Comedienne Mo'Nique Hosts Plus-Size Pageant

Aug. 4, 2005 — -- Comedienne and plus-size icon Mo'Nique wants larger women seen in a new, more flattering light. On August 6, she will host "network cable's first full-figured beauty competition"-- a two-hour, reality-pageant hybrid called "Mo'Nique's Fat Chance" on the Oxygen network. The winner will be crowned Ms. F.A.T., which stands for "fabulous and thick."

Mo'Nique, who wears a size 22 and is pregnant with twin boys, decided her show's contestants should model lingerie, not bathing suits.

"Bathing suits are boring," said Mo'Nique." "Lingerie is more personal, and sexier to us. It really shows the individual personality."

Mo'Nique also puts her contestants through a fitness boot camp. She hopes to shoot down the idea that people who are overweight can't be healthy, too.

"Exercise, work out. Take care of your body and your body will take care of you. Maintain your health," she says.

Mo'Nique's show is aimed at easing sociey's prejudice against the overweight. "Good Morning America" took to the streets for an unofficial beauty behavior lab, asking people to rate the attractiveness of three photos, each with Mo'Nique's face but with three different-sized bodies. Most gave high scores for the smaller body, medium scores for the medium body and mixed scores -- medium to low -- for the heaviest body.

An ABC/Time poll revealed that 20 percent of obese people experience discrimination, and that 42 percent admit negative feelings about overweight people. Television doesn't treat them much better. A study from Michigan State University showed that large women TV characters had one-third fewer romances.

"We can never be the sexy one, the lead, the one that the men are attracted to," said Mo'nique, who is the first female host of the syndicated "Showtime at the Apollo."