So Chega Mais has a couple more shows on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRLDDj_dC_k

but I noticed that when the ladies aren't getting messed up, they seem to be more interested in posing than what's happening on the show.

I mean if you take our WAM interests out of the equation you have to wonder what kind of appeal this show has. From the look of this screenshot, the girls are either bored or preoccupied with how they look on camera. So what's the mainstream appeal of Chega Mais?

I'll place my bet.

For us, wammers, the interest is obvious: hot guys/chicks (depends on what you're into) + good wam = yay!
For the general public, I'd say it's all about seeing people get embarassed. Something related to the Greek Tragedy feelings: "well, better him/her than me". :ohbruther:

When you put good-looking people, well-dressed, in this imminent messy situation, it probably gives it a boost. Perhaps it messes with our human feeling of jealousy, of deconstructing the beauty.
"Oh, she looks so neat and clean, I'd love to see her get messy" :devil:

Also, I would say Chega Mais started airing due to Passa ou Repassa's apparent success since 2013.
"Hey, people have already been watching mess for 2 years, what if we start doing it too?"

Also, two things:

1) Chega Mais is basically a talk show with the "guys vs. girls" pie & mess game at the end. But the rest of the show (60 min? 90 min?) isn't remotely messy. Similar to Domingo Legal, the main show that features the Passa ou Repassa game... It's another long Sunday talk show with the two team contest at the end.
I suspect outside of this community, very few people are watching the shows ONLY for mess.

2) I've said this so many times, on so many threads, even *I* am tired of hearing myself say it. But once again: The pie-in-the-face quiz show is uniquely a Latin American tradition. DL and PoR currently get nice ratings now largely because Brazilians are watching for nostalgic reasons... Some version of that show has been on the air there since 1990.
By my count, there are no less than 7 Latin American shows currently doing some semi-regular version of the pie quiz show, usually males vs. females. Chega Mais and PoR are clearly the best, but just those numbers alone tell you how common the format is.

With respect to FR, I must quibble with this statement:

" I suspect outside of this community, very few people are watching the shows ONLY for mess."

I am willing to bet if a pool was taken, a large number (more than the likely percentage of any erotic or fetishistic interest would), would say they watch to see their favorite celebs get messy (or, whomever these people are)...How could we here on the umd forget that messy slapstick is a classic sight gag for reason: it's shock comedy, and, when targeted at an object of authority (cop), or vanity (pretty girl), or snobbery (the high society gentleman or socialite appeals directly to the salirophilia impulse (perhaps mania in some cases) which is the satisfaction ones gets in seeing an attractive person get "soiled" somehow.

Second: The Japanese have been doing pie int he face quiz stuff for ages (at least as long), and, how could we forget, we US Americans as far back as the 50's (admittedly, not continuously) and the Brits too.

I think Rich has a bias (weakness) for Latinas ...not that there's anything wrong with that

That said, the Bazilians seem to know exactly how to do it AND make it sexy (adult, now)...i find it difficult to believe that the erotic appeal (even if 'humiliation") of these gags is lost on everyone who appears on, or watches, these shows...

Ok, more pies...

WJ, we're "assuming" they're celebrities. Not sure that's true on CM. (It IS true on Domingo Legal.)
And I don't think it needs to be messy. It's more just "people doing ridiculous things." Domingo Legal has a lot of other stunts built into the game--some messy, some not--and that's an appeal too.

And at least here in America, it seems like the public prefers their humiliation to be non-messy these days... Bad dancing from celebs? We'll watch that by the millions. But I don't see any celeb pie games out there. (Jimmy Fallon, once in a blue moon... And that stunt isn't nearly as popular as, say, a lip-sync battle.)
If Americans REALLY enjoyed messy game shows, Spellmageddon would still be on the air. And Distraction would still be running. Wipeout IS ongoing, but I'm sure the main appeal there is people falling off giant inflatable balls.

And yes, Americans (and Brits, etc) have done occasional pie quiz shows... although I personally can't name a specific one before or after College Madhouse. My point was, Latin America has embraced that VERY SPECIFIC pie quiz format and kept reusing it, in a variety of shows, for 25 years straight now. And it's not JUST on their TV shows. Type "Passa ou Repassa" into YouTube and scan the results... You'll see "homegrown" events with the identical pie quiz format being held at a local church, or school, or someone's house. Sometimes kids, sometimes adults. It's THAT prevalent in their culture.

Americans have pie booths and dunk tanks, and we probably always will for as long as there's local fairs. (Although we rarely put either on TV.) Brazilians, God bless 'em, have the pie quiz show.

There's something shocking about seeing a guy put a pie in the face of a beautiful woman. This show seems to play off of that "anything goes" appeal and I'm wondering if the "battle of the sexes" element is also part of it.

You just don't get to totally trash someone like that in real life, so I'm wondering if it fulfills some kind of fantasy for non warmers?

I agree that people enjoy watching humiliation of all kinds. In this case, it happens to be messy. On a subconscious level it's kind of sick, because the message is one of "winner take all" with the loser getting punished.

Thanks Rich, for the insight and cultural perspective.

This show is PHENOMENAL...some of the pie hits have been epic and there have been some great reactions as well.

I want to see the hostess get it! She is hot and that would be an unexpected treat. The male host took a pie recently so there is hope.

I would just love to see her doing one of those braying reactions to a girl getting it and have that payback.

This show is just fantastic. Some of the best WAM i've never paid for. I like the aspect of the models coming back week after week to be on this show and play this game. Sabrina I think has played every week.

If they're going by views of videos on their website, my guess is this game has the most views by far. So that's good that they likely know this is the best part of the show. My worry is that you hardly see any messy pics on the contestants on instagram anymore, so maybe the funny aspect of the game is long gone for them, but you can tell they want to win the competition pretty bad.
They are models, some are probably looking for a TV gig or something, so they aren't going to say no to a little TV exposure.