For Love or Money Episode 1: Looking For Love

The premise of For Love or Money is quite simple and similar to the myriad other “dating” reality shows that have already been broadcast. Fifteen beautiful women are gathered together to compete for the favors of a very eligible single man. The big twist for this series is that the lucky winner will also receive a million dollars. The women know about the money. The poor guy in the middle of all of this does not. He will have to decide which women are into him, and which women are really gold-diggers without even being aware there is money involved. Ah, but there’s a twist on the twist – the women don’t know that when it comes down to the end and one of them wins, that woman will have to choose between staying with the man or getting the million.

It’s always nice to start off a series with a little behind-the-scenes information to spice things up. Here is what we at RealityNewsOnline have learned about the manner in which For Love or Money was put together: The women, recruited from around the country, were all told that they were auditioning for a show that would be entitled Looking for Love. It would be similar to The Bachelor in scope. None of the women were told anything about the man they would be meeting and there was no mention of any prizes beyond the man in question and the free stay in California. Once they learned about the million-dollar prize (which was during the first two hours that the contestants were inside the mansion), each of the women became totally focused on the potential for sudden wealth and the thought of meeting a potential life-mate faded. After the women had the opportunity to meet the lucky bachelor, several developed a fast interest in him while others could only see the dollar signs that he represented.

With this information in hand, let’s proceed on to the first episode.

The creators of this series are aware that the show is very similar to an extremely popular series that aired earlier this year. In fact, they almost bragged about it in the previews saying, “It looks familiar… but look closer!” I will confess that I looked very closely and I saw no resemblance whatsoever to I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! so I can only assume the similarities will manifest in a future episode.

The show begins with the arrival of the fifteen hopefuls at the mansion. They are:

Cristy – Charlotte, North Carolina. She’s 23 years old, blonde, and has a glamorous as opposed to girl-next-door appearance.

Lauren – St. Louis, Missouri, although the official website lists her as being from Chicago. She’s also 23 and blonde.

Alima – Seattle, Washington. 26 years old and brunette. She is introduced to us as “The Virgin.” Why this is becoming such a big deal in reality television is beyond me, but if a lady has remained chaste it seems the networks cannot resist announcing it to the world like they just found the very last surviving Dodo bird.

Erin – Los Altos and San Francisco, California. She’s 30 and brunette. From some angles she bears a rather close resemblance to Sandra Bullock.

Paige – Dallas, Texas, 21 and also brunette.

Christina – New Smyrna, Florida. She’s 23 and brunette with blonde highlights.

Tracy – Atlanta, Georgia. She’s 27 with sandy colored hair that is heavily highlighted with blonde streaks.

Melanie – Irving, Texas, 28 years old with Latin black hair and complexion.

Laura – Atlanta, Georgia, 34 (and she must have felt positively ancient next to most of the other women who are much younger). Brunette with highlights.

Catherine – Norfolk, Virginia, 29 and blonde

Melissa – Claims Urbana, California, but originally from Brighton, Massachusetts. She’s 24 and a sandy blonde.

Kelly – San Francisco, California. She is 24 with chestnut colored brunette hair.

Stacy – Detroit, Michigan, 25 years old and the only African-American woman.

Cristy C. – Chicago, Illinois. A 24-year-old with blonde hair.

Kirstin – Chicago, Illinois, 28 with blonde hair.

The women run the gauntlet from freshly scrubbed girl-next-door types to glossy glamour queens. They are greeted at the mansion by host Jordan Murphy who tells them that their first task is to choose a bedroom and roommates. As they enter the main area of the house a small collection of paintings is waiting for them. The artist is none other than Paige and among the paintings is one obviously done specifically for the show. At the top of the painting is the words, “Looking for” with a large heart directly below them. Kelly and several of the other women waste no time and begin ogling the luggage as it comes in, making loud exclamations about some of the designer names on the suitcases. I’m assuming that most of this is in English, but I can’t understand a word of it, being the proud owner of a used set of Lithuania Tourister bags that have more dust on them than an Oklahoma backroad. The point here is apparently to begin the process of displaying those women who have a tendency to being materialistic.

Cristy C. and Kelly find a room together and immediately don bikinis. They head out to the pool for some quality time with some UV rays while most of the other women unpack.

The host appears once again and tells the girls to meet him in the lobby in one hour. “You don’t have to dress up,” he tells them, “but you should try to look good.” This brings about the first

Clothes fly! Makeup is applied with sponges, brushes, industrial paint sprayers, spackling trowels, and putty knives. Hell hath no fury like a room full of pretty women scrambling to make themselves beautiful under a time limit. Hair is brushed, teased, and even tormented. From all corners of the house the frenzied cacophony of sorority life can be heard. “Can I borrow your… Do you have any… Do you think it’s okay to wear jeans? Does this make me look… Should we wear our gowns?” This is a scene that most single men never witness and most married men avoid by hiding as far away from bedrooms and bathrooms as possible.