Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?

There is nothing "real" about reality TV. If you haven't learned that by now...there's nothing really left to say. I knew what was going on from the start and didn't do it to get a husband. That's ridiculous. I - and almost all of the others - knew this was about sensationalism and not romance. It was made as entertainment NOT, real life...just like all reality TV shows. I got to spend 11 days in Vegas, all expenses paid, paid SAG-AFTRA wages plus my daily cash per diem, meals were provided and got to attend a few Vegas shows. That's why I agreed to do it. Stop believing what you see on TV and the internet is "real" because it is ALL fiction to varying degrees. But, of course, if you really believe reality shows are true...then my words are wasted. Carry on...

This one was a hoot. Everybody was getting into the reality TV show game and this was Fox's turn. This just turned out to be a bad idea all around. I guess they meant it to be a combination run at February sweeps/take off on Valentine's day. It aired the day after, Feb 15, 2000. Women competed in a beauty pageant type format for a guy who was supposed to be a multi-millionaire, but whom the girls only saw in silhouette. The winner was a veteran of the first Gulf War. The groom was ....well not all he was cracked up to be. The couple actually did get married on the show. That multi-million was actually two million and included the groom's home which was an ordinary California starter home with a toilet seat in the backyard. It turned out that he was only semi-employed as a comedian/motivational speaker. The marriage was annulled in April and never consummated.

I remember the night it aired that all of the hosts - in what is now famous fast talking Fox style - were gabbing about it. One host - don't know her name but she had bleached blonde hair and all the collagen in the world pumped into her over 60 lips- kept saying "Oh it will last, it will last." Whoever you were, I hope you did not try a career as a psychic. There are pieces of it available on youtube.

Reality shows were so new back then. Half of the contestants were there because they wanted a free trip to Vegas (like the winner) and the other half were seriously there to get married. One finalist gave an interview to her local news after it happened. She said she was glad it was not her that got chosen since her boyfriend wouldn't have liked that! The beginning of the end of civilization.

Never watched this show when it aired, having thought something like, "There goes FOX again with the edgy route". Remember that in 1999 "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" came to the US and was a big hit at first for ABC. FOX decided to do its own spin, and it's doubtful the big wigs who approved the show took it seriously. As if they wanted to make a quick splash with 2 hours of tacky TV. What made "Who Wants To Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" fun was the additional controversies it generated after it aired. Was the "husband" Rick Rockwell really a multi-millionaire? What about those past criminal complaints against him? Didn't the producers of the show research this stuff? What does it say about these women who were going to marry a stranger on his perceived wealth alone? And to do on it on a TV show too. Some of the "brides" acknowledged they did the show for the trip and experience. Darva Conger became the "wife" and repeatedly distanced herself from the show like it was the morning after a bad hook up. Show deserves high marks for the entertainment value it provided.

Although this was probably a big mistake for fox and , although this was never to be broadcast again believe it or not this show changed American viewers. Everyone was talking about the Rockwell & Darva Conger scandal it made headlines and well the show was never good but a least it made headlines what can I say. Everyone probobly forgot about this months go.( I know I'm a little late)

Here is a show that historians will dig up years from now as an example of TV run amuck - even if they won't ever learn about the scandal that resulted from this show.

Yes, I watched the last hour of this "show" and I found it absolutely silly, sick and tasteless...and yes, it was like watching a train wreck as Fox threw away all of its reputation it had earned as home of Homer, Bart, Mulder and Scully. Jay Thomas was probably the most smarmy host around IN HISTORY to preside over this fiasco (laughing as Rick Rockwell proposed to Darva Conger).

February 15, 2000 will go down in TV infamy - that was the day this show aired.