Ladette To Lady 2 - DVD Set
For the uninitiated, Ladette To Lady works something like this: a bunch of unruly, "unlady-like", frequently foul-mouthed and often promiscuous young women are sent to a fancy finishing school called Eggletson Hall. There, they will be put into preppy uniforms (complete with a string of pearls and low-heeled pumps), primped, preened and induced into the ways of proper behaviour, flower arranging, cooking and elocution.
Being a reality TV series, there must be a winner, but the process of elimination is decidedly civilised at Eggleston Hall. Instead of "losing" or being "evicted", each week, the girl who has most displeased the adjudicators (comprised of teachers), will be (wait for it) ... "invited to leave".
The range of reactions to this backhanded but ever-so-polite rejection, is varied indeed. Some girls cry, others flounce defiantly out of the room without nary a glance at the adjudicators who are seated in a row in front of a row of ladettes.
Then the hapless girl must leave immediately, whereupon she sheds her Eggleston uniform, dons her regular streetwear (usually very small skirts or skinny hipster jeans) and clambers inelegantly into the awaiting vehicle that will drive her back to ladettesville. The other girls wil rally around her
and cheer her on before she departs, while school principal (Gill Harbord) and deputy, Rosemary Shrager, look on from a nearby window, sneering and tsk tsking at the invariably crass display.
There is a special task each week, and the series culminates in a debutante ball, at which the final three girls are presented. In this series, there were actual debutantes at the ball, to confound the guests, and test the conviction of the girls' transformations.
The show wouldn't be what it is without two vital ingredients: the staff and the pupils - oh, and perhaps, to some extent, the toffy "gentleman" (read: inbred twits), who tempt, covert with and judge the performance of the ladettes.
School Principal Gill Harbord (who doubles as the Floristry Teacher), bears a permanent sneer, so it's a tad difficult to discern when she's actually pleased with a pupil. But since she's usually indignent with them over their various misdeeds, the differentiation matters little.
Rosemary Shrager, her deputy (and the Cookery teacher) is hardcore. She requires her students to pluck pheasants and gut rabbits. And there are no allowances for vegetarians: she simply raises her voice and insists that the tasks be undertaken.
However, once she has broken the girls' spirits, she softens. One student will usually dissolve into tears and Rosemary will take her into swarthy arms and comfort her.
All laughs aside (and there are many to be had), the teachers actually seem to wish the students well. Except for Elizabeth Brewer, the Social Etiquette teacher. She's poison!