At a friend’s open house recently, my friends and I caught up with each other while entertaining ourselves in front of the telly watching Astro’s ‘Sehati Berdansa’. Firstly, I would like to applaud the programme’s premise of entertaining the public while collecting funds for various charities. But this is not what my grouse is about.

During that weekend’s particular episode (Oct 31, Disco Dance theme) the non-issue of a female (celebrity) contestant was unnecessarily highlighted. Apparently, the choreographer in-charge had planned for the celebrity’s spouse to lift her during one of the moves, and during practice the husband failed to do so after several attempts.

To which the choreographer delivered this outrageous verdict: the female celebrity in question was ‘too heavy’ for the dance move. Upset with this, the unfortunate lady vowed to refrain from eating rice for a week!

Was it just us, or is this a case of Astro management being blind to the fact that ‘Sehati Berdansa’ is a programme watched by ladies and teenagers who are already too conscious about their appearance? Why was this statement not edited out from the episode? Do we not have enough cases of eating disorders among Malaysian ladies?

My friends and I watched with disgust as this socially-irresponsible statement was reiterated time and time again by the choreographer as she was being interviewed by the host, by the female celebrity as she tearily spoke to the camera about her resolution to lose weight before the night of the dance competition, and by the male host who, although seemingly sympathetic towards the lady’s plight, did not think to suggest that perhaps the husband might help his wife by training harder himself?

Or that such a taxing dance move best left to professionals ought to be dropped from the choreography? This was, after all, a competition involving celebrities who are mostly novice dancers.

Mind you, I do not have issues with people dieting for health. I do believe the true meaning of dieting is not starving yourself, but eating healthily. The female celebrity in question is beautiful, lanky and slim. As a doctor friend among our group pointed out that night, it is questionable if the celebrity’s BMI (body mass index) was not in the low range to begin with.

Why the need to starve just for a dance? And to propagate this idea on satellite TV subscribed by thousands of families? Utterly thoughtless.

Of course, a competition is emotionally-taxing, and a programme like ‘Sehati Berdansa’ sells itself by its entertainment value (oh, the drama provided by the contestants’ trials and tribulations!). It is not meant to be intellectually stimulating nor do I expect it to be so, but Astro has a responsibility not to send out wrong ideas about body image to the public.

I am a part-time tutor and I can vouch from personal experience that a lot of my female students go on diets and deny themselves food because they want to look like their famous idols. I tell them that they are still in high school and need enough nutrients to grow, but, of course, the glossed images sold by mass media are more impressive.

Even the boys have this misconception that in order for a girl to be considered ‘hot’, she must dress or look a certain way.

Dancing is meant to be a fun, liberating and an artistic form of exercise and self-expression, where you enjoy the beat of the music and the movements of your body. Dancing should not make you feel bad about your body.

I’d like to point out that curvy celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce absolutely sizzle when they dance (and the fit, athletic, professionally-trained male dancers in their performing groups have no problem lifting them either).

So to the producers of Astro, and of any TV station, and all celebrities while I’m at it, please step out from your make-believe ‘celebrated world’ once in a while and think carefully about the messages you are sending out to the sons and daughters of Malaysia through your public shenanigans.