy wants her sex life to go from blah to chick-a-bang! Next, meet Tawnya, 40-year-old mother from Colorado. In the past three years, Tawnya has endured a number of painful, life-changing events. Her brother was killed in a tractor accident, her husband asked for a divorce and she was laid-off from work. She feels like an old lady at forty.
About The Swan
The Swan is a 2004 American reality television program broadcast on Fox in which women who were judged to be ugly were given "extreme makeovers" that included several forms of plastic surgery. The title of the series refers to the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling, in which a homely bird matures into a swan. Each contestant was assigned a panel of specialists – a coach, therapist, trainer, cosmetic surgeons, and a dentist – who together designed a program of total transformation. The contestants' work ethic, growth, and achievement was monitored over the course of three months. Each week, two women were featured, and at the episode's conclusion, one went home while another was selected to move to compete in the Swan pageant at the end of the season for a chance to be deemed The Swan. The first two seasons both aired in 2004. A third season was tipped to happen, but the show was cancelled in early 2005 after ratings continued to drop. The plastic surgeons on the team were chosen for their ability to perform often startling transformations. Drs. Terry Dubrow and Randal Haworth, both board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, were selected by the producers of the show to perform the multiple plastic surgical operations for each of the two aired seasons.