Two new “arranged” marriage reality shows in the works

Would you trust your friends and family to pick your spouse? Two new reality TV shows pose the question

Caitlin Gray


Two new reality shows feature frustrated single people whose spouses are chosen by friends and family. The first is CBS’s “Arranged Marriage,” from the production company behind reality TV gold “Project Runway” and “Top Chef.”

The CBS Web site describes it as “a series that brings the tradition of arranged marriages, which is still practiced successfully by many cultures throughout the world, to the U.S., where it is virtually an inconceivable option for most single Americans.Three [some sources say four] adults who are anxious to get married, but who have been unsuccessful in their own search for a mate, choose a life-altering path.”

That life-altering path is letting their loved ones pick the one they marry. The show will follow these fortunate(?) couples, for whom arranged marriage was once “virtually an inconceivable option,” over multiple episodes and document their blind weddings and the varying post-wedding outcomes.

Interested? Casting is happening now.

The second reality show in the works is Fox’s “I Married a Stranger,” from the same folks who brought you “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Kitchen Nightmares.”

I wish this show was “I Married a Perfect Stranger,” and that it just followed the lives of Balki Bartokomous and his wife (Mary Ann?). But no, this show features a brand new blind wedding each week.

People are already noting that it will be like the final episode of “The Bachelor,” except that it’s every single week. Friends and family will start out with five to six possible candidates and eventually narrow it down to two. Supposedly, the bride-or-groom-to-be gets to pick between the last two.

I know that these shows will probably have a more serious slant - I’m picturing lots of heart-to-heart interviews with Grandma, but I can’t help but hope there are some sort of “Rock-of-Love"-type escalating challenges.

Maybe the bride-or-groom-to-be gets down to the last two and then they just have a dance-off and whoever serves who, wins. Perhaps. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Our Take:

There is a big difference between choosing to enter an arranged marriage and being forced into one, with no choice. The people involved in these reality shows have the freedom to decide, which may differ from another’s arranged marriage experience.

It’s also pretty ironic that so many people in our country are excluded from being able to marry a person they have actually loved for many years, rather than many episodes.

We will have to wait and see if these shows will escape that weird harem-like quality other reality matchmaking shows carry, where random people are supposed to fall in love over a handful of drunken poolside conversations and hot air balloon dates. We must admit, Trista and Ryan are still going so strong. We’ll re-assess and do a follow-up once the shows air.