Trading Spouses

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Trading Spouses
The Trading Spouses Logo
Genre	Reality TV
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	39
Production
Executive producer(s)	Chris Cowan Jean-Michel Michenaud
Running time	44 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX Network
Original run	July 1, 2004 – Present
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Trading Spouses (often advertised as Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy) is a FOX Network reality show in which two families, usually of different social classes, swap wives or husbands for a week. Each family is awarded $50,000, with the stipulation that the guest mother decides how her host family must spend the money. The title of the show is a play on the title of the television program Trading Spaces.

The show shares a very similar format to the Channel 4 United Kingdom (and subsequent ABC remake) program Wife Swap. In 2004, ABC showcased their upcoming Wife Swap show including projections of its popularity. Weeks before the show's debut, FOX introduced Trading Spouses.^[1] The producers of Wife Swap claimed FOX stole their concept,^[2] while FOX argued that TV shows have always borrowed from one another and that FOX simply beat ABC to delivery.^{[citation needed]}

Audio clips from contestant Marguerite Perrin appear often on the radio show Loveline.

Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show featured a sketch called "Trading Spouses" nearly a year before the Fox show aired. Despite the similarities, the sketch appears to be based on the home-decorating show Trading Spaces and Dave Chappelle's stand-up comedy.

The show will finish airing it's third season on May 3, 2007. It is currently unknown whether or not the show will be renewed for a fourth season.