Glam Slam: Makeover Madness

A spruced up Susan Boyle returned to “Britain’s Got Talent” stage this week. Her singing earned raves, but what about her looks? After all, this is a woman whose appearance sparked instant debate, when she became an overnight sensation on the show.

Even Rosie O’Donnell weighed in telling us:

“It’s impossible for someone to maintain their authenticity in the popular world today… two hundred million people saw her. That’s like being hit by a tidal wave. We will never see the Susan Boyle that we saw that night again! That’s done. It’s been washed away.”

Is Rosie right? Can real people keep it real in the world of reality TV?

Kate Gosselin of TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8” is a prime example. With her bleached hair, bleached teeth and new body courtesy of a plastic surgeon’s scapula, it’s hard to recognize the mousy housewife from season one. (We’ll cut her some slack about the new body — after all — she did give birth to eight kids).

As for Susan Boyle, well, she definitely washed the gray right outta her hair. For her latest appearance on “BGT”, she traded in the frizzy hair for a dyed, slightly more shaped up coif. Gone was her frumpy dress. Instead, she wore a sparkly number and heels. The biggest change — her massive eyebrows (which I thought looked a bit like caterpillars) had gone on a crash diet and in their place thinner arched brows.

So what’s the verdict? Fashionable or fashion victim?

Actually neither. Yes, there were changes, she was more polished, but it was not a total overhaul as some people had suggested for her.

I am all for makeovers. I am as big a sucker as the next person for makeover shows like TLC’s “What Not to Wear” and those Plaza Ambush Makeovers that the “Today” show does. But somehow, it didn’t feel right for Susan Boyle to become too slick, too “Hollywood.”

I like that she embraced some change (bye bye big brows!), but unlike some other people thrust into the spotlight, she hasn’t botoxed away who she is – she’s still Susan Boyle from Blackburn, Scotland. Will that last? Who knows? I just hope that no matter what happens, she stays true to herself.

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