Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Reality Television

Since I seem to be in a confessional mood at the moment, I have been watching American Idol this season, but other than that I haven't really watched much so-called reality TV since Manor House.

That said, I would have been interested in seeing the shearing of Shrek. I saw a brief bit about him on the BBC last week, and apparently yesterday they shaved the poor guy, live on television.

Shrek, named after the movie ogre, is a 10-year-old merino sheep who's managed to avoid being captured for shearing for six years; when he was first spotted this year, he wasn't immediately recognizable as a sheep: "He looked like some biblical creature," according to John Perriam, owner of the hill station where Shrek was roaming.

The fleece ended up weighing 27 kilograms, and it's going to be auctioned off online.

[ADDENDUM: Shrek may not be the shaggiest sheep around. In the comments, Patrick has alerted me to the North Island based Taharoa Trio, three sheep who've gone unshorn for at least six years. Apparently, they're shaggier than Shrek, but no word on whether or not they're getting TV deals.]

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