A while ago, we had a thread about Rodney James Alcala, the “Dating Game Killer”. He was called that because, even though he was a convicted rapist and right in the middle of a serial killing spree, he was allowed to be on “The Dating Game” as one of the bachelors. He ended up being the lucky guy picked by the bachelorette, but they never actually went out on the date that they won. The bachelorette refused to go on the date because Alcala was “creepy”. Smart girl.
Last night, while I was cruising the Internet, I found out that Phil Hartman’s first television appearance was on “The Dating Game”, and he was also the winning bachelor. However, according to Wikipedia, he was also stood up by the bachelorette and the date that he won apparently never happened.
Since Phil did not turn out to be a serial killer, I’m curious as to how often this happened, that the bachelorette (or bachelor) refused to actually go on the date that they had won. I’m a bit too young to have witnessed the Dating Game’s heyday, but I did watch Phil Hartman’s appearance on YouTube (skip to 10:40 to see Phil’s part of the episode). The prize was a trip for two to the DoubleTree Inn in Monterey, CA. Perhaps the bachelorette was uncomfortable spending time in a hotel with a man she hardly knows…but, then, if you’re uncomfortable with that, why participate in the show?
Did most winning couples on “The Dating Game” actually go out on the date that they won together?
Hm, I would find a ‘date’ arranged at a hotel to be skeevy, a dinner and a movie are a date. I would have been a bit upset at having to go off to some hotel somewhere for my ‘date’ and would have refused to go as well. [Or I would have made sure to have brought someone along with me to share my room. The bachelor can get his own damned room.]
The dates were a short vacation at some resort. The man and the woman always each had their own room. There was always a chaperone. The stays at the resort were paid for by the resort itself as advertising. I don’t know what percentage of those so-called dates (which I suspect often consisted of the two people spending time by themselves and ignoring their supposed date) didn’t come off. I suspect that sometimes one or both of the two people decided that the resort was stupid, so they didn’t waste their time going there.
A friend of mine was on the 80s incarnation three times and won on his third try. The prize was a three day Ensanada cruise. There was no chaperone anymore in those days. They never ended up going because they were supposed to schedule a weekend together and she just wasn’t interested. Two or three years later, my friend ran into her when he was at a strip bar and she was one of the dancers.
The show got looser about things as time went on. The need for chaperones disappeared, as they decided that the couple were adults and didn’t have to be watched all the time. The sexual implications in the questions became stronger.
Does anybody think the contestants were actually looking for love or marriage?
Let’s face it- just as on current romance-oriented “reality” shows, a huge percentage of the contestants on ***The Dating Game *** were people who wanted to get into show biz, and thought ANY kind of TV exposure would be good for their careers. Young Tom Selleck and young Andy Kaufman are just two of the many aspiring actors, actresses, singers and comics who appeared as contestants.
I’m sure there were many cases in which the bachelorettes and the “winning” bachelors either didn’t like each other that much and skipped their vacation or one of them said, “I already have a hubby/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend and I only did this show to get on TV. Sorry!”
I remember some show looking back at the Dating Game. It was mentioned that not all dates came off, and sometimes the participants just took the vacation without making it a date, sometimes bringing other dates along. But I have no idea if those were exceptions or the norm.
There had to have been, just by chance, a few real love connections too. I wonder how many long term relationships or marriages started from that show.
I worked as a Contestant Coordinator for the show for a couple of years in the late 1960s. I can’t really put any hard numbers on it but certainly sometimes the winners didn’t go out together.
Sometimes on a short trip/date like to the San Diego Zoo they both just passed. Sometimes one or the other of them would sign over their trip and let the other person choose a traveling companion – there may have been some money exchanged between the winners in that case but the production company was not involved in that.
The staff on the show took turns chaperoning dates. Unless the couple were under 18 the chaperone was just along to handle tickets, cab fares, etc., and sometimes to do a bit of PR (like calling the local newspaper to try to get a picture of the couple at the local cheese festival). With younger daters the chaperone would share a room with the one of the same sex, with adults the chaperone had his/her own room.
I did have a couple of trips where the couple decided to hate each other during the trip … uncomfortable, but nobody died on my watch.
It was a long time ago and I don’t remember the numbers but there were several contestants on The Newlywed Game who later went on The Dating Game but none that I know of who met on Dating Game and then went on Newlyweds.
Again, is that surprising? Reality shows always attract people looking for a big break in show biz. Did Tom Selleck or Farrah Fawcett or whoever really expect to find romance? Or did they just want to get their faces on TV in order to get more acting or modeling jobs?
