New York ? A cringe-inducing clip of a celibate couple's first smooch gives rise to charges that TLC's reality special is exploiting a wholesome lifestyle for laughs
Brace yourselves for the "most awkward kiss ever." In a preview clip for TLC's upcoming reality TV special Virgin Diaries, airing Sunday night, a couple saving their first kiss until they're married finally shares that smooch ? and it's a clueless, cringe-inducing mess. (Watch the video below.) As the klutzy lip-lockers become the laughing stock of the internet, some critics argue that the controversial TV special ? which?explores the mindset and lifestyle of a group of virgins ??makes a "mockery" of the sexually inexperienced. If successful, the special will?be turned into a series. Are its producers turning virgins into reality TV zoo animals that viewers can gawk and laugh at?
This is unsavory exploitation:?TLC is obviously not going to treat the topic of virginity respectfully, Media Research Center President Don Gainor tells CBN. The network chose easy-to-ridicule subjects instead of sensible, mainstream virgins who are normal and articulate. Virgin Diaries will have the unfortunate effect of encouraging pre-marital sex by treating a "Christian lifestyle like it's a bad thing."
"Mockery or morality? Virgin Diaries show causes stir"
But it's fantastic television: "For the love of God," says Courtney Hazlett at MSNBC. "Go straight to the DVR and set it for The Virgin Diaries." This first kiss, which looks like a "human reenactment of a mama bird feeding her young," is just the tip of the iceberg. But despite such jaw-dropping moments, this show is a "really intimate and sensitive look into an oft-mocked life choice."
"Don't kiss off the Virgin Diaries"
Come on. TLC should be ashamed of itself: There was a time when TLC was known as the "Learning Channel," says Nikki Metzgar at Houston Press. Nowadays, the network hosts an endless stream of oddball reality shows like?Toddlers and Tiaras?and?I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant,?only breaking its "freak show" pace for episodes of Cake Boss. Watching TLC "is like visiting a zoo full of caged members of the American fringe, then poking them." As Virgin Diaries proves, TLC's reality shows "resemble SNL skits more every day."
"The Virgin Diaries and TLC's reality show circus"
See the kiss mocked round the world:
?SEE MORE: Was Kim Kardashian's wedding really staged?
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