# Relationship TV shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relationship-tv-shows/179483 "2003-06-04T00:25:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![survivorology.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@survivorology.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/survivorology.com)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relationship-tv-shows/179483/1 "2003-06-04T00:25:26Z")
Now that For Love or Money has debuted, will it join The Bachelor, Married by America, Joe Millionaire, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, and Mr. Personality as a show that has never produced a lasting relationship? Is it merely the fame, the gawking, societal pressures from 15 minutes of fame? Or is a flaw in the way the shows are contrived? If you can develop a reality show about people hooking up for a long term relationship, how would you change it so that the relationships created would work? ---
**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relationship-tv-shows/179483/2 "2003-06-04T04:23:30Z")
How do you know all those shows didn’t produce “lasting relationships”? Mr. Personality ended just a few weeks ago and I haven’t heard anything since. (I’m not doubting you, was just curious.) ---
**Author:** ![survivorology.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@survivorology.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/survivorology.com)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relationship-tv-shows/179483/3 "2003-06-04T17:30:24Z")
The relationships have not had time to last. But I do suspect they will fail. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relationship-tv-shows/179483/4 "2003-06-04T20:31:55Z")
Have any LTRs come out of _The Dating Game_ or _Blind Date_ or _Love Connection_? I imagine there have. Or don’t game shows count? ---
**Author:** ![survivorology.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@survivorology.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/survivorology.com)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relationship-tv-shows/179483/5 "2003-06-05T01:15:14Z")
Neither the Dating Game or Love Connection ever intended to be more than a blind date. They did not have a goal to create lasting relationships. My point about the other shows is that they try to create lasting relationships. However, they must be doing something wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relationship-tv-shows/179483/6 "2003-06-05T06:47:38Z")
As far as I know, the participants are not required to get married or stay together. I would suggest that everyone involved sign a contract requiring them to (if selected) actually get married and stay married for, say, two years. They would also have to actually live together and file joint tax returns during this time. If they fail to do this, or break up prior to the two-year mark, or if either of them is caught having sex with anyone else, they don’t get the prize money. Of course, the people doing the selecting would have the option to NOT select any of the candidates. I don’t want to force them to marry someone awful, just because he/she was the LEAST awful of the group. This also gives the network the opportunity to have occasional specials in which they check in on the “happy” couple. Hopefully, the candidates will show a little more judgement when they know they have to actually BE married to whoever they pick, rather than just jumping through the show’s hoops for a few weeks and going their separate ways with their money. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relationship-tv-shows/179483/7 "2003-06-07T13:07:17Z")
According to _Entertainment Weekly_, Simon Cowell’s new show, **Cupid** , where a woman’s two friends sort out the prospective suitors, will give the woman $1M _if she stays with the guy_. Presumably there wil be follow-up shows of the sort that **Vlad** suggests. My question is – does anyone, even the contestants, seriously expect a long-term relationship to come out of these shows? The people who go on them seem more interested in being on TV, for whatever reason, than in actually finding “THE ONE.” If I were cynical, I would say that it would be inherently impossible for a long-term relationship to develop, given the extreme level of narcissism of anyone who would go on one of these shows. (The possible exception would be Zora, of “Joe Millionaire” fame, who appears fairly normal – but if she truly were, what the hell was she doing on the show?)