World’s harshest dating show wants Aussies
Like to be humiliated on TV while looking for love? Enamoured by insults in front of a studio audience? Want to travel to Nanjing in China (and pay for half the fare)?
No, it’s not a fresh, harsher and thriftier version of The Bachelor, it’s China’s most popular TV dating show If You Are the One and producers (and SBS2) are looking for Australian contestants (aka victims) to take part.
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The premise of the show is simple – sort of.
A circle of 24 women get to judge whether a man is date-worthy or not by firstly appraising his looks, and then his interests and personality as he shows videos of himself.
They light up a panel of lights to show their interest – those who light up the most become finalists. The lucky guys then get to choose which of the finalists they like. He also gets to choose a special “heartbeat girl” who also becomes a finalist (if she isn’t a finalist already).
For those women who show no interest (or even if they do), the comments can be extraordinarily cruel – with some lovelorn blokes copping comments like “I think I may be better than you” or “Your hairdo makes you look like a carrot”, or, “I haven’t said hello to you because I don’t think you don’t deserve it”.
There are 28 spots for Australians on the search for love with the show’s host Meng Fei putting out a call out on YouTube on Sunday.
To enter you must be an Australian resident over the age of 22, speak fluent Mandarin and have enough cash to pay for half an airfare to China. Oh, and you must be willing to answer some extremely personal questions about money and dating history.
Enter at your own risk.