Beauty & the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice

In the final episode of the series, facially-disfigured campaigner Adam Pearson goes head-to-head with 21-year-old WAG lookalike Louisa Day in what could be his biggest challenge yet. Twenty-five-year-old graduate Adam Pearson was born with Neurofibromatosis, a rare condition that caused benign growths to grow on his head and face, impairing both his sight and hearing. Despite undergoing 27 surgical procedures, the growths remain prominent and Adam has lived through years of bullying as a result. Having accepted his condition, Adam hopes to convince people to see beyond the exterior and judge others by their characters rather than their appearance. At the other end of the scale is Louisa Day, a young woman who's made a career out of her obsession with beauty. As a makeup artist, Louisa feels it is her job to look good, spending two hours getting ready each morning and up to three hours for a night out. And Louisa is willing to do whatever it takes to maintain and improve her appearance, having already undergone painful collagen fillers she's now considering a breast augmentation. So far this series, Adam has been taking his campaign to get people like him noticed by a beauty-obsessed society to the streets, but how will he fare when faced with a woman who personifies this beauty craze? It's a bumpy ride for both during this journey as they confront not just the public's prejudices but their own, and grapple with the uncomfortable memories that have shaped who they are today.

Can one young mum with a facial disfigurement convince a young glamour model that there is more to life than looking pretty? Twenty-six-year-old mum Jessica Whitfield was born with a haemangioma on the right hand side of her face. After growing to the size of a tennis ball, much of the tumour was removed; but it left a prominent scar, which has caused the side of Jessica's face to sag. After years of unwanted attention from the public, Jessica feels excluded from the image-obsessed world we live in and worries about the carefree attitude to cosmetic surgery that is sweeping the nation. For 22-year-old glamour model and mum Chloe Page, looking good is more than a lifestyle choice - it's her career. She spends a staggering one month of the year applying makeup, at a cost of over £300 per month. Despite this, Chloe still sees herself as far from perfect and, having already enhanced her breasts, has liposuction and a nose job on her cosmetic surgery wish list. When the two first meet, Chloe is shocked and saddened by Jessica's appearance, while Jessica is amazed that, with a two-year-old daughter, Chloe still manages to spend so much time on her appearance. However, these initial preconceptions are soon thrown into doubt, as a day spent in each other's lives reveals which of the two mums is really the biggest victim of the beauty beast. With the help of psychiatrist Dr Laxmi Kathuria, Chloe finally confronts the body-image insecurities that have burdened her since childhood. But can Chloe overcome these insecurities, put her wish for more cosmetic surgery on hold, and become the confident mother and role model for her child that she longs to be? Meanwhile, campaigner Adam Pearson looks at the discrimination people with facial disfigurements face in the workplace, and undertakes his own experiment to see if looks really do matter when serving the public.

Sarah claims to be Britain's most cosmetically enhanced woman. She meets Susan, who has had over 60 corrective surgeries due to childhood cancer. Susan and Sarah are two outgoing and passionate people with very different views on beauty and the beauty industry. Fifty-year-old Sarah says she would try any treatment to turn back the body clock. From breast augmentation to rhinoplasty, this self-proclaimed 'vain cow' jokes that the only thing she has not had done is her feet. Sarah freely admits she would like to go to the grave looking 18. She is terrified of ageing and evangelical about the benefits of cosmetic surgery. She even carries cosmetic fillers in her handbag so she can inject herself when ever she feels that her face `needs a top up'. Forty-six-year old Susan from Edinburgh has had over 60 surgeries to correct the damage caused by a cancerous tumour and subsequent radiation treatment when she was a baby. Blind in her left eye and with reduced hearing, Susan is not prepared to sit at home and hide. When told that reconstructive surgery on her face could be either cosmetic or functional, she made the choice that it should be functional, saying there would be nothing worse that not being able to eat or drink. Susan believes in living the life that you have, and living it to the fullest rather than striving for the perfection. She has struggled to combat the prejudice of others throughout her life but feels confident and happy exactly how she is. Susan is keen to show Sarah that beauty is only skin deep, but does Sarah even care? With the help of Dr. Laxmi Kathuria, a psychiatrist who specialises in body image, Sarah and Susan put their many differences aside to explore when and how Sarah's obsession with her appearance started and how Susan has built up her confidence in the face of the prejudice of others. Adam Pearson, who lives with a facial disfigurement caused by his Neurofibromatosis, investigates the world of celebrity and why people like him are virtually invisible on TV, in movies and pop music. Where they do appear it is usually cast as the villain, such as Bond villain Blofeld. Adam meets a casting director to see if the times have changed and the industry is ready for him to play the Hollywood hero. He also meets the man behind the Spice Girls, Chris Herbert, for an opinion on whether his looks are still a barrier to people like him breaking into pop.