Take Me Out Conquers The World

The other day I was channel surfing when I came across a commercial for a new program about to debut on American TV Networks - Take Me Out. I gasped, then emailed Charlotte immediately in the UK. This was a program that we had discussed at length at work - approximately 25-30 girls stand onstage, each behind a lit podium. An eligible (or sometimes not so eligible) male descends from a shaft, to a song of his choice, and the host announces his name and where he's from. He then discusses his background and hobbies, a video of his friends/family describing him is shown, and he shows off a talent. In between these various rounds the host banters with the girls. Throughout this entire hilarious exchange, girls turn their lights out if they are not interested in going on a date with the eligible bachelor. Some turn their lights on immediately on seeing what the guy looks like, some wait until they hear some of his interests. The most hilarious instances occurs when say it's a weird 50 year old bald dude with a twirly moustache dressed in a 3 piece suit and carrying a cane, and the girls some girls are nice and leave their lights on, but with no intention of being chosen to date the guy. The best time was when only two girls were left with lights on, but because they were all clapping and dancing along to the song playing during the sequence, the last girl didn't realize only her light was still on, and when she did, you could see the look of horror on her face as she DIVED onto her button to avoid having to go on a date with the guy. Hilarious!

The UK version is hosted by the hilariously named Paddy McGuinness. That's gotta be a stage name, right? We often bemoaned the fact that such low quality television could be commissioned. And now they've exported it!!! I fully intend to watch it because I think (sorry in advance for the gross generalization) the Americans will be totally shameless, not that the UK version wasn't full of pretty desperate candidates.

Not one week later, tonight I was eating my dinner as my Dad was watching the Chinese channel on TV. It was all in Mandarin which I don't understand, so I wasn't paying any attention. But THEN. I heard the familiar buzz of a light being turned out... and looked up to see a dude onstage with 30 Chinese women standing behind lit podiums. !!!!!!!!!! I doubted myself though, because on this show there was also a panel of people making comments and asking questions of the dude standing next to the host. ? So I asked my dad - is this a dating show? Do the women turn out their light if they don't want to date the guy? And my Dad says YES. This is Take Me Out China!!!!!!!!

That was it. I had to find out where this show had originated and who was the original exporter that was responsible for this disease spreading across the world. Once again, Wikipedia does not let me down. It's Australian!!!! Damn you Australia!