A show in which women competed to date a royal lookalike was panned at the time as ‘fodder for the braindead’. But the contestants had been duped, as a new podcast reveals …
Next month marks a decade since one of the most ridiculous reality shows ever aired on television. I Wanna Marry “Harry” was a dating show in which 12 American women dated Prince Harry, then the world’s most eligible bachelor. Only, obviously, it wasn’t him at all. The “Harry” in question was a lookalike: according to the show, a “99% lookalike” (I will let you be the judge).
Airing on Fox in the US before making its way to ITV2, the reality show consisted of the dozen potential girlfriends being whisked to a secluded mansion in the Berkshire countryside, then going on a series of dates with the fake prince. It was constantly implied by the production team that they were in the presence of royalty: Harry was even referred to as “sir”, when really he was plain old Matt Hicks, an environmental consultant from Exeter who had had his hair dyed ginger. The stunts for the ruse were quite something: from “sir” being whisked away by men in sunglasses after a “security incident”, to fake paparazzi invading a date before being tackled to the ground. Fake Harry was even Photoshopped into an image alongside the real Prince William for a potential date to stumble across while Hicks went to the bathroom.
