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Love Cruise: Tale of a Putz and a Wannabe Chivalrous Knight
by Susan Schechter
-- 07/10/2002
Two of the men on Love Cruise have gotten a lot of attention -- Michael (shown at right) and Anthony. Both are devious in their own way. Both think they are masters of the game. But are they fooling themselves?
Say what you want about Richard Hatch. Yes his 15 minutes look like they are finally up, but the man was a reality TV pioneer. Richard taught the world how to lie and manipulate in order to win, and now with every reality show airing, the bar is raised a bit higher.
There are two male contestants on the Love Cruise to whom this applies. One is Michael, and the other is Anthony. Both are polar opposites. And both, just like Jerri Manthey from Survivor 2, thought they could follow in Richard’s footsteps and win. As the show has progressed, you realize that Richard knew what he was doing, and it worked. When other people try to follow the same lessons, they often fall flat on their faces.
Michael seemed to be a good guy during the first few episodes, which contrasted nicely with Anthony. Anthony, is the one with the tattoos, Michael is a lawyer. Michael tugged a bit at our heart strings on the first episode because no one picked him in the first coupling exercise. But Michael, as the show went on, tried to be devious. He went on the show with a plan, that was to get in an alliance with one other man and 2 girls, to be the last four standing. Okay. There is nothing wrong with that. He made a nice little alliance with Ralph, Toni, and Melissa. The problem is, he did not choose his alliance carefully. Richard Hatch , has noted that he did not allow Sean in his alliance because he was too “unreliable.” Michael made this mistake. Someone in his little alliance blabbed about it to Andrea, and she wanted in as well, causing Michael to announce “I feel like I have been to bed with too many people.”
Hey, Michael, this is the Love Cruise! Isn’t that the idea?
Needless to say, Michael, who is convinced he is the “chess master,” was cruising for a bruising. And when it happened, it was nasty. Michael felt that everyone wanted Jeannette to come back, because she is a single mom and needs the money more than anyone. So without telling his partner, Andrea, he offered her up to bring back Jeannette. A noble deed – one that is reminiscent of knights and fair damsels at King Arthur’s court. The problem with this was that he never told Andrea he was going to do it. Had he discussed it with her, she might have agreed and not been surprised. But he did it without telling her, therefore, as one of the contestants said, “He’s a schmuck.” He was ignored at meal times, forced to eat by himself because no one wanted to talk to him. Poor Michael. What he thought was a good deed turned out to be a dud. A piece of advice, Michael: If you make a sacrifice for the person you love, they cannot know you did it. Take for example, Sydney Carton in Tale of Two Cities. Remember the line from the book , that Ronald Coleman Spoke so beautifully in the movie: “Tis a far far better thing than I do, then I have ever done, tis a far far better rest than I go to that I have ever known.” Now, I am not saying Michael should get his head chopped off like Sydney did, but you get the idea. Thus Michael’s sacrifice left him with egg on his face, ostracized by the rest of the contestants, instead of showering him with admiration. In short, Michael looked like a putz. Even though Michael was not been evicted, he will need a miracle to win, although his miracle might be a woman named Jeannette.
Anthony, on the other hand, is the bad boy your mother warned you about. Michael might be every mother’s dream (a nice successful lawyer), but Anthony is BAD and DANGEROUS – the kind of man your father sits on the front porch with his shotgun to watch for when you date. In other words, a player.
He was very subtle in the beginning. He paired up with Laura, a young, pretty brunette. But because she started having feelings for Tony (the male Tony), he stabbed her in the back, causing her eviction. Apparently he had no heart; here is a girl he was just kissing and saying he could really date her, and then he masterminds her eviction. Yes, he has definitely learned from the Master Richard.
Anthony, unlike Michael, was subtle in his dealings. None of the women really picked up he was playing them, as he was telling them he needs to win the prize money more than anyone else. And then the unthinkable happened. During a competition, Anthony and his partner failed, and they were banished to “Loser Island,” (Aruba). Anthony then, out of spite perhaps, or just showing how spoiled and upset he was, decided to play two women off of each other. The ensuing cat fight made the Kimmi/Alicia one pale by comparison. Toni and Jeannette got into it. The promo clip we have been seeing all summer long took place, with Toni’s eyes bugging out in a way that would even put a cartoon character to shame. And Anthony was sitting in the back loving every minute of the fight he has started, just as Richard used the fighting between Susan and Kelly to his advantage.
I said in an early article, and I have seen on other criticisms on this show, that none of the people involved are nice. But these two men need to know that what worked for Richard will probably never work again for anyone, and you do not stab someone unless it absolutely necessary, as Tina did when she won.
All I can say as thank heaven there is only one episode of this show left. I hope I never have to see any of these people again., unless they appear on Jerry Springer.
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