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BBC broadcasts brutal makeoversFashion flogging
Editor's Note: CNN Access is a regular feature on CNN.com providing interviews with newsmakers from around the world.
(CNN) -- When it comes to fashion, you have to be cruel to be kind. That is the concept of a hit British TV showed called "What Not to Wear." And every week, an estimated four million people watch the show. The hosts zero in on unsuspecting victims, secretly videotape them, then unleash some brutal criticism. The good news is the hosts then clean out the victim's closet with a $3,000 stipend and help them shop for a new look. The show will start airing in the U.S. on Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. on BBC America. Hosts Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine spoke to CNN anchor Paula Zahn about their beautifully brutal fashion show. PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: When you two came up with this concept, did you ever dream that four million in your own country would be watching this every week? Why do you think it's so popular? TRINNY WOODALL, "WHAT NOT TO WEAR": I think it's so real for women when they watch it. What you're doing is seeing an emotional progress of a woman from when she has all of her friends and family saying, they nominate her and say we think you have no style, and then we film her secretly for about two months. The husband is putting a camera in the bedroom. It's very dramatic. And then she's confronted, and then we kind of help her on her path. ZAHN: Well, that's interesting about your philosophy, because you say that you have to be cruel to be kind. How mean do you two get? SUSANNAH CONSTANTINE, "WHAT NOT TO WEAR": We do get pretty mean, as we said, but our cruelness comes from a real passion and a real desire to make the best of these women. And, you know, it doesn't matter how big you are, what size, how old. Every woman has something good about her and you don't need to lose weight, you don't need to have plastic surgery to look fantastic. You just need to wear the right clothes. Tough love
ZAHN: Have you ever made anybody cry? WOODALL: We've only had people cry at the end of the show through the emotional journey they've gone through, and then they're kind of relieved. We had one woman who had been married and got separated, and it had been very traumatic for her. We said, "we feel you should get rid of that wedding ring at some stage," and at the end of the show, she turns around to us and takes off her wedding ring -- she's ready to go on to her new life. ZAHN: No wonder people watch, transformations on live television. You have a group of tips about what woman can do to improve their look. Have you always cared about how you look? WOODALL: Yes, because I suffered for years from acne, so I've been aware of, you know, trying to look better, because I felt like an ugly duck duckling for 38 years. But I think with these tips, what's very important is you can look better. And you just have to stand in front of a mirror naked and say, "OK, let me analyze my ... Do I have a big bum? Do I have big boobs? Am I flat-chested?" Look at what you love and look at what you don't love. CONSTANTINE: It's even actually more simple than that. You just have to be honest about what you love and hate about your body, and then you cloak what you loathe about your body and you show off what you love. What you hate about your body might be the envy of your best friend. Telling it like it isZAHN: What is the worst thing you've ever said about someone on your show? CONSTANTINE: God, there have been a lot of things. I think one of the girls actually Micadah, the blond lady -- we told her that she should have been kind of street walking. She was like a hooker in an area called King's Cross in London, which is a very dodgy area, and that's what she looked like, because she was showing too much breast and too much leg, and the combination made her look naughty. ZAHN: So part of the lure of the show, is people get to watch you vicariously beat up other people and then watch them come around. WOODALL: Yes, but it's not an unemotional beating up. It's a very emotive one, and that's the difference. CONSTANTINE: When we do criticize someone, we will always come back with a solution. So it's not just a vacuous criticism. There is always a solution, and that's why everybody has something great about them. ZAHN: Based on our crew's reaction to you, you two are looking just fine. Good luck with the new show and the rollout here in America. Nice to meet both of you. We're going to be very nervous when we know the fashion police are in our neighborhood.
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