Dark Side of Reality TV Episode 3 - Joe Millionaire
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00:00This is the story of Joe Millionaire, a person pretends to be someone they're not in order
00:14to discover what is truly in someone else's heart.
00:18Most fairy tales have a happy ending, but in the crowded reality TV landscape, nothing
00:22cuts through like a plot twist.
00:25And Joe Millionaire has one of the biggest.
00:27We went to the casting call for a reality TV show that they were calling The Big Choice.
00:32We knew it was a dating show.
00:34That's all we knew.
00:35It was basically going on a vacation for a month.
00:37It was very exciting.
00:38It was very fun.
00:39Oh my God!
00:40This is very...
00:41Oh my God!
00:42We would be meeting Evan.
00:49His life changed when he inherited almost 50 million dollars.
00:53Then, you know, the Prince Charming arrives on a horse.
00:57It was just super exciting.
00:58Oh, it's amazing!
00:59Oh my God!
01:00Everybody enjoying themselves?
01:01Yeah!
01:02It just felt like, I don't know, going to camp with the girls initially.
01:08The secret behind this particular show, however, opens the door to all kinds of manipulation.
01:14Pretty quickly, it got weird.
01:16They would film in every corner.
01:19It became clear we should trust no one.
01:22These men had a key to my room, and they could enter any time.
01:28They're f***ing with us.
01:29Twenty women are getting catfished, and the audience is in on the charade.
01:33Evan Marriott, I'm 28, and my hometown is Virginia Beach, Virginia.
01:38From the very beginning, we were looking for Joe.
01:41He was going to have to pretend and play off that he was a millionaire.
01:45But we're going to frame it like it's a fairy tale.
01:48Fairy tale come true.
01:49Fairy tale.
01:50Fairy tale.
01:52So the audience becomes complicit in the humiliation.
01:56Don't think there's anything that could have prepared me for what would follow.
01:59The result?
02:00A finality watched by more than 40 million.
02:02The cost?
02:03Total humiliation on a national scale.
02:06It just felt dirty.
02:08It felt like the joke's on us.
02:11Yeah, I couldn't tell anybody how it really went down.
02:16We're in trouble.
02:17It's a journey.
02:18It's a fairy tale.
02:21In the early 2000s, real-life soap operas are king, and audiences are chomping at the
02:33bit to get a peek inside the intimate moments of a couple's journey.
02:37Fox presents the most outrageous pageant ever.
02:40Fifty women will compete to marry a mystery multimillionaire.
02:43She won't meet him till they say, I do.
02:45Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?
02:48It was the first major reality show on network television.
02:52This was the year 2000.
02:53It started the whole network reality TV genre.
02:56Monday, March 25th, ABC presents the classic story of Boy Meets Girl.
03:02The Bachelor ends up being a huge ratings grabber.
03:06Mike Darnell, king of reality TV schlock, and also its chief misogynist.
03:11He thinks, oh, I gotta steal that.
03:15As Fox's VP of Alternative Programming, Darnell is looking for a bold new idea that can help
03:20his network outperform its rivals in prime time.
03:23We had done Temptation Island, and The Bachelor was out at the time, and we were just thinking,
03:29what could we do that sort of picks it up a notch?
03:32It was sort of the Wild West in that we started to see more gimmickry and kind of upping the
03:39stakes.
03:41Darnell, so he thinks, okay, most women in general are gold diggers and not to be trusted.
03:47Let's make fun of them together, but we're going to frame it like it's a fairy tale.
03:52A plan is hatched to create a dating show with a hidden agenda, which isn't included
03:57in the casting call.
03:58At first, all I was doing was searching for single, beautiful, charismatic women who were
04:06willing and interested in being on a new reality show.
04:10And the hair looks okay?
04:12Everything looks all right?
04:14Okay.
04:16I was very intent on finding love.
04:18All my friends were married by then, and maybe having babies already, too, and so I felt
04:21like I gotta get this show on the road, so I wanted to find somebody.
04:26My name is Amanda, and I was a cast member on the first season of Joe Millionaire.
04:29Where should I look?
04:30At you?
04:31Yeah.
04:32Okay, you're all set up.
04:33I don't think at that point in my life I had a type.
04:36When you're young, you just think the one is going to present itself, and you're going
04:40to know.
04:41My name is Allison Ball, and I was in the top five of the first season of Joe Millionaire.
04:46Do you want me to talk to you?
04:47So, yeah.
04:48Yeah.
04:49I wasn't going in hopes to find the love of my life.
04:52I think the biggest takeaway is that I was in hot pursuit of my acting career at the
04:58time.
04:59And I thought, well, gosh, you know, I mean, this could be like a really big break.
05:04My name is Melissa, and I was one of the finalists on Joe Millionaire.
05:07I remember the call vividly, a few simple questions, are you adventurous, and are you
05:13single?
05:14And I do feel like I'm a little bit of a romantic.
05:17My name is Zora, and I was the winner of the first season of Joe Millionaire.
05:22The cast is told they're bound for an overseas romance, but not much else.
05:28The premise was pretty vague at the time.
05:30I knew there were some romantic connotations, but that was really it.
05:36Really all that they know is that they will get the opportunity to go to France, to live
05:42in a beautiful mansion, and have the opportunity to date a bachelor.
05:48My goal was to get on the show.
05:50It's such a great opportunity.
05:51You're going to be like Barbie in Europe.
05:54So I received the contract, and on the contract, the title of the show was called The Big Choice.
06:02I remember seeing that.
06:06We are to kiss the bachelor, the man, if asked to, and it takes a lot to phase me.
06:15Besides that it was a dating show, and it was on location out of the country, that's
06:20all we knew.
06:21I very much remember getting to the airport, and all of a sudden the wave of fear hit me
06:25of, what the f*** am I doing?
06:27The show flies a cast of 20 excited women to Europe.
06:31All they really know is that their Prince Charming is already there, waiting for them.
06:37We landed in France, and we were told to find a person holding a sign that said The Big Choice.
06:47We were whisked away to the countryside, and we rode up in a horse and carriage.
06:53The producer, you know, he kind of talked to the girls before you would go, you know,
06:59and this was like your first time in front of the camera, and I just remember him saying,
07:03okay girls, big, we want big reactions, big reactions.
07:07Oh my God, I can't believe it!
07:10It was the start, it was the start, and that's where you realize, okay, I'm on camera, you
07:15know, here we go.
07:16I could get used to this.
07:17Oh my gosh!
07:18Yay!
07:19Just being there in this beautiful atmosphere, I really enjoyed that.
07:24Oh my God!
07:27I think that they wanted just to get our genuine reaction.
07:31This is a fairy tale!
07:33It was very surreal.
07:35Is that where we're staying?
07:36That is where we are staying.
07:37Oh my God!
07:39I've never experienced anything like that, I've never been to Europe, and so when I saw
07:45the chateau, I mean, it looked beautiful.
07:49Alex McLeod, who was the host of the show, gathered us women and said that we would be
07:55meeting Evan.
07:57It's the moment they've all been waiting for.
08:00For producers, it's time to bait the trap.
08:03The gentleman you are about to meet is very wealthy.
08:06His name is Evan Wallace.
08:08His life changed when he inherited almost $50 million.
08:14When they announced that he inherited all this money, it felt like, that's weird.
08:19Why are they announcing that?
08:21I believed everything that was presented to me, that Evan was an heir, that he had a butler,
08:27that we were in his chateau.
08:29They put us on a set of stairs and he came up on a horse.
08:37The main thing that was going through my mind was, oh God, please don't fall off the horse.
08:40Paul, how you doing?
08:43Everybody enjoying themselves?
08:45Having a good time?
08:46Good.
08:47I'm glad.
08:50He was tall and just attractive and seemed really charismatic.
08:55He's very smooth.
08:57Not too smooth, like cheesy smooth, but good smooth.
09:00It's like, oh, he's smooth.
09:03I thought that's what I'm supposed to say.
09:05Good morning, ladies, and welcome to the chateau.
09:07We'll take you to your rooms now.
09:11With the meat cute in the can, the cast are eager to find out what the show has in store next.
09:17We met with the director and he talked to us about what production was going to look like.
09:23There were lights everywhere.
09:29I mean, the chateau was set up where they would film in every corner.
09:35They introduced some people that were on the production.
09:38We were informed that Dr. Berry was a psychologist, that he was there on set.
09:44We could certainly talk to Dr. Berry anytime we needed to, but they did need to make sure
09:50that we understood that anything we told Dr. Berry wasn't confidential.
09:55As producers lay out the ground rules, seeds of doubt start to take root.
10:01Yeah, I mean, it definitely rang an alarm bell that we all had different interests.
10:06It rang an alarm bell that we all had different impressions of what we were about to be a part of.
10:11What better way to formally introduce you to Evan than by throwing a ball?
10:16The first night there, there was supposed to be a ball to introduce us to Evan.
10:22But the glamorous ball is really a setup for a Hunger Games-style gown hunt.
10:27They asked us to bring a ball gown, or a formal dress.
10:32So we all brought formal dresses.
10:34And then they announced that we were going to have dresses to choose from.
10:40They have all of our sizes, so had they wanted to make us look good,
10:44they would have had dresses in our size assigned to us,
10:48or we would have been able to pick from 100 dresses.
10:51But no, it was exactly 20.
10:54I do have an answer for you.
10:58It's very simple.
11:01You have 30 minutes in which to choose your dress.
11:05What are we going to do about this room full of dresses? 20 women, 20 dresses.
11:09I campaigned for everybody to go in as groups of four.
11:146 through 10, I'll go second. 11 through 15, I'll go third.
11:17And then Dr. Barry came in, and he told me to stop it.
11:22Melissa, stop it. We're all going in at once.
11:25When that happened, I was like, wow, Dr. Barry's watching us.
11:31He's watching everything.
11:35It's just meant to make women bicker, and look catty, and look petty.
11:41Why would you do that?
11:46They want me to freak out.
11:47It was hard of cattle.
11:51Oh my gosh, they're like gone already.
11:52I know.
11:54Gown selection brought out in the girls characteristics of their personality that we previously hadn't seen.
11:59No, it's not okay.
12:01The dresses aren't all in the right sizes for the women, which is absolutely an intentional choice.
12:07They're creating these manipulative and inherently humiliating situations, and it's a false premise.
12:15But they have the power, and those women didn't.
12:19The dress experience was a big hint of, they're f***ing with us.
12:35Evan Marriott, I'm 28, and my hometown is Virginia Beach, Virginia.
12:41Joe Millionaire has a rather classic plot twist.
12:44Evan is going to deceive 20 single women into believing he has inherited an enormous fortune.
12:50From the very beginning, we were looking for Joe.
12:53We were searching for a blue collar individual, and maybe a little rough around the edges,
13:03but he was going to have to pretend and play off that he was a millionaire.
13:08There's a certain amount of etiquette training that he would need to fit into that society.
13:13The etiquette lesson started out kind of odd because when I first met her and she stuck her hand out there,
13:18I didn't know really what I was supposed to do if I was supposed to lick it or kiss it.
13:24The twist is that we want them to find true love despite the fact that this guy is not a millionaire.
13:31So when I was casting, none of these women were supposed to know that.
13:37Joe Millionaire's fairytale bait-and-switch has been set in motion,
13:41and the competition for his affection kicks in at the end of day one.
13:45So we'd all gotten assigned bedrooms and started palling around with our roommates,
13:50and the very same night, eight of them got eliminated.
13:53Tonight, Evan will give 12 of you a strand of pearls as an invitation to continue with him on this journey.
14:01Ladies, those of you who did not receive a necklace, please leave the chateau.
14:08The eight rejects depart the chateau that same evening.
14:11They're still in the dark as to Evan's true identity, as are the 12 that remain.
14:15It's something producers are determined to hide at all costs.
14:19The round of women that got eliminated in the first night, they left together,
14:23and they immediately started partying and having a good time.
14:28Their antics got us all kind of extra locked down.
14:32The producers were afraid that the media would find out our location, find out what's going on.
14:41A couple of us tried to go for a morning run or something like that, combat jet lag,
14:45and we got chased down the street by security.
14:47We weren't allowed to go out on our own, sort of under lockdown.
14:52There were cameras in all of our bedrooms that I believe were motion-detected.
14:57So if you got up in the middle of the night, a camera would catch you doing it,
15:01and a crew member with a camera would come running.
15:04They appeared to have gone through our bags to make sure we didn't bring any of the contraband.
15:08We weren't allowed to bring phones.
15:10Like, you can't have any contact with anyone back in the U.S.
15:15And the producers immediately confiscated all these postcards,
15:19and they said, oh my gosh, you cannot send anything.
15:22So I think at that moment it really hit me, like, oh wow,
15:25we're in this concealed location, and it's really top secret.
15:32Trapped together, Day 2 offers them a new opportunity to woo their millionaire bachelor
15:38on a day out in the intoxicating French countryside.
15:42Well, good morning, ladies.
15:43Well, today's the day you've been waiting for.
15:45It's the day of the big date, and off you'll be going with Evan.
15:49Evan is an outdoorsman, and with that in mind,
15:52I'd suggest you return to your rooms and dress more appropriately,
15:55as you will be outside on your date today.
15:57We were going to get to go horseback riding, which is something I love to do,
16:00so, like, yay, I'm going horseback riding in France.
16:05Truth is, I've had to work for everything I have, which isn't much,
16:09so I just want to see if they can roll with it and do a little hard labor.
16:15We're going to clean some stains.
16:17Great!
16:18We've had to do some menial labor beforehand,
16:22like, before we got to ride horses, we had to muck the stalls.
16:25I had this feeling, like, out of Dayana and Heidi,
16:28I could see these thoughts in their mind, like, why am I here?
16:31I just felt like, oh, there's some level of, like, humiliation meant to be happening.
16:37It just seems like you're trying to create these scenarios,
16:40like, what wouldn't a woman do to get a rich guy?
16:44You know what I mean? I've done manual labor for it.
16:46It's not a big deal, but, like, why?
16:48Yeah, why would producers have you do something like that?
16:51Just put on a happy face and shovel some slop.
16:53It wasn't exactly like, yay, I get to come to Europe and shovel horse doo-doo.
16:57All the way from America, just shovel.
16:59This isn't glamorous. I don't know what it is. Oh!
17:01Those stables smelled pretty bad.
17:04Zora, being the animal lover that she is,
17:06really kind of took to the date and really dug in,
17:08and Allison, I didn't get to talk to Allison much because she wanted to lead,
17:12which is great, because I like girls that like to lead.
17:14By the second episode, the audience is getting a glimpse into the cast's true personalities,
17:19and a classic storyline is shaping up between Zora
17:22and another rival for Evan's heart, Sara Koser.
17:25They needed a princess for this fairy tale,
17:29and if you have a princess, you have to have a wicked witch.
17:33Sara was an interesting cast.
17:35We felt that she was a bit more feisty, outspoken,
17:40maybe even a bit more competitive.
17:43It was a good pairing to Zora, because she was different.
17:49We pretty much immediately felt like she was going to be America's sweetheart.
17:54Along with these two frontrunners, there are ten other women vying for Evan's affection,
17:59a scenario ripe for drama.
18:01The producers, they had a bit of power because they were behind the camera,
18:07and I felt like they were pulling the strings and making the decisions
18:11of who was going to stay on the show.
18:13I think there was constantly coaching of Evan to make certain selections potentially,
18:19to choose the people that they thought were going to make the most interesting show.
18:24The group date ends, and as Evan chooses who goes forward, Amanda fails to make the cut.
18:31Zora.
18:33Allison.
18:35Melissa.
18:36Sara.
18:37Melissa Jo.
18:39I was a little prepared to not move on.
18:43There was no spark between us. There was no opportunity to have a spark between us,
18:46and I was okay with that.
18:48But one of the early favorites, Dana, is also shown the door, which raises more eyebrows,
18:54leading to a rumor she's got inside information about their charming host.
18:59None of us can believe Dana's not staying. That is just shocking.
19:05I have suspicions why they didn't pick Dana,
19:08because she had information about how he existed in his real life.
19:14And there were implications that he had a sugar mama,
19:21and the woman who did have personal knowledge of him was quickly eliminated.
19:28The limousine is here, and it's time to depart.
19:31Now that we're down to five girls, I'm actually going to get some time to spend alone with them.
19:35Fifteen out, five still remaining.
19:38And the chateau's heavy security is lifted.
19:41A romantic getaway in Paris awaits.
19:44We're playing Sesame.
19:46All right.
19:48Can we open the doors?
19:51Where is the Eiffel Tower?
19:54Where is the Eiffel Tower?
20:00Kind of neat, huh?
20:01Oh, my God. It's so pretty.
20:04It gave me butterflies.
20:06So pretty.
20:09You know, we had a glass of champagne, and we were talking,
20:13and the cameraman looked at us, and he said,
20:16you know, I'm going to stop filming, and so the cameras are off.
20:20So you guys can relax, you know, and be yourselves.
20:24And we thought, wow, it's the first time the cameras were off.
20:28They had told us there would be no cameras in our room,
20:30so it felt like we could breathe and relax for a second.
20:33Good night.
20:34Good night.
20:35I'll see you all in the morning.
20:36All right.
20:37Great.
20:38It was great.
20:39I mean, for the first time, I could, like, walk out of the bathroom with, you know, like, my towel on.
20:45It's a long-awaited moment of freedom amid the bright lights of Paris, no less.
20:50But their new surroundings soon start to feel more like a prison.
20:53It quickly lost its luster because we weren't actually allowed to do anything on our own.
20:59The producers did not want us to leave the hotel.
21:02We were just locked in our hotel rooms, no phone, you know, no connectivity to the outside world.
21:08Just to sit in a hotel room without anybody else and without any reading material, we couldn't watch TV.
21:16And I remember feeling like, wow, I could, like, lose my mind.
21:22So when it came time for those one-on-one dates, we were just so excited to get out of that hotel room and see something, you know, anything.
21:31It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
21:34Like, ah, like, it's breathtaking.
21:36I have tears in my eyes.
21:38This is so amazing.
21:39We had the whole place to ourselves, and I knew she thought that I had rented the Eiffel Tower just for the two of us.
21:44Neat, huh?
21:45When I returned from my date, I opened my door, and there was a room full of people.
21:53And it was obvious that they had set up for an interview there.
21:57Sarah's room was right next door.
21:59And she looked at me, and she said, I need to talk to you.
22:02And I said, oh.
22:04And I said, well, what?
22:05And she's like, I can't right now.
22:07And she motioned to, like, the cameraman.
22:09And I thought, this is so, this is weird.
22:12Sarah handed me a note.
22:14And the note said, when I was on my excursion with Evan, that their cameraman were setting up for my interview.
22:23And that Sarah heard them in my room.
22:27And they were talking about my underwear.
22:30And they were talking about sexual acts.
22:33They were extremely inappropriate and violating.
22:37And, you know, it was just a complete invasion of privacy.
22:40They have access to you at all times.
22:43They have your key card.
22:46We were writing down on a notepad what happened.
22:50As we were writing, all of a sudden, the assistant producer opened the door, and they came in.
22:57And they said, you can't be writing.
23:00And I said, how did you know we were writing?
23:03How did you know?
23:10The Romance of Paris has been replaced by an impending sense of dread,
23:15as Joe Millionaire's Final Five discover not even their private conversations are off-limits to production.
23:23As we were writing, all of a sudden, the assistant producer opened the door,
23:29and they came in.
23:31And they said, you can't be writing.
23:33And I said, how did you know we were writing?
23:35How did you know?
23:37And I was sitting on the floor at the time,
23:39and I looked over to the nightstand,
23:42and underneath the nightstand, to my sight line,
23:45I saw a microphone taped.
23:50That was when, you know, things really turned in Paris.
23:56I was sitting on the floor, and I looked over to the nightstand,
23:59and underneath the nightstand, to my sight line,
24:02I saw a microphone taped.
24:05That was when, you know, things really turned in Paris.
24:10All control was gone.
24:13It started to kind of breed a paranoia that we couldn't trust what they said.
24:18The assistant director said, I'm sorry that happened.
24:21I'm sorry that happened to you.
24:23You know, we're going to look into it.
24:26And we were told, you really need to stop talking about the production.
24:29If you keep doing this, you're going to ruin the show,
24:32and people will lose their jobs.
24:35But later, Sarah Kosar publicly backs up Melissa's claims,
24:38alleging a cameraman made direct threats to her as well.
24:46I mean, we'd signed a contract, and they'd flown us there,
24:49and, you know, we just felt pretty disempowered
24:53in terms of, like, being able to leave a bad situation on our own.
24:57We were scared that there would be retaliation.
25:01I don't have my passport.
25:03I don't have any money.
25:05I have no way to leave.
25:07I felt there was a level of coercion happening.
25:10Real culpability, the accountability we need,
25:12is from the producers, the production companies,
25:15and the networks who know exactly what they're doing,
25:18who have all the power in the situation.
25:21She has no power in this situation.
25:24It's even worse to realize, like, we were kind of prisoners to the process.
25:29As filming continues, even Evan Marriott himself
25:32starts to question the deception.
25:35Every day that this is going on, the weight's gotten heavier,
25:38and heavier, and heavier.
25:40These girls have never known the real me from the start,
25:43and I didn't realize this. It's just not right.
25:46You live in the biggest f***ing lie in front of America,
25:49and I think it's just the most ironic f***ing thing in the world.
25:52The more I think about it, the more it eats my f***ing brain out.
25:55Evan recovers from his crisis of conscience,
25:59and like some of the finalists, the notion of being swept off their feet
26:02has completely lost its appeal.
26:04By the time I was in the final five, I...
26:09I mean, I really knew I didn't want to be there anymore.
26:12At that point, Evan started just telling me bold-faced lies
26:16based on anything I'd showed interest in.
26:20I thought, this is the first solo date with Evan,
26:23so if the producers won't release me,
26:26this is my opportunity to ask Evan directly to not choose me.
26:30I could really tell that Allison and I weren't connecting.
26:33She had this look of total disgust on her face,
26:36that look you get when you've eaten something bad.
26:39You could tell her mind was somewhere else.
26:42It wasn't with me.
26:43What are you thinking about?
26:45I don't know, I'm just taking it all in.
26:47Do you think it's worth going on to see if we have a chemistry?
26:51Yeah, I don't... I don't think so.
26:54No?
26:55No.
26:57Good evening, ladies. It's been an adventure.
27:01When the next elimination rolls around,
27:04Evan takes the hint, and Allison is cut.
27:07All the women were wonderful people,
27:10and we just... we did our best to, like, lift each other up.
27:17And that was probably the best thing about the show,
27:21was meeting some of those women.
27:27After Paris, Melissa and Zora, along with third finalist Sara Kozer,
27:31return to the Chateau, where the mood is noticeably different.
27:37It was really strange to be back at the Chateau,
27:40where there was once so much liveliness and chatter and gossip
27:44and just, you know, women.
27:46There was 20 of us.
27:49It felt very empty.
27:52Paul, bring it on.
27:55I know something.
27:57Eliminations aren't tomorrow.
28:01We started this fairy tale with 20.
28:03Tonight, we'll be down to two.
28:06I didn't have feelings for Melissa, and that's, you know,
28:09she was cute and everything, but there was just something not there, you know.
28:13And then I couldn't... I couldn't put my finger on it.
28:16Yeah, when I found out I was eliminated, there was a bit of sense of relief.
28:21Like, okay, job's done.
28:24But you can't make a quiet exit,
28:26as producers push her to be emotional over her rejection.
28:30So once you get eliminated, you go in for a very long interview.
28:35And I was in a really quite chipper mood,
28:39and it bothered the producer of the show.
28:43My mom was ill.
28:45At the time, she had had several strokes, brain aneurysm.
28:49He knew my relationship with my mom and my sister
28:53and how important that was, and so he knew.
28:56He knew that he would get a...
28:58He would get an emotional response from me if he brought up my family.
29:01Okay, okay, okay, okay.
29:03He had asked me, you know,
29:05how do you think that your family would feel
29:08about how you did on the show?
29:10I had a good time, you know.
29:12Like, yeah.
29:17I got choked up, and I had said my sister would be so proud of me.
29:24And I said that for so many reasons,
29:26and it wasn't, you know, proud of me for how I was dating,
29:30or, you know, how I acted,
29:33but how I overcame that situation from Paris.
29:37I believe that he brought my family up
29:40because he knew that that would get an emotional reaction from me.
29:43Predictably, the show plays it like she's crying over Evan.
29:47It's all part of the plan to squeeze out as much drama as possible
29:51before unveiling the truth.
29:54I've really been dreading this from the beginning.
29:57It's down to two girls,
29:59and I have to pick one of them
30:01and tell her that I've been lying this whole time,
30:05that I'm not who she thinks I am.
30:08It'll be months before Evan's choice is revealed
30:11to Fox's baited audience,
30:13but for the women traveling home from France,
30:15his decision will become a footnote
30:17to the chaos lying in wait back home.
30:20I don't think there's anything
30:22that could have prepared me for what would follow.
30:25Before some of Joe Millionaire's cast have even left France,
30:29the reality of what's about to transpire comes to light.
30:34We were on a train ride to Paris,
30:37you know, to go to the airport,
30:39and the producer of the show had informed us
30:42that she would be letting the cast go to Paris.
30:45We were on a train ride to Paris,
30:48you know, to go to the airport,
30:50and the producer of the show had informed us
30:53that she would be letting the other women know
30:56when the show would be airing
30:58and that the show would be called Joe Millionaire.
31:04I was surprised.
31:06I thought I was on a show called The Big Choice.
31:09I get a phone call.
31:11It was an L.A. number, and I answer it,
31:14and there was a man on the other end,
31:17and he explained that he was an editor
31:19and that he was sorry.
31:22I was like, I really can't talk about it.
31:24I have to go. I'm like, no, no, no.
31:26Like, what is going to happen?
31:28It was Thanksgiving Day.
31:30I was having dinner with my family,
31:32and somebody shouted from the TV room
31:34that they thought they just saw me on TV,
31:36and so we all went running,
31:38and we had gotten no heads up as this promo airs,
31:41and the first thing it says is,
31:4320 gold diggers go to France.
31:45And I was livid.
31:47Meet the 20 women who've traveled
31:49to a chateau in France to compete for his heart.
31:51They think he's worth $50 million.
31:54They're going to make us all look like gold diggers.
31:58The show debuts on Fox in January 2003,
32:01and that's when the hammer drops.
32:04Once, there was an average Joe
32:07who made a humble living by simply moving dirt.
32:11What will happen when this average Joe
32:14is transformed
32:17into a multi-millionaire?
32:19This is about all of America
32:21seeing 20 girls misled
32:23into thinking some guy's a millionaire
32:25and jet-setting them all over the world.
32:27It just felt dirty a little bit.
32:29It felt like the joke's on us.
32:31It was disappointing that they wanted to,
32:34you know, premise a show
32:36that the women were gold diggers
32:38when that's not what we signed up for.
32:41It was disheartening and manipulative.
32:44Certainly in the beginning,
32:46a lot of us felt some camaraderie
32:49with the people who were interviewing us.
32:53It became just kind of pretty obvious
32:55that they weren't on our side.
33:01Continental Breakfast is horseshit.
33:04Week to week, the cast discovered
33:06just how far removed their experience of filming was
33:09to how it's edited,
33:11especially in the depiction of the two finalists.
33:15They presented Zora as the good girl,
33:18the heart of gold.
33:22Zora was definitely looked at as the princess.
33:27I think that she definitely filled that role.
33:30Working with the elderly is very fulfilling work.
33:34I call it my heart work.
33:36You know, they had a month's worth of footage
33:39to make any one person look any way they wanted,
33:42as evidenced by some things that they did to Sarah Cozer.
33:45We're sneaking out. Of course they're gonna follow us.
33:48I looked around, it was just Sarah and I.
33:50I was like, thank God, we're by ourselves.
33:52That's when everything kicked into a different gear.
33:55It started to get a little more intimate.
33:58Sarah was unfortunately made to suffer the indignity
34:02of being the victim of one of the most outrageous
34:06and notorious incidents of Frankenbiting
34:10in the history of reality television.
34:13Keep number one down.
34:14Frankenbite editing is a process
34:17by which video editors can take different clips
34:20of audio and visual behavior
34:23to make it seem like you might have said
34:27something you never said.
34:29And the way they did this
34:31was a master class in visual and storytelling manipulation.
34:36They made it look like she gave him head in the woods.
34:40Mmm.
34:43We were just so set up.
34:45You're going into a situation where you don't know much,
34:47but what we were told was sex in the city in France,
34:5020 single, educated women.
34:52I have a degree in women's studies.
34:53They had women producers telling me,
34:55oh, nothing disparaging.
34:57It's gonna be like we're sick of all this trash TV.
34:59We want something from a female viewpoint.
35:00Fox is sick of trash TV.
35:02I started to feel guilty
35:05for deceiving the women that we cast.
35:09And actually, I remember calling my mom
35:13and talking to her, and I was crying,
35:15and I was like, mom, this is not what I signed up for.
35:18The show's heading towards its grand finale,
35:21and over 40 million viewers tune in
35:23to find out which lucky woman has won Evan over.
35:27It's coming.
35:28The moment America's been waiting for is finally here.
35:32Who will he choose?
35:34Zora or Sarah?
35:36Again, the feminist in me was sad
35:38that they were playing the good girl versus the bad girl,
35:41and Sarah was clearly the bad girl,
35:43but that's not really who she is.
35:45She didn't have a chance against Zora, the sweetheart.
35:48I've chosen you.
35:54Then comes Evan's big moment of truth.
35:57What I'm gonna tell you now,
35:59it's gonna be somewhat of a relief,
36:01and it'll let you better know who I am as a person, okay?
36:05I didn't feel tricked.
36:07I didn't feel...
36:09I didn't feel so relieved.
36:11I don't have $50 million.
36:16And it was just like, wow,
36:18like, you're just, like, a real regular guy,
36:20and that's wonderful.
36:22I mean, I was the one that chose to go on the show.
36:25You know, you know, nobody forced me to go on this show.
36:28Was I naive? Yes.
36:30Am I still naive? Yes.
36:32But, you know, that's...
36:34that was the premise.
36:36To the journey after France.
36:39Exactly. I agree.
36:41It's the ending producers made the audience dream of,
36:45with one final twist.
36:47Now, all good fairy tales must have a bit of magic.
36:51And, Evan, this is something even you don't know about.
36:57I now am going to make you,
36:59Evan Zora,
37:01instant...
37:04millionaires.
37:06Evan and I are presented with a check
37:10that we will share a million dollars,
37:13and that was just completely overwhelming.
37:18Then they gave out the money,
37:20and I just remember, like, what?
37:22Now I should have played the game better
37:24if I was going to get half a million dollars.
37:27The good girl becomes a princess,
37:29lands her down-to-earth prince charming,
37:31and they both go home with a fortune.
37:34But is it really a fairy tale,
37:36happily ever after?
37:39And the thing that was odd was,
37:41like, I never really could tell.
37:43Like, I don't know that he was into me.
37:45He never once said, you know, I really like you
37:47and I would love to get to know you outside of this.
37:49He never said that.
37:51I never said that to him.
37:53Evan and I never... we never dated.
37:59It was just so much.
38:01So much.
38:04Like, all of that was just so bizarre.
38:17You think Zora's hot? She's fat.
38:19Zora is a little bit chunky, yeah.
38:21It is a show. I can't...
38:23I've got to take the ones that give it.
38:25Oh, so you haven't fallen in love
38:27by any stretch of the imagination.
38:29I remember it being very negative
38:31towards women at large.
38:34He was responsible for propagating
38:36this narrative about the women
38:38after the show
38:40and when he was doing press.
38:42Joe Millionaire.
38:44Joe Millionaire.
38:46For Evan Marriott, his $500,000
38:48payday comes with a large side
38:50of overnight celebrity.
38:52Oh, I think you made the right choice.
38:54Evan Marriott, Joe Millionaire, here he comes.
38:56Evan Marriott.
38:58Appeared on Broadway in a show she co-wrote
39:00called Fun City.
39:02He did do what most people would do
39:04in his position. He was still young.
39:06He went out and he partied
39:08and he led a
39:10somewhat of a lavish, indulgent lifestyle.
39:12Evan is living it up
39:14as a single man about Tinseltown.
39:16But for Zora and the
39:18other women of Joe Millionaire,
39:20the after show spotlight is very different.
39:22I was living
39:24just above a restaurant
39:26and people could
39:28just walk right up the stairs
39:30and knock at my door.
39:32There was nobody to, like, stop them.
39:34I mean, I really
39:36could not leave my apartment.
39:40While the media has a field day
39:42trashing the show's female cast,
39:44they are bound to their ironclad NDA.
39:46It was really hard
39:48to defend myself
39:50against how this was
39:52marketed and how
39:54it played out because
39:56of this contract. You couldn't
39:59talk about what really happened. There was a
40:01$5 million contract hanging over your head.
40:03A reasonable NDA might be
40:05I am not allowed to say
40:07what the ending is before it airs.
40:09An unreasonable
40:11NDA includes a clause about
40:13how I cannot disparage
40:15the franchise and that
40:17is intentionally so vague
40:19that it
40:21silences speech even that
40:23isn't actually covered by the NDA
40:25because what does disparage mean?
40:27It was bullying
40:29and it was
40:31non-stop. I could not
40:33defend myself. I could not tell
40:35my side of the story.
40:37I had to just sit there and
40:39take it. Amid the shaming
40:41frenzy, no one gets hit as hard
40:43as runner-up Sarah Koser.
40:45The press
40:47stuff just felt
40:49like another manipulation.
40:51I mean, who do you think
40:53told the New York Post about
40:55Sarah's, you know, foot fetish
40:57videos?
40:59The New York Post that's owned by Fox.
41:01Sarah and I spent a lot of time
41:03together after filming Wrapped.
41:05At the end of the day, it was devastating
41:07for her, but
41:09Sarah is extremely smart.
41:11I think Sarah got the raw
41:13end of the deal, although she
41:15leaned into it. She did Playboy afterward.
41:17So
41:19she found a way to make money
41:21off of it.
41:25I think Evan
41:27bears some responsibility for how they were portrayed.
41:29He was also in a production.
41:31He also signed a contract, I presume.
41:33You know, he was also in France.
41:35But there were
41:37opportunities for him to be a
41:39little bit more
41:41honest or authentic.
41:43When there was a bit of a backlash,
41:45the network
41:47started to kind of put some distance
41:49and maybe make
41:51him a bit of a fall guy for the fact that
41:54perhaps people didn't want to see this
41:56exact sort of circumstance again
41:58because it made people more
42:00collectively uncomfortable than they thought they would
42:02be. I've met the person I
42:04want to spend the rest of my life with.
42:06I've never seen her before.
42:08But 20 years later, Romance
42:10Reality is bigger and bolder than
42:12ever, and manipulation of the
42:14cast through editing is pretty much
42:16a given. It's crazy that 20
42:18years have gone by, and I think
42:20you could still do this show now
42:22and have people watching it.
42:24They started re-airing Joe Millionaire on
42:26Tubi, and when I
42:28kind of googled why...
42:30Put your money where your mouth is
42:32Put your money, put your money where your mouth is
42:34That's when I read that there
42:36was a reboot with a equally
42:38gross premise. Stop!
42:40Apologies. Let's go back a bit.
42:4220 years
42:44ago, Fox created something
42:46groundbreaking. Joe Millionaire.
42:48Right? It was something about two men
42:50and one of them's rich and one of them's not, or something like that?
42:52No, I didn't watch that.
42:54I think it was my mom that had called me, and she
42:56said, Melissa, they are relaunching
42:58Joe Millionaire. And I
43:00said, what? I mean, I just
43:02couldn't believe it. I was floored.
43:04Wouldn't you think that more
43:06progress would be made in 20
43:08years? I apologize that
43:10I had anything to do with this, and
43:12that I was someone
43:14who was convincing them to do this, especially
43:16if it ended negative. I was
43:18not doing it to be hurtful or deceitful.
43:20I was doing my job.
43:22Joe Millionaire will always sit
43:24alongside The Bachelor
43:26as these two
43:28game-changing, tentpole
43:30reality gambits of the early
43:322000s that, for better or
43:34worse, we still find ourselves
43:36completely consumed with
43:38today. Yeah, I just
43:40was glad Zora
43:42benefited from it,
43:44and even Sarah. She made a
43:46way to, she figured
43:48out a way to profit from it, and
43:50good for them. I'm rooting for
43:52the girls.