Millionaire Matchmaker is a TV series on Bravo that follows Patti Stanger’s challenges and victories in finding millionaires their ideal match. As you could imagine, it is difficult to break people of their shallow ways in order to discover his or her soul mate. I would really like to give my analysis of “Millionaire MatchFaker,” as I am quite skeptical of this series.
I do have to admit that I watch the show, but that is because I am a loyal “Bravo babe.” Anything that pops up on this network, I will watch it at least once and then every other time it airs on repeat. Even though I enjoy Stanger’s trademark sayings and colorful personality, I don’t enjoy her inconsistent pieces of advice; and at the risk of sounding cliche, I am often left with a bad taste in my mouth.
So the first thing I don’t appreciate about the show is the conflicting messages. For example, she might have a shallow millionaire who won’t look twice at a girl if she doesn’t have blonde hair. Stanger will put the guy in his place for his narrow-minded outlook on appearance, yet the way she treats the girls who come into interview is completely contradictory.
She will allow girls to come to the mixer only if they wear short dresses, show their boobs, “sexify” themselves. Sometimes she forces the girl to dye her hair to catch the guy’s attention. Huh? So she goes from being a woman’s hero and putting macho men in their place, to being even worse than them. (As a side note, the millionaire clients are also women too, but for this piece I will stick to the “millionaire men” reference.)
The second thing I don’t like about the show is the way she treats the people who come to interview. These women are looking to find love, or maybe they are just looking to find a hot millionaire. And yes, I am aware, they signed up for their 15 minutes of fame; but, either way she completely degrades them and picks apart physical characteristics that she doesn’t like. Stanger will tell girls they have busted teeth, horrible hair, a big nose, or need to buy a different bra. Whatever reason she needs to insult these women makes absolutely no sense. Maybe that’s just another part of our society’s dark side of entertainment.
Kudos for television for once again highlighting a triumphant moment for mankind. We’ve found our new heroic role model for all to emulate. Of course, I’m being facetious; but I needed to vent. Actually, I feel sad in the presence of such depravity, where ratings celebrate someone deriding someone else. I guess there are different levels of looking at a Matchmaker though, for in this process Stanger reveals herself as being a harsher critic than the millionaires for whom she works.
The final complaint I have deals with the actual process. She starts by sticking all of the females in one room for the millionaire to meet. The millionaire has to pick two mini dates to go on in order to see which one he wants to take on the big date. He gets a few minutes with each girl to decide the one with whom he has more chemistry, and then takes that person out the next day.
Most of the time these dates don’t work out, which I’m sure is part of the usual setbacks matchmakers expect. However, for millionaires to meet many women at one time and choose two women immediately must be difficult.
If I could revamp the show, I would have the millionaire go to the mixer and meet five women who peek his interest. Then, he would have five mini-dates the next day. Legitimate mini-dates, not the ones she has on the show which consist of his going to a corner to talk to the girl for ten minutes. This way he could really spend time getting to know multiple women. While I’m not a producer or an expert matchmaker, I do think this popular series needs to review its format, personality, image, and overall impact.
