Wow, new here, and just had to sign in so I could join the conversation. I saw one of the early shows this season and was sucked in despite myself. Binge-watched the entire history, and eventually wound up in season four again. I have so many opinions!
Okay. First of all--wth is up with every season, them matching a hot chick with a guy who is not... hot? Sometimes more than one? Season One, it--holy cow!--worked. Talk about unexpected. And I loved the show, was fascinated by it.
But by the time I reached Seaon Four again the blinders were off and I was wondering why in the heck is anybody trusting these people? Heather & Derek? Haven't they made this mistake too many times before? Handing a guy a woman who is way out of his league--in her opinion--so that she is horrified at first sight, doing her best to cover because she's on television. This makes great drama, but seriously, did they really think this would work?
When I look at them matching a woman who doesn't like dogs with a guy who owns two of them--no way none of this came up in all their extensive testing. A guy like Derek with Heather, who has a very high opinion of herself. It is very difficult for me to think they really thought these were good matches. They thought they were okay matches with built-in drama.
Also, they can say they receive thousands of entries and that they background check everyone, blah blah blah. But if these are truly the best matches they can come up with, I have to question--were all of these thousands of applications from the same geographic area? Or were they from all over the place?
Okay so yes I agree with others that the experts have a vested interest in making these couples look like they at least work on paper. But it's hard for me to imagine that they really didn't see some of these problems coming. I also understand why the experts are saying the things they say. They are the ones under contract who have to legitimately make the couples look like they have a chance in hell.
So, to the specifics. Heather? Didn't try. She was ready to bail immediately. She finally got aware of enough of how bad she might look that she tried to shift blame, and tried to look like she had given it a shot, but seriously? Never. Bailing that fast on a what--6 or 8 week show? Sorry, she never gave it a shot. Was Derek perfect? Was he her great match? I have no clue. But she clearly never intended to give him a shot once she saw he wasn't her idea of hot.
Re: the assumed pot smoking? Again I look at the experts and wonder wtf? I think we have applicants lying about what they do or what they'll accept, or we have experts so desperate to make matches from slim pickings, or so needing to make matches that provide tv drama, that they put a couple like Heather and Derek together.
OMG, poor Sonia. Nick seemed a cold fish from the beginning. I couldn't figure it out. But when he finally said that if the experts did their jobs it would have been instant, it wouldn't have taken work--how did they miss this fatal flaw in the entire premise of their show?
When he said he wasn't attracted to her at all? It seemed real, totally real, and I didn't blame her for moving out.
And I am sappy enough to think maybe she should move back in, if some of the things they both say are true. Two weeks. Give proximity a shot. Finish the experiment. But now that I've read the opinions here, I am willing to accept that maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she is being classy and fulfilling her commitment to the show, and playing nice on tv and going through the motions. I guess after seeing season one, part of me is looking at them and thinking they might still pull this one out and shock us all, but realistically, I have probably just read too many romance novels.
Finally, Tom and Lillian. I want to believe that they have a shot. I want to believe that they may decide do keep 'the experiment' going longer and give it a shot. First of all, she works all the time. That's real estate--being available all the damned time, every time a client wants you. But there is an assumption in these comments that she is hugely more successful than he is and if I recall correctly, didn't they have similar earnings that were very much in flux when they compared? My friend was in real estate for two years before making her first sale, then close five houses in one day. On paper it was huge. But spread over two years, not so huge. Real estate is constant availability without dependable, constant income.
On the other hand, there is this huge assumption that because he has that bus he's a loser, and because we've not seen him working, he's not. I've been following all kinds of bus conversions and full-time RV living folks for a couple of years just because I find them interesting. And that bus? Is a jewel. The woodwork and the details in it what little we saw? Were amazing. This is not a loser in a second rate, falling apart trailer on the beach. This is a guy who truly works on yachts--another thing I have a little bit of knowledge about--and put quality workmanship into his bus, whether he did it or had his employees or subcontractors do it. He said, when they were talking about finances, that his income varied by how many projects he had in a year. He may have cleared time for this show. Or maybe he's between projects. His job may give him stretches of down time, and he may have money stashed so that he can enjoy those periods until the next yacht comes along.
This is all speculation--but you can't assume because she is shown working a lot and he isn't that he is a loser and she would be the major breadwinner.
Bottom line, I'd like to see this couple make it. If they don't, then this show is nothing but the trainwreck Honey Boo Boo type reality show I assumed it was before i got sucked in earlier this year.
And I add my voice to that of others--where WERE the dogs tonight? Another detail--the experts matching somebody with two dogs with somebody 'terrified' of dogs. No, she was never terrified. I know people who are terrified of dogs, and Sonia was not. She wasn't comfortable with them. She may have been injured by one, but terrified? No. And the whole, "I want a dog now," after what we saw seems to confirm that.
Okay, got a lot off my chest. LOL!
