Joe Millionaire
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| Joe Millionaire | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Reality |
| Directed by | Bryan O'Donnell Brian Smith Glenn "GT" Taylor |
| Presented by | Alex McLeod |
| Composer | David Vanacore |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Chris Cowan Jean-Michel Michenaud |
| Producers | Marcia Garcia Tim Piniak Ashton Ramsey |
| Running time | 60 mins. |
| Original release | |
| Network | FOX |
| Release | January 6 – November 24, 2003 |
Joe Millionaire is an American reality television show broadcast on FOX beginning in January 2003. It was broadcast in the UK that same year. A sequel, The Next Joe Millionaire, followed in October 2003.
The show was wildly successful and became a pop culture phenomenon, with over 40 million viewers in the US tuning in to the season one finale making it the most-watched episode of any reality show since the season finale of the first season of Survivor and premiere episode of the second season of Survivor.[1]
Show dynamics
The basic premise is that bachelor Evan Marriott has inherited millions of dollars and is searching for a potential bride. He takes a group of hopeful women on several dates to exotic and luxurious locations, eliminating women at the end of each episode until only one woman remains. The main gimmick of the show is that the entire "millionaire" premise is actually an elaborate lie. The women are not aware that this bachelor is in fact a working class construction worker (The Smoking Gun later discovered that Marriott had also been an underwear model for California Muscle[2]). After all other contestants have been eliminated the secret is revealed to the last remaining woman. If she decides to stay with him anyway, the couple is surprised with a real check for a million dollars.
The show thus had moral overtones. Viewers could see how differently women treat a man they believe to be rich, and see if these attitudes change once they find out he is not rich. Following this happy ending, one of the disappointed contestants filed a lawsuit against the show's producers, who had supposedly deceived her with the lure of Evan's supposed wealth.
First Season (January, February 2003)
A theme throughout the first season was Marriott's attempt to ascertain which of the twenty contestants were sincere and which ones were simply seeking a wealthy mate.
The show made a minor star out of Paul Hogan, the manservant whose role developed in the words of the network "into the glue that held the show together".[3] Hogan was not actually the host of the program - Alex McLeod was the program's host.[4]
Runner-up Sarah Kozer received notoriety when the media reported during the course of the show that she had appeared fully clothed in bondage videos while she was attending law school.[5] In the show's sauciest scene Kozer appeared to go into the woods to fellate Marriott. Marriot and Kozer claim no sex acts occurred. In the VH1 program Secrets of Reality TV she alleges that her statement "let's go somewhere quiet" was in fact spoken while she was receiving a back massage from another female contestant and that the producers dubbed it in during post editing and added kissing sound effects and the subtitles 'slurp, gulp, slurp' to make the scene more salacious. The show's editors corroborated this fact later in an interview for Radar magazine.
A contestant known only as Heidi made waves when she admitted she already had a boyfriend and would marry a man for his money. An interview segment in which she quipped 'I'm a banker, I can help' about Marriott's supposed wealth seemed to underscore Heidi was a gold digger.
Zora Andrich was the last woman to stay with Marriott and the two were delighted by the million dollar reward. Unsurprisingly their union did not last - she claimed she was attracted to a completely different man and he claimed she lost her sex appeal when the show was over. Consequently they did not see each other afterwards. But the million dollar check was real and the pair split the money. Zora would later explain in the VH1 show Secrets of Reality TV 2 that Marriott told her via cell phone that he did not choose her but Fox insisted he do so.
Joe Millionaire was filmed primarily at the Château de la Bourdaisière in the countryside of the commune of Montlouis-sur-Loire in the Indre-et-Loire département in France.
The Next Joe Millionaire (October, November 2003)
The second installment, following the same premise, was set in Northern Italy, with an American cowboy named David Smith having to choose from fourteen English-challenged European contestants. Contestants ranged from being Swedish, Italian, German, and Czech. There was also a new "hostess," a then-unknown Samantha Harris, who appeared to be there for the sole purpose of announcing the elimination ceremony.
However, the show's popularity, which depended entirely on its charade, dissolved very quickly. As the AP so perfectly put it, Joe Millionaire “has gone from one of TV’s most surprising successes to the new season’s most spectacular flameout.” FOX’s entertainment chair Sandy Grushow says, “Our instincts told us from the very beginning that ‘Joe Millionaire’ was a one-time stunt and I think we got greedy.” He adds, “We tried to sneak it by the American public a second time and we got called on it.”[6]
The show's climax occurred when one of the contestants, Linda, from Czech Republic, was brought back to the show after eliminating herself, and was later selected by Smith as the winner. By that time, though, the show's popularity had irreversibly declined, and no more seasons were produced.
A theme throughout the second series was the place of materialism and surface beauty in world culture. The show presented the world as a tapestry lain out for the contestants to frolic in, not as a real environment where real people live.
The series most notable contestant was Olinda Borggren from Sweden, the year after participating in the Joe she was cast as a contestant on the Swedish version of Paradise Hotel. After reaching he final week and becoming a notable name in her native country she hosted a number of television shows in Sweden also releasing a successful music single. The butlers name was Jean Sabashtian Gigure, played by Paul Hogan.
Linda and David went back to Texas, shared the $250,000 prize money, and lived on the 90-acre (360,000 m2) ranch included as a prize. He currently works in sales for an oilfield compressor leasing company.
The Next Joe Millionaire drew less than 7 million viewers a week with a season finale attracting only 9.4 million viewers.[7]
See also
References
- ^ Albiniak, Paige (2003-02-24). "He's 'Joe 40 Million'". broadcastingcable.com.
- ^ Susman, Gary (2003-01-07). "'Joe' Boxers". ew.com. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
- ^ "Paul Hogan: Host Bio". wnetwork.com. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
- ^ Armstrong, Jennifer (2008-02-28). "Have You Seen This Woman?". ew.com. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
- ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (2003-01-31). "Kozer Opens Up on Adult Video Past". people.com. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
- ^ http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/joe_millionaire_2/2003_Nov_25_fox_exec_next_joe
- ^ http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20148778,00.html