“It wasn’t much of a honeymoon for Rick Rockwell and Darva Conger: TV’s multimillionaire groom says they didn’t consummate their marriage and it’s not likely to last.”—Associated Press
Who could possibly be surprised that the marriage made for TV wasn’t going to be the love match of the century? Talk about dumb ideas!
Put together a television network looking for a ratings hike, a multimillionaire who enjoys publicity, and an emergency room nurse who looks a bit like Barbie in a wedding dress, and what do you get? A mockery of marriage.
Not that either of the participants thought they were entering a sacred relationship — they both signed an agreement that they could annual the marriage and apparently that will happen.
I didn’t watch the original show but I saw enough clips on the news to note there didn’t seem to be much enthusiasm from Ms. Conger when her new husband appeared on stage for the first time and gave her a big kiss and hug to indicate she made the cut to win over the 49 other bride hopefuls.
Whether or not the marriage lasted, Ms. Conger, according to a news report, received prizes worth a total of $100,000: a honeymoon in the Caribbean, a $35,000 engagement ring, and an Isuzu Trooper. (Unfortunately, the Trooper is a sport utility vehicle, not a qualified candidate to be her next husband.)
Other than being part of a display of media bad taste, Ms. Conger did the same as many women do in real life. Each of us probably knows of at least one marriage that is based on money not love. Of course, there’s always the possibility, she may have actually believed a successful marriage might result from this media mess.
And the groom — if he wanted to “buy” a bride, there are a lot of options open to him. After all, he’s a multimillionaire and as such he probably has the lion’s share of women of all ages who would gladly welcome becoming Mrs. Multimillionaire. If he has exhausted the supply of local talent, he could always choose a mail-order bride and make a selection from many nationalities and every age range.
Or, he could always start working his way through the list of 49 women who didn’t make the cut.
“In short, this program bears out the First Law of Television: If you search hard enough, you can find someone to do anything you can think of…providing you put them on TV while they do it.”—Associated Press
Which comes to Dumb Idea No. 2. Now that we’ve watched a multimillionaire get married on television, why don’t we watch one get divorced on television? How about this scenario: Four lovely married couples on stage tell the secrets to the success of their marriages, but one unsuspecting spouse is in for a surprise as his or her spouse is there to tell them (and the viewing audience) the marriage is over.
I almost forgot. Jerry Springer’s guests pull that kind of stunt all the time.
I might just quit watching television. Real life is difficult enough.