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Searching for 'Pretty Wicked' Beauty with Dr. Jenn Berman and R.J. Cutler
by Troy Rogers
 Is beauty really skin deep, or does it go beyond the surface level substance of everyday ego to reveal a human heart? Can some of today's sexy celebrity conditioned prima donnas put looks aside to show how beautiful they are on the inside? That's the main objective of the new Oxygen reality competition, Pretty Wicked, airing March 31 at 10pm, which sees 10 diva types compete to see who shines the brightest on the inside for a grand prize of $50,000.
Moving in with each other to confront their mean-spirited ways, Pretty Wicked proves that peeling back the layers of the materially obsessed can be a dramatic clash of egos, as the new Oxygen series forces the sometimes shallow girls to reveal themselves to the world for the sake of making a winning transformation. The last girl to go from "wicked" to "pretty" in the most significant manner wins the $50,000 but much more than money could ever buy.
Leading up to the debut of Pretty Wicked, we joined in on a conference call to chat with Pretty Wicked executive producer R.J. Cutler and psychotherapist Dr. Jenn Berman who serves as one of the judges that will preside over the inner beauty hopefuls. In our brief few minutes on the line, what we learned is that Cutler and Dr. Berman are prepared for the crafty Pretty Wicked girls who can simply fake change in order to grab the cash.
THE DEADBOLT: So why was Anna allowed to bring her dog?
 R.J. CUTLER: Why was she allowed? The dog was a very important part of her life.
THE DEADBOLT: If six of the girls had dogs, would that have been allowed as well?
CUTLER: Well, we only confronted the specifics of her wanting her dog. It was very important to her and I’m sure we would’ve accommodated things that were important to everybody else.
THE DEADBOLT: Who do you see as needing the most help or improvement?
DR. JENN BERMAN: You know, every single one of these women had room for improvement, and it would be hard to say which one because each one of them needed a lot of help in different areas. Ultimately, by the end of the show, it’s pretty clear who needed the most improvement and who made the most improvement.
THE DEADBOLT: Can you explain how the eliminations work? Is it the person who improves the most that goes?
BERMAN: No. The goal was to get the person to embrace the process and embrace change the most. So the people who get eliminated did not embrace the process or did not change. Our goal was to get good results and have these women change in really positive ways.
THE DEADBOLT: Was there ever a fear that they would just be gunning for the money?
 BERMAN: Absolutely. That came up throughout the show; Who was really trying to play the game, and who really genuinely was embracing the process of wanting to change? I think that, as the show went on, became clearer and clearer who was just trying to manipulate and who really cared about having personal change.
THE DEADBOLT: In your expertise, you were able to pick out who was gaming the system?
BERMAN: I think so. I think it became pretty clear to all of the panel, because we were watching them pretty much around the clock. So we got to really see - even when they thought we weren’t necessarily watching - we got to really see what was going on and it was very revealing, as viewers will see.
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