Hi all,
Later this week I'm going to be interviewing Patti Stanger, the Millionaire Matchmaker featured on Bravo, and the very first (Un)Feminisit Guilty Pleasure . There were a lot of comments on that post about Patti's unfeminist ways, and I wondered if anyone had any questions they'd like her to answer. I want it to be a respectful interview, but if anyone has suggestions of things to ask her I'd love to hear them. I hope this is an opportunity to ask her some tough (but not rude) questions, but I'm having trouble coming up with anything amazing. I'll also be interviewing other kinds of matchmakers, so if you have any matchmaker questions that are more general, I'd love to hear those, too.
Can't wait to hear from you!
Best,
Tamar
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I am a bit embarrassed to admit I have some expertise in this area. My friend was one of the dates on the show (that is, as one of the women who signed up to potentially be setup with a millionaire) and I'll ask her if she has any.
Coincidentally, the show my friend was on also featured a female millionaire ("Heidi") looking for male dates. If the TV edit is an accurate representation of how the interview process for potential dates went, then Patti made sure that Heidi's dates all had high paying jobs, but performed no similar interview of the male millionaire's ("Bill") potential dates. The only conclusion I can draw is that she's willing to pair up unemployment women with rich men, but not unemployed men with rich women. I would be interested to hear her rationale for that. Due to my friend being in it, I still have that episode saved on TiVo-- I can figure out a way to get it to you, if you want.
I could be wrong, but I think that that woman requested that any men she be set up with have high paying jobs (along with a lot of other shallow requirements.)
My questions for Patti:
1. You explain to both men and women that they have to bring certain things to the table -- good looks, certain traits, etc. -- so is your work more about commodity exchange and balance than relationships?
2. There are very few women of color on your show. Aside from when a man specifies that he wants a white woman, do you just default to white women?
3. You seem to serve relatively "easy" clients, meaning they fit the bill for generic gender-biased expectations: hooking rich guys up with hot girls doesn't seem difficult. Would you ever consider taking on a disabled client, or pairing a normally-abled client with a differently-abled match?
I like those questions, especially the third one!
what about
" I've noticed that you don't try and match up same sexed individuals. Would you ever branch out in to this? Do you just simply find it easier to match men and women since (assuming) you identify as straight, and work from your own experiance?"
I'd like to know how Bravo is influencing the clients and the process of matchmaking - I'm sure they want shows that bring in more viewers, so how do they interpret to go about that?
A few people on the TWOP forum figured out that they were using women to fill the "mixers" from casting agencies in LA. Most of the women are struggling actresses and bought in by the producers. The millionaires themselves are clearly on the show to plug their brands, on the episode with the "millionairess" referenced above (Heidi), the date was actually held at the hotel owned by her date. The millionaires also don't have to pay for services if they go on the show.
There was one episode I watched where she tried to match a gay couple, and while the date went well, she seemed to make the millionaire uncomfortable by (often) insinuating that because he was gay he was more promiscuous than her other clients.
I wish I had a question for her, but all I can think of is "WTF?" :( but then again, I've only seen it once.
I'd love to see what her answers are to all of these, though!
Patti's business seems to be based on the (tortured) justification that she's simply giving her millionaires what they want and are already looking for. It's not her that thinks all men need a young, white, skinny, gal with long straight hair - that's simply what her clients are asking for and hers is a service to help them find it. People are allowed to go after what they want and can pay for, right?
With this in mind, my question to Patti would be this: Does she have any limits, self-imposed or otherwise, to what her millionaires can ask for in a match? What if a man was interested in only Asian women, in women who had just turned 18, women who were into bondage, etc.? Are there any boundaries to what a client can purchase?