Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Million

Are you having trouble locating true love? Do you need a little help finding that special guy or gal? If so, then it’s time to start watching Bravo’s latest reality-creation-slash-guilty-pleasure, Millionaire Matchmaker.

This “so bad it’s good” series follows third generation matchmaker and love guru Patti Stanger as she helps rich, socially-challenged Los Angeles men find true love through her matchmaking service, the Millionaire’s Club. While it may sound like a typically-trashy reality love show, Millionaire Matchmaker actually has substance hidden within each overly-dramatic episode.

What makes Millionaire Matchmaker so attractive is that it utilizes Bravo’s successful reality formula, the same one that produced such similarly-named hits as Blow Out, Work Out, and Flipping Out. This format relies on the show’s star empowering herself as she struts her stuff on camera. For Stanger, this means using Millionaire Matchmaker as a platform to show the ups and downs of playing a reality TV Cupid. It’s almost like she was made to star in her own show—she is able to produce melodramatic, made-for-TV breakdowns that result in hilariously unrealistic epiphanies.

The show uses the same premise for every episode. Each week, Millionaire Matchmaker starts with Stanger interviewing a group of women. She then selects a few to attend a special VIP event that is being thrown for two millionaires. At the event, the women vie for a date with one of the rich bachelors. The men then take the women out on a date and report back to Stanger. At the end of the episode, the viewer finds out whether the seed for “true love” has been planted.

The formulaic nature of Millionaire Matchmaker makes for a show that is often predictable and sometimes irritating. This is especially true when a date is not going well and the viewer is forced to watch the awkwardness on screen. In a recent episode, that meant watching a grown man say, “You are beautiful,” over and over to his date. Although moments like this can be frustrating, they are made up for by the laugh-out-loud quality of Stanger’s nonstop preaching about finding true love.
As silly and melodramatic as she can be on screen, Stanger is a good matchmaker. She is knowledgeable about the dos and don’ts of dating, and when it comes to sex, she believes that a man and woman should not have sex until a monogamous relationship has been established. While this is a huge bummer for a lot of the rich, juvenile men who appear on Millionaire Matchmaker, Stanger is so strict about sex that she has included rules about it in her contract. The idea of temporary celibacy seems less shocking after she claims that if she were a millionaire, she would work pro bono and be “like a Mother Teresa of matchmaking.” Then again, although it comes with the best of intentions, can a viewer really take a woman who would say a line like that seriously?

Is she really that moral, or only as moral as one can be on a reality show?
Stanger’s values are put into question by her position as a TV matchmaker. Is it right to date on a reality show, and should the phrase “true love” even be used on television? To maker matters worse, holding open calls to find girls who have, as she puts it, “beauty, brains, and class” clearly does not adhere to Stanger’s professed moral standards—these women seem to be handpicked to create drama. In the case of other reality shows, these elements might seem overtly obvious and weaken the show. However, such artificial elements actually benefit Millionaire Matchmaker. They provide the show with the commercial appeal which will help attract viewers and help them become dating savvy.

Stanger is sure to teach you a thing or two about the dating world. If not, then at least you get to watch a grown woman tell it like it is to rich playboys.