# Anybody been on Wife Swap/Trading Spouses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-been-on-wife-swap-trading-spouses/437336 "2008-02-12T21:08:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-been-on-wife-swap-trading-spouses/437336/1 "2008-02-12T21:08:50Z")
Or know somebody who has? I am curious as to the sleeping arrangements on the show. Obviously they are not sleeping together. The camera often shows the wife waking up in the marital bed alone; does she actually sleep there or do they just shoot that for the show? It seems likely that the wife would stay in a hotel or something. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-been-on-wife-swap-trading-spouses/437336/2 "2008-02-12T21:13:32Z")
Don’t take this as an admission that I watch the show, but - I’m pretty sure they stay in the guest rooms, or shuffle the kids about to make a spare room. I’ve seen more shots of the ‘wife’ waking up in a single bed than in the master bedroom. Not that I ever watch the show. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-been-on-wife-swap-trading-spouses/437336/3 "2008-02-12T21:15:26Z")
They always have a spare bed made up for the guest Mom. On more than one occasion, however, guest Mom has split early. In which case she probably does wind up at a hotel. That show fascinates me. I’d love to have one of those cleanliness freaks come over here and tidy things up for a week while I taught her children to paint murals in their bedrooms. It wouldn’t be fair to my kids, though. My daughter, particularly (my son might like a more orderly mom for a change). That part bothers me, I don’t think it’s right to use kids. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-been-on-wife-swap-trading-spouses/437336/4 "2008-02-12T21:28:03Z")
I think it’s a great show. I like how the families learn from each other. It’s much better than that other show they used to have that spanned two weeks, was all about the cash, and left everybody feeling like crap. ---
**Author:** ![Saratoga\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Saratoga\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saratoga_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-been-on-wife-swap-trading-spouses/437336/5 "2008-02-12T23:09:00Z")
Oh, this is about a television show? Ah, well, execuse me, I, ah, er, wandered in here by mistake… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-been-on-wife-swap-trading-spouses/437336/7 "2017-06-03T18:46:18Z")
Streaming spam reported. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-been-on-wife-swap-trading-spouses/437336/8 "2017-06-05T14:37:48Z")
> [@fessie](#): > > They always have a spare bed made up for the guest Mom. On more than one occasion, however, guest Mom has split early. In which case she probably does wind up at a hotel. > > That show fascinates me. I’d love to have one of those cleanliness freaks come over here and tidy things up for a week while I taught her children to paint murals in their bedrooms. > > It wouldn’t be fair to my kids, though. My daughter, particularly (my son might like a more orderly mom for a change). > That part bothers me, I don’t think it’s right to use kids. I quit watching after I saw this: One family had just one child, a boy about 10 years old who was super-duper, spooky smart. The swapped mom was… not quite as bright. So Swapped Mom got upset with Kid about something and he was told (by Dad) to go apologize to Swapped Mom. Kid used a $5 word that Swapped Mom didn’t understand. So he got in trouble again, for _intentionally trying to make her feel stupid_. I’ve experienced that myself and I really felt for that kid. He did NOTHING wrong. He was trying to make his faux pas right and Swapped Mom just doubled down. He was too young and not quite articulate enough to be able to say, “No, of course I wasn’t \*trying \*to make you feel stupid. I _assumed_ you are smart and would understand all the words I used because I’m only 10 and you’re an adult.” I was really upset he got into more trouble for trying to apologize but for using words too difficult for the grown-ass adult to understand. And the Dad backed up Swapped Mom because he’d agreed to agree to her parenting style and was trying to teach the kid about integrity. So I had to stop watching. I hated seeing kids get punished for being normal kids and not understanding the new parent’s weird, quirky “rules.”