I once read that often, one of the four couples was not a “couple,” but “a couple of actors.” The reason–Barris meant for his programs to be entertainment, and you couldn’t always rely on the “real” couples to be funny enough. That way, in case things didn’t pan out properly, there would still be some fun. That is, the actors could make up their own outrageous responses, thus providing comedy for all.
It seems plausible, especially since actors routinely showed up on The Dating Game (I saw Pee Wee Herman once–in character), but is it true. I’ve never seen it actually documented.
I swear I saw Wink Martindale on a TV special being interviewed by Maury Povich and they specifically talked about that episode. Wink said that the greatest lines came from sweet, innocent, naive women who didn’t quit understand the questions. This particular woman, a blonde from somewhere in the mid-west, didn’t understand the questions “where’s the strangest place you’ve had whoopee?” and that was her answer and the whole place just was rolling on the floor.
I’m sure there were other couples who were actors (I also remember seeing Burt Reynolds on The Dating Game) but I don’t think that particular couple was the set up.
I indeed saw that episode… it was the funniest think I had ever seen (up to that time)… he was not very well known yet. That happened several years later.
I can answer this zombie question by digging up some of my own long long ago. I spent a couple of years working as a contestant coordinator for the Newlywed Game and the Dating Game.
The contestants were real people. I don’t recall there ever being any celebrity episodes on the Newlywed Game like those on the Dating Game. Since the shows were produced in Hollywood there were certainly some aspiring actors on both shows but there were not “stealth” actors paid to pretend to be regular schmoes.
Everybody who came in to audition for the shows was asked to give the names and phone numbers of friends they thought might want to be on. We called those people. The form had room for 10 names and most people filled them up, so, each week we interviewed around 500 people who, in turn gave us the names of 5000 more people to call to get 500 to come in next week.
“Hi, Soanso? This is Turble. I’m with the Dating Game on ABC. You’ve been recommended to us as a possible contestant. How would you like to come in for an interview and see if we can get you on the show?”