Mark's Blog

I tuned in for tonight's episode of the new "reality" (as if 20 girls vying to date an apparent multi-millionaire bears any resemblance to reality) show, Joe Millionaire. As most people out there in TV-land know by now, the show is a dating show similar to "The Bachelor", only this time there's a twist: the guy is really a construction worker earning $19,000 a year (not the recipient of a $50,000,000 inheritance as the girls are told). As usual, I was entertained for some unknown reason. What is it that draws us in to Survivor, Big Brother, Amazing Race, Beg Borrow or Deal, Fear Factor and all the rest? Some say it is a fad but I'll wager that reality shows will not be going away any time soon. Survivor 6 is starting up in a few weeks and every couple of months some new reality show or other starts up. In essence, they're just live action game shows. The game show genre has been around for a long time so I see no reason for reality TV to suddenly go the way of the Passenger Pigeon.

Back to the show: with five girls remaining, "Joe" (real name Evan Marriott, although for some reason they're calling him Evan Wallace) was able to take each of the out on a one-on-one date, for the first time. They went to various places in Paris including the Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge and for a boat ride on the Seine River and he made his usual empty comments. Frankly, this guy doesn't seem all that bright. The conversations usually alternate between the banal and awkward silences and there is frighteningly little introspection. Joe also slipped up, referring to "driving a bulldozer three weeks ago", but he covered that up by quickly saying it was 2 years ago. I don't think Zora really suspected anything at the time though. Anyway, the four remaining contestants are Zora (who I thought he would boot, given her general disinterest in him, but I think he thinks they have something in common -- maybe their lack of wealth?), Sarah (who I think he lusts for the most), Melissa M (who I think he thinks he has the most chemistry with) and Melissa Jo, a.k.a. "Mojo" (who I think he thinks is gold-digging, as if they all aren't).

As they do with anyone in the public eye, The Smoking Gun has turned their watchful gaze to Joe Millionaire, dredging up some of his modelling pictures as well as an unpaid traffic violation. Last but not least, there's a lengthy Usenet post alleging Joe is a gay escort, which pays substantially more than $19,000 a year. Who knows what the truth is... and for viewers I'm sure that's part of the appeal.

Update (2003/03/28): This blog entry appears to have gotten a number of extra hits due to my original misspelling in the title, "Joe Millionare" instead of the correct, and now changed, "Joe Millionaire". Anyway, as you probably know by know, Zora and "Joe" (i.e. Evan) are not an item, and by the sounds of it, never were.