First of all, thanks CT Girl for quoting my Lvoe list. It's nice to know that I am so gulliable and easily manipulated by the editors!

Michel, as much as I love your thread and read it religiously each week, I find myself at odds with some of your interpretations. For disclosure, I am a fan of the Beauty Queens, but I just don't see what you see when you disect the episodes. I agree with some of your points, such as the queens could have agreed to pay for a non-yield, but I just don't see them as "The Mean Blondes". You cite the exchange about Mirna's hair as an example where they seemed phoney. To me, it was Kandice being genuine, and Mirna being cowed into accepting a compliment from someone she irrationally dislikes.

As for Charla and (especially) Mirna, the assertion that they are somehow on the right moral side seems ludicrous to me. Mirna has been shown as a wildly irrational and manic person who should always be regarded with a wary eye. Ignoring her constant harping on her partner (in contrast to the Beauties' smooth sailing), her melodramatic and biased interpretation of the yield events (especially because we viewers KNOW the offer from Oswald) show that not only is she literally in the wrong, but morally as well. And after all, are the editors trying to tell us that the "tool" in their own game is wrong to use?

Not that Lvoe lists are scientific evidence, while the Beauties do have a few staunch anti-fans, they are in tight competition with the Cha-Chas for first, or a very solid second. Clearly, Schmirna are the team we love to hate, with just one or two rankings above third place. Eric and Danielle are just hated. If the editors are attempting to make us like Schmirna or Mix n Match, why do they rank so low?

As I said before, I just don't see the "manipulation" of the BQs. They are tough, but more conservative this season and even humble. Note that in the Supplemental Mat Chat available on-line, Phil ONCE AGAIN asks them if they'll be the first Female team to win the race. They hesitantly agree, being goaded by Phil to say as much, and then he basically forces them to say that they will win the race. Why does Phil do this, and then why wasn't it shown? Just as other teams get criticized when they sound like a broken record (Guidos in Paris, Ron and Baghdad, etc), this was another chance to rile anti-fans with the Beauties supposed arrogance. But for once, it didn't make the cut. A few weeks ago, I suggested watching the on-air mat chats. Phil has been friendlier to the BQs, but do the editors pay attention to reactions over things like this? If the remark was cut, could that be a positive sign for the BQs?

I am trying to "see what the camera sees" and take my personal feelings out of it, but I see the BQs as winners because of a multi-dimensional team edit. Schmirna is too nuts, and while Eric and Danielle can't be discounted, as you say, why such a negative edit?