Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? (2000) Online

2000 Anna Agatka Kate Barnett Alycia Benn Don Weiner

Original Title :: Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?
Genre :: Creative Work / Reality TV / Romance
Year :: 2000
Directror :: Don Weiner
Cast :: Anna Agatka,Kate Barnett,Alycia Benn
Writer :: Jonathan Bourne
Type :: Creative Work
Rating :: 1.3/10

Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? (2000) Online

A high-stakes "till-death-us-do-part" Dating Game, but with better prizes. The bride got a $35,000 engagement ring, a free Caribbean cruise honeymoon and an Isuzu Trooper. Total estimated value: $100,000. The groom didn't get quite as much, but it wasn't supposed to matter because he was a millionaire.

Credited cast:
	Anna Agatka	-	Herself
	Kate Barnett	-	Herself
	Alycia Benn	-	Herself
	Michelle Bien	-	Herself
	Kendra Bolduc	-	Herself
	Kelly Bonk	-	Herself
	Teresa Bowman	-	Herself
	Kira Burt	-	Herself
	Stacie Campbell	-	Herself
	Felicita Carino	-	Herself
	Kristen Clark	-	Herself
	Darva Conger	-	Herself
	Leanza Cornett	-	Herself - Co-Host
	Andrea Csorba	-	Herself
	Sheryl Dahl	-	Herself

Rick Rockwell was billed as a multi-millionaire who'd made his money in real estate. In reality, he was a stand-up comedian and motivational speaker. He has since left show business entirely, and now works as a flight instructor.

Due to the bad press surrounding the show, Fox canceled an entire line of "exploitative reality specials", including: Plastic Surgery Nightmares, Busted on the Job 5, and The World's Biggest Bitches.

Conger and Rockwell slept in separate rooms during the honeymoon cruise. Within a week of returning to port, Conger was in Las Vegas looking for a fast annulment.

Darva Conger signed a deal to pose in Playboy, for an estimated $500,000.

Matt Lauer has said the worst argument he ever had with his former NBC boss Jeffrey Zucker was after the Today Show booked Conger to appear more than once, because he felt she was hypocrite for claiming her privacy had been violated before she signed a deal to pose for "Playboy". In their last interview, Lauer was sarcastic towards her by responding to Conger's claim that she would only appear again if she did something amazing with "Well, it's been very nice to know you then."

The original airing in January 2000 was actually a huge hit for Fox, pulling in over 23 million viewers in the two-hour special's peak. The network eagerly began making plans to have new editions in coming years, but after the huge negative buzz about the concept and the participants (especially Rockwell) flooded the Internet and newspapers, Fox canceled all those plans and fired the head of their nascent reality-TV programming division.

Fox was widely panned for not finding out about Rockwell's past during their background checks, but the investigation was later confirmed to be conducted properly in that the past incidents had been removed from Rockwell's record when he avoided any further legal problems. That's why they didn't show up on their review. The background checks also confirmed that Rockwell had a net worth of just over $2 million.

Religious leaders condemned the show as "a mockery of marriage".

Darva Conger claimed to be a Gulf War veteran, but she spent the entire war stationed at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

Website The Smoking Gun revealed that a judge had issued a restraining order against Rockwell in 1991 after his ex-fiancée accused him of hitting her and threatening to kill her. Rockwell denied hitting her.

A judge annulled the marriage on April 5, 2000.

Darva Conger donated her $35,000 engagement ring to charity.

Darva Conger and Rick Rockwell would have a final appearance together for a February 2001 episode of Larry King's show on CNN. Rockwell expressed anger over Conger having trashed him publicly and also not defending him when he was unfairly attacked. Conger in turn apologized to Rockwell because she never should have done the Fox show in the 1st place and it wasn't his fault that the situation was ridiculous (though she did confirm she had never had any interest in him romantically).

User reviews

Beazekelv

This show started two crazes: The reality show craze and the marriage show craze. I remember seeing this. It was so silly. All day I thought of who was the mystery millionaire, and then find out it is this guy nobody knows named Rick Rockwell lol (I vaguely remembered him from the Killer Tomatoes movies). It was an interesting premise though: take a rich guy, line him up with 50 beautiful women, and marry him off to the one he likes. Sounded like a done deal, right? Wrong.

First you had a nobody like Rockwell who turns out to be the millionaire, then you have his personal life dredged up by investigative news shows and smokinggun.com, and then you have the competitors. Half of them there lied and just wanted a free trip to Vegas, and the other half seriously wanted to get married. Even its winner, Darva Conger, said she just entered to have a free trip to Vegas. Other competitors would get their 15 minutes of fame by giving exclusive interviews to their local television news outlets (In Washington DC, one competitor told how she was thankful she wasn't chosen because her BOYFRIEND wouldn't have liked that).

The show would be followed by many marriage reality shows, and even Fox went back to the Pandora's Box with Joe Millionaire. About two years later, an E! True Hollywood Story would be made detailing what went on behind the scenes (Host Jay Thomas said he advised Rick to "stay away from the blonde").

Unlike some of the marriage shows, this did more harm than good to the people involved. Rick took the annulment hard because he truly thought he would find a bride on the show. He eventually got over it and now works on the comedy club and motivational speaker circuit. Darva Conger was labeled by many as a vixen. She would also get her 15 minutes, but it would cost her a job and a life. She tried making a pay website of her own, but it was unsuccessful. She remarried in 2003, got divorced a few years later, and has stayed out of the spotlight. In the end, everyone just moved on and was forgotten (thank God).

Beabandis

Here is a show that historians will dig up years from now as an example of TV run amuck - even if they won't ever learn about the scandal that resulted from this show.

Yes, I watched the last hour of this "show" and I found it absolutely silly, sick and tasteless...and yes, it was like watching a train wreck as Fox threw away all of its reputation it had earned as home of Homer, Bart, Mulder and Scully. Jay Thomas was probably the most smarmy host around IN HISTORY to preside over this fiasco (laughing as Rick Rockwell proposed to Darva Conger).

February 15, 2000 will go down in TV infamy - that was the day this show aired.

Phobism

Rick Rockwell, a 44 year old single comedian/actor who enjoyed a lucrative career as a stand-up comic/host at corporate events and turned his handsome honorariums into shrewd California real estate investments was the bachelor.

The bachelorettes included numerous tacky examples of gold-digging whores (a term I would apply to males in a similar situation with equal derision) amidst some ordinary women looking either for an interesting experience or merely TV broadcast time. Some 23 million viewers saw the show, one that was closer to reality than most reality shows today are.

The multi-millionaire bachelor selected Darva Conger, a shapely, robotic-sounding 35 year old bottle blond ER nurse. Their 'marriage' was annulled after two months. Conger, of course was the main beneficiary parlaying the celebrity she obtained into a Playboy magazine cover/fully nude pictorial and a stint on the reality show Celebrity Boxing.

She appeared on numerous talk-shows and news interviews vilifying Rockwell whose only apparent crime (beyond having an ex-girlfriend who had taken a restraining against him for domestic violence) was choosing Conger and she made him regret his choice many times over.

Other contestants on the show were not shy in exclaiming shock at what the producers had tried to marry them off to i.e. Rockwell i.e. an unglamourous dweeb/comedian. As if the title of the show had implied he was Prince Charming. These gold-diggers evidently just assumed things.

What was meant to entice romance-hungry people across North America did so as evidenced by the ratings. But the aftermath echoed so many bad experiences that people had with marriage in their respective pasts that the couple came to exemplify what for many was a life-mistake they were still feeling stung by.

The media dug into seemingly every aspect of Conger and Rockwell's lives questioning whether they had embellished any of the background they had provided about themselves i.e. questions about how much money he really had, clarifications about her military service record etc.

Samutilar

Although this was probably a big mistake for fox and , although this was never to be broadcast again believe it or not this show changed American viewers. Everyone was talking about the Rockwell & Darva Conger scandal it made headlines and well the show was never good but a least it made headlines what can I say. Everyone probobly forgot about this months go.( I know I'm a little late)

Brajind

This one was a hoot. Everybody was getting into the reality TV show game and this was Fox's turn. This just turned out to be a bad idea all around. I guess they meant it to be a combination run at February sweeps/take off on Valentine's day. It aired the day after, Feb 15, 2000. Women competed in a beauty pageant type format for a guy who was supposed to be a multi-millionaire, but whom the girls only saw in silhouette. The winner was a veteran of the first Gulf War. The groom was ....well not all he was cracked up to be. The couple actually did get married on the show. That multi-million was actually two million and included the groom's home which was an ordinary California starter home with a toilet seat in the backyard. It turned out that he was only semi-employed as a comedian/motivational speaker. The marriage was annulled in April and never consummated.

I remember the night it aired that all of the hosts - in what is now famous fast talking Fox style - were gabbing about it. One host - don't know her name but she had bleached blonde hair and all the collagen in the world pumped into her over 60 lips- kept saying "Oh it will last, it will last." Whoever you were, I hope you did not try a career as a psychic. There are pieces of it available on youtube.

Reality shows were so new back then. Half of the contestants were there because they wanted a free trip to Vegas (like the winner) and the other half were seriously there to get married. One finalist gave an interview to her local news after it happened. She said she was glad it was not her that got chosen since her boyfriend wouldn't have liked that! The beginning of the end of civilization.

Xal

When I heard about this new show many moons ago, I knew it would be a life changing event. The history of television entertainment can now be separated into two distinct periods; the period before this great event, and the period after. Coming fast after the "Survivor" extravaganza, this special provided a glimpse into what us mere mortals can only dream about...

Who can say that they honestly will ever have the chance to marry a "multi millionaire" in this life? Sure, we may be able to marry a "millionaire" if we try hard enough because anything is possible, but to get the chance to marry a "multi millionaire" is a rare gem indeed. In fact, it is a gem to be cherished, like the most precious and fragile diamond. When I say Mr. Rockwell made an impression on all his prospective "suitors," it really is a gross understatement of a very important fact that has not been acknowledged. Lucky Darva, once an ER nurse now a multi millionaire, only to decide that she was too decent and ended the marriage.

Even though the storybook premise of this show ultimately failed, and it is all too often disregarded as "trash television" at best, and a "mistake" at worse, it really began a phenomena in the television media that continues to this day. This show gave all of us dreamers a hope that someday, somehow, somewhere and quite possibly someplace we may have our chance to get our hands on a millionaire. What once was a dream reserved for socialites or perhaps fairytale princesses became in that one instant, a reality for a group of incredibly lucky women. We had the "millionaire" and we had the "stage" and we had the concept, and what was created was something that was never repeated again.

Many people say that this special was a failed concept, but really what is "failure?" What does it mean in the long run? This show was once the greatest spectacle of the time, and it was on the front of every media magazine from the "Enquirer" to "TV Guide." What happened? This show had an amazing premise. In our capitalistic society we have an ever increasing thirst for wealth, and the "good life." It seems that more and more people want to find wealth, and to be something bigger than him/ her. Forget "The Apprentice" this show is where it's at. Why work for your money when you can be paraded around a stage and just maybe score the big "luck of the draw" and walk out a millionaire.

It seems to me that people have become lazy in our society. In fact a better description would be lazy and shallow. I suppose that where this show ultimately failed. The TV viewing public could actually see themselves being paraded on a stage, and lowering themselves to such desperate measures in order to "score the big one." Even though people dream of this, to actually see it on the screen can create a sense of intense revulsion. Alas, the epic story was never meant to be.

skriper

There is nothing "real" about reality TV. If you haven't learned that by now...there's nothing really left to say. I knew what was going on from the start and didn't do it to get a husband. That's ridiculous. I - and almost all of the others - knew this was about sensationalism and not romance. It was made as entertainment NOT, real life...just like all reality TV shows. I got to spend 11 days in Vegas, all expenses paid, paid SAG-AFTRA wages plus my daily cash per diem, meals were provided and got to attend a few Vegas shows. That's why I agreed to do it. Stop believing what you see on TV and the internet is "real" because it is ALL fiction to varying degrees. But, of course, if you really believe reality shows are true...then my words are wasted. Carry on...

Neol

Never watched this show when it aired, having thought something like, "There goes FOX again with the edgy route". Remember that in 1999 "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" came to the US and was a big hit at first for ABC. FOX decided to do its own spin, and it's doubtful the big wigs who approved the show took it seriously. As if they wanted to make a quick splash with 2 hours of tacky TV. What made "Who Wants To Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" fun was the additional controversies it generated after it aired. Was the "husband" Rick Rockwell really a multi-millionaire? What about those past criminal complaints against him? Didn't the producers of the show research this stuff? What does it say about these women who were going to marry a stranger on his perceived wealth alone? And to do on it on a TV show too. Some of the "brides" acknowledged they did the show for the trip and experience. Darva Conger became the "wife" and repeatedly distanced herself from the show like it was the morning after a bad hook up. Show deserves high marks for the entertainment value it provided.

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