The real beauty of the show is in the details, like the ridiculous competitions that everyone unquestioningly participates in (like “Hands on a Hooker’), the pompous host who takes himself way too seriously (at one point, he gives the cast his head shots), and the “Riches to Rags” eviction ceremony at the end of each episode wherein the evictee’s commemorative plate (complete with a stunning likeness) is thrown into a roaring fireplace and destroyed. There is an underlying sweetness to the whole thing, as the cast admits that they were surprised at how they grew to care for Matt during the shoot and were nervous about revealing the deception of it all when the time came to do so. And the reveal, in episode 8, is a doozy. Look for current SNL up-and-comer Kristen Wiig as “Dr. Pat”, a divorced marriage counselor who uses puppets to help Matt work through a problem early on. There was a second season of the show that was designed to look more like a Bachelor/Bachelorette spoof and it was also hillarious, but I don’t know if it was ever released on DVD.
