Most Controversial TV Show: 'I Wanna Marry Harry' duped women with fake Prince Harry leaving them heartbroken
Becoming a princess is most girls' dream. FOX Network took advantage of this dream, and created a show called 'I Wanna Marry Harry'. But the show was a far cry from a fairy-tale romance. Here, Harry refers to Prince Harry. No, the royal Prince did not appear in any reality show looking for a bride before he stumbled across Meghan Markle. The producers of the show roped in a bunch of gullible women, who were beyond thrilled at the prospect of having a chance of becoming a part of the British royalty.
However, the producers obviously couldn't rope in Prince Harry, so they instead roped in a man named Matt Hicks, and got him to dye his blonde hair ginger and duped the women into believing that Hicks was the royal prince. The casting department did a good job because the women on the show clearly believed that they were vying for Prince Harry's heart.
They went to extreme lengths to win over his heart. From ratting out one another's secrets to indulging in petty catfights, the women left no stone unturned when it came to trying to win over the fake Prince Harry. Any time one of the women began having a suspicion about the identity of the man they were vying for, she was automatically sent home, saying she wasn't good enough for the prince.
Later, in an interview, Kimberly Birch, the eventual winner of the show revealed the tactics employed by the production team to deceive them into believing that it was Prince Harry. She said, "The whole time, you’re confronting them, saying, 'This is all set up', and they’re like, 'OK, yeah, you’re going crazy'." She even revealed how the producers used to stand outside the contestants' rooms and whisper that the Buckingham Palace officials and the royal family were upset about the show. It was their responsibility to take the Prince back to the palace. The producers even reportedly brought in a fake therapist, who turned out to be a member of the production crew. The therapist convinced the contestants by saying, "You have to trust the people here, it’s not good for you to keep questioning,”
Apart from the problematic premise of the show and the manipulation carried out by the production team, there were many other questionable aspects of the show. Hicks himself ad admitted that the women on the show were way out of his league, but continued to dupe them and break their hearts. Whenever it was time for one of the women to be eliminated, the eliminated contestant seemed genuinely heartbroken and devastated. The cruel twist in the ending, just made things more controversial.
In the end, when there was only one girl left, it was revealed that Hicks was not Prince Harry and his original identity was revealed to the woman, The woman then has to decide whether she still wants to be with Hicks or not. If she chooses to be with him, then the couple wins a cash prize of $250,000, and if she chooses to dump him, then both of them leave empty-handed.
So, it comes as no surprise that Birch chose to leave the show with Hicks. The deception, manipulation, gaslighting and pitting the women against one another are just the tip of the iceberg to one of the most problematic shows of 2014. Thankfully, the show was never renewed after Season 1.
