The newest set of reality shows made big waves with Lycos searchers this week, and the first week's results seem to show that a Big Lie can defeat a Hot Babe.

Yep, Joe Millionaire (#29) has a place on this week's Lycos 50, while The Bachelorette, surprisingly, does not. The Bachelorette finishes about #70, with a little more than half as many searches as FOX's Casanova of construction workers.

One interesting tidbit: about 40 percent of Bachelorette searches specified star Trista Rehn, while only 10 percent of Joe Millionaire searches specified star Evan Marriott. A bit of a surprise, especially after half-naked modeling photos of Marriott showed up on the Web this week.

SCHOOL IS COOL: It is easy to tell from this week's searches that students have headed back to the classroom. Marijuana (#30), which is driven by student searches, reappears after two weeks off. Prom dresses (#28) make their 2003 debut; lest you think this is super-early, they debuted this same week in 2002.

Looking for actual academics? Science fair projects (#42) make their first appearance since last February. This marks the second straight year that they showed up in the second semester, but not the first -- that's a big change from 1999-2001, when science fair projects made the Lycos 50 regularly for the entire school year.

A number of other school subjects, including World War II, Civil War, and Shakespeare, also jumped this week but did not make the Lycos 50.

LOSE THAT WEIGHT: Diets (#44) are in force as a 2003 New Year's resolution. While general searches for diets stay constant from last week, Atkins Diet (#6) queries double and Weight Watchers (#21) goes up a good deal as well. Last year, diet searches dropped off the Lycos 50 after only one week of resolution-related searching.

THE RICIN TIDE: Ricin (#39) is the latest mystery term in the war on terrorism. Four North African men were arrested last week in England for allegedly planning to use this deadly poison in a terror attack. Ricin, which causes flu-like symptoms before leading to death, is one of the most toxic naturally occurring poisons. It is derived from the same beans that make that old non-poisonous childhood favorite castor oil.

SHORT SUBJECTS: The 2003 Detroit Auto Show, a.k.a. the North American International Auto Show, makes its annual appearance, ranked #10 as opposed to last year's #32... Birthday boys Martin Luther King, Jr. (#22) and Elvis Presley (#47) both make the Lycos 50... Many football fans went looking for The University of Miami's Willis McGahee after the gruesome injury he suffered on national television in the Fiesta Bowl... #11 through #15 are our top five most-searched women of the moment, all in a row.

NEW THIS WEEK: Detroit Auto Show, Martin Luther King, Jr., prom dresses, Joe Millionaire, marijuana, Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, ricin, science fair projects, Nelly, Elvis Presley, golf, Tupac Shakur.

DROPOUTS: Barbie (after 12 weeks), James Bond, Victoria's Secret, Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance, Powerball, rockers Good Charlotte, those wacky Raelians, file-swapper Morpheus, FBI, Mariah Carey, college football, plus New Year's Day and New Year's cards.

AXIS OF EVIL WATCH: Iraq 69%, North Korea 31%

ONE YEAR AGO: The Asian sex scandal revolving around Chu Mei-Feng made its first appearance on the Lycos 50 at #45. The scandal was #1 the next three weeks, and Chu ended up as the #5 female searched on Lycos in 2002. Last August, we called this the strangest topic ever to make our list.

TOMORROW: The car that shook up Detroit.