Bela, a Feia ("Ugly Bela") is a Brazilian telenovela originally aired on Rede Record from August 4, 2009, to June 2, 2010. A co-production with with the Mexican Televisa, it was based on the Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea, as well as the American series Ugly Betty.
On June 1, 2010, the penultimate episode of Bela, a Feia made Record lead the audience ratings against Rede Globo in both São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, a feat rarely achieved in Brazilian television viewership.
This show contains examples of:
- Adaptation Name Change: This Brazilian remake of Yo soy Betty, la fea features Anabela "Bela" Palhares (an Ironic Nickname, as "bela" means "beautiful" in Portuguese). Her name was originally Beatriz "Betty" Aurora Pinzón Solano.
- Beautiful All Along: Bela is not really ugly, but she is unkempt, with braces, glasses that obscure her face and unfavorable dresses. When she gets a makeover, all she needs to do is cut her front bangs and get smaller glasses.
- Betty and Veronica: Rodrigo is Archie, Bela is Betty and Cíntia is Veronica.
- The Brainless Beauty: Verônica.
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Broken Aesop: Just like in the original version, some argue that Bela's transformation takes away from the overall idea of not judging others by their appearance. - The Cameo, Special Guest and Celebrity Star: Oh, boy. There was a lot people who appeared at this soap at some point, including the model Ana Hickmann, host show Rodrigo Faro, the comedian Sergio Mallandro, the fitness model Gracyanne Barbosa and the model and actress Viviane Araújo.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Cíntia, albeit she has reasons... and eventually is proven right.
- Cosmetic Catastrophe: Bela's first makeover. aside from the bad choices in hair and outfit, she adds badly applied lipstick and mascara in an attempt to appear more attractive to Armando.
- Gold Digger: Verônica.
- I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Bela is aware of her appeareance and how men see her, so she's surprised when Rodrigo, a powerful and rich man, says he's crazy about her.
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Bela, of course. Not out of shallowness, but because of her experiences: people are judged and treated according to their looks.
- Love Dodecahedron: As is usual for a telenovela. Bela, Cíntia and Veronica are in love with Rodrigo, who loves no one but is engaged to Cíntia, and eventually comes to love Bela.
- Meaningful Name: several.
- Only Sane Employee: Bela.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: She does. Bela's apeareance significantly improves towards the end of the soap opera.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Verônica.
