First of all, let me say that I’m a huge Anglophile – I love all things British, from the bands, the culture, the literature, the movies, and of course, my royals. So, that being said, even though I found the concept to be ridiculous, I was a bit curious about the new Fox reality show, I Wanna Marry Harry. I thought it was going to be a bit like a dumbed down version of The Bachelor meets Joe Millionaire (brain candy reality TV at its finest), so I recorded it. And I couldn’t make it past the first 10 minutes.
The concept of the show: some poor bloke (like my British lingo?) Matt Hicks, who can’t even afford a car to drive to work but is a bit of a Prince Harry lookalike, is given a makeover and a crash course in all things royal, then helicoptered into a castle where a gaggle of extremely young wanna-be princesses await. The women have no idea who they are meeting. As the girls prepare to meet the mysterious bachelor, the cattiness begins to start, before they’ve even laid eyes on the guy. When one girl says she’s the ripe old age of 25, another exclaims, “Yay! Another oldie!”
Once the imposter lands on the castle grounds, surrounded by fake security, the speculation begins. Some of the girls don’t even know who Prince Harry is or what he looks like, others are convinced that he’s the single, hard-partying Prince on first sight, there are a few who are skeptical. One girl (sorry, I didn’t bother to learn any of their names) says she is sure he must be the real Harry because only “the President, the Queen, and Michael Jackson,” would have Secret Service. Bless her heart.
That’s when I turned it off.
I was left with a splitting headache and a few unanswered questions. Are these girls really so empty-headed that they would fall for this sham, or are they in on the joke, just going along with it to get their own 15 minutes of fame? Do they really think that Prince Harry, the most eligible bachelor on the planet, would need to do a reality show to meet women? He’s never seemed to have problems before in that department. Some have said that the show is borderline cruel, deceiving these poor little lambs. I say, they should have read their contracts a little more closely.
Hopefully soon I’ll find a show to regularly recap, this one isn’t going to be it.
Jennifer Terry 