Wife Swap

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This article is about the television programme. For the subcultural sexual lifestyle, see Swinging.
Wife Swap
Genre Reality TV
Starring Various couples
Country of origin Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Channel 4
Original run 1 January 2003 – Renewed Through The 2007-2008 season
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Wife Swap is a reality television program, produced by UK independent TV production company RDF Media. It first aired in 2003 on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and since 2004 has also aired in the US on the ABC network. The title is a play on "wife swapping", a practice associated with the swinging lifestyle (and which is not in fact featured on the show). Wives are always swapped back, unless both parties believe a switch would be a good idea.

It was announced on January 26, 2007 that ABC had renewed Wife Swap through the 2007-2008 Season.

Two families, usually with vastly different social classes and lifestyles, swap wives for two weeks. The women try to fill their counterpart's role, usually not succeeding particularly well. The adopted family also tries to cope with the change. However, the husband usually fares worse than the children.

Each wife leaves a house manual which explains their role in the family and the duties they hold. During the first week of the swap, they attempt to keep up with the demands set by their new lifestyle, which usually includes a greatly increased (for one, decreased for the other) level of housework. During the second week, the roles are somewhat reversed with the family having to abide by the rules set by the new wife.

At the end, the women meet for the first time and along with their husbands, discuss how they feel about the two weeks. This often descends into personal insults and has degenerated into violence at least once.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Spin-offs

The program format has been licensed around the world.

Localized verions of Wife Swap were produced by Viasat and aired in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Latvia and Lithuania. Viasat was the first company in the world to adapt the format locally. The first adaptation aired in Denmark in Fall 2003. Also, Chile premiered its own version of Wife Swap called "¿Quién cambia a quién? Intercambio de Esposas" (Who changes whom?: Wife Swap) on March 14. The show is produced by Canal 13 and hosted by Cecilia Bolocco.

In late 2004, the format was remade by RDF USA on the US network ABC, and copied as Trading Spouses on Fox. Some episodes of the American version of Wife Swap were shown on British television, also in late 2004.

There have been three celebrity versions of Wife Swap produced. The first one saw Charles Ingram playing host to Jade Goody of Big Brother fame, and the second saw racing pundit John McCririck play host to politician Edwina Currie. The third celebrity version broadcasted on April 1st 2007 and featured magician Paul Daniels and journalist and radio host Vanessa Feltz.

A spin-off, Boss Swap, aired as a series in the UK. A pilot for a U.S. series aired on ABC, but the series never got commissioned. Husband Swap and Vacation Swap pilots were also aired in the U.S., but were not ordered to series. At least once, however, a husband and a live-in boyfriend swapped while the women stayed with their families.

In 2006 on the American version, a new twist was added whereby the wife can bring in someone to help her (a family member, a friend) to help on one day of the swap. The twist was discontinued early in the third season and only appeared in a few episodes.

[edit] Parodies

Wife Swap was spoofed in an episode of Hope & Faith with Wynonna Judd guest starring, as well as on a 2006 episode of The Simpsons, written by and starring Ricky Gervais.

In 2007, Richard Thomas' BBC Two series Kombat Opera Presents included a musical parody of the American version of Wife Swap, under the title Spouse Change.


In the final episode of The Vicar of Dibley, it showed Dawn French, and Sting participating in a Celebrity Wife Swap.

[edit] Legal issues

In November of 2005, Jeffrey Bedford, a participant on the show, sued ABC network for trading his wife for a gay man. He accused ABC of being dishonest, not allowing him contact with his wife, and making him miss college classes. He claims that when he ceased participating with the production of the show, ABC threatened that it would not tell him his wife's whereabouts and would not pay for his wife's return home. He is suing for over USD$10,000,000.00.[1]

On March 23, 2005, 50-year-old former Wife Swap participant Edward Heiss, Jr., of Warwick, Rhode Island, was arrested on charges of identity theft and for obtaining money under false pretenses. He allegedly used his father's identity to obtain a luxury automobile, loans, and goods with a value of $100,000. Heiss appeared in Wife Swap in the autumn of 2005. His wife Susan said that he is impulsive with money.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "'Wife Swap' sued over gay guest" article from The Independent
  2. ^ "'Swap' Participant Charged With ID Theft" from MSN

[edit] External links

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