When the reality dating show I Wanna Marry Harry was announced, everyone on Twitter was all like, "OMG those girls must be so dumb to actually think that's Prince Harry hahahhaha." But what if we're the gullible ones? What if it's not the contestants that are being fooled, but us? Perhaps the big reveal at the end of the show is not that Matt Hicks isn't really Harry, but that everyone involved is an actor attempting to fool the public into thinking this is a real show.
There have been a lot of shows tricking contestants in the past. Joe Millionaire, There's Something About Miriam, Undercover Boss, but never has there been a show that set out to trick the audience. But now maybe there is. Networks are always trying to find the next big thing in reality TV, and perhaps Fox has beat everyone else to the punch with their social experiment of a show. Set up a ridiculous premise, let social media go to town mocking the contestants, and then turn it all around on us, the viewers.
Perhaps that's a little sophisticated, but for the sake of pretending reality TV still has some dignity left, let's assume it's a possibility ... which is only further confirmed by these four big hints we've gotten so far:
1. HARRY'S NOT THE ONLY FAKE ON THE SHOW
When viewers were first introduced to the show, we were told that Matt Hicks/Prince Harry was the only impostor. But now we have learned that his trusted butler Kingsley is also an actor. This is not something the show revealed to us, as they're likely still trying to keep the ruse alive, but nevertheless, the cat's out of the bag and we now know this show is capable of presenting impostors to the viewers without telling us.
2. MATT HICKS' ACTING ISN'T ALL THAT GREAT
Okay, I do love our not-so-royal prince and he seems like a great guy, but his spontaneous acting is shaky at best. Tuesday night, when he decided to let it slip he was a royal, I was cringing from how badly it was executed. Says Hicks: “Well if the date of a royal can’t be treated well…” to which his date Rose repeats, “Date with a royal???”
Then Hicks tries to play it off like he didn't mean to let it slip it by quietly saying, “Did I say that?” (Watch the moment at around 9:00 below):
It's a really cheesy moment and a definite crack in the armor of suave "Prince Harry" but surprisingly Rose lets it drop so fast. Perhaps this is because she doesn't want to be sent home, but what if instead it's because she's an impostor too, so she naturally wouldn't go off script to challenge Hicks.
There are other times, too, when one of the women suggests he's Harry and he just plays it off like "Oh? You think? Well, we'll see." First of all, I don't see actual Prince Harry being so secretive about telling women his name? And second of all, if I was with someone who was playing so many games for two straight episodes I would start to be like mmm... okay... this is weird? But these women (actors) roll (role) with it like true professionals.
4. TONS OF PROMOTION
The cast of I Wanna Marry Harry is all over Twitter promoting the show. The women have it in their profile pictures, Rose ends every tweet with Union Jack, diamond, heart, and diamond ring emoticons, and none of them seem to have any hard feelings. I don't know if this show does end in a love match, but from what I can see none of the women on Twitter seem to feel at all betrayed or made to feel stupid by the show. They've embraced it and are doing their best to promote it. Far more than other reality dating shows like the Bachelorette's contestants do to promote their show. To me this promotion reads more as an excited cast eager to launch their project than a bunch of tricked reality stars.
3. ROSE IS A PLANT (NO PUN INTENDED)
Even if all the contestants aren't actresses, something about Rose still strikes me as intriguing. She's very animated and all too willing to jump in and confirm to the other, sometimes doubtful, women that Hicks is, in fact, Prince Harry. Perhaps her role on the show is to be a spy in the group of girls to make sure they stay on track with their speculation? It would make sense then that's why she was chosen for the first date so Hicks could practice without giving anything away and Rose could set the scene and start the gossip about who he really is.
Plus she lives in L.A. and while she does have a history of being a preschool teacher, that doesn't mean she doesn't want to be an actress too, right?
Individually I might not give these four hints a second glance but when you start putting them all together it makes sense that something bigger might be at play here. Are some of the women actors? Are all of them actors? We'll just have to wait and see.
But I do hope there's something more afoot because how awesome would it be to have it be a social experiment and to turn things around on all the Twitter users calling the contestants stupid? Epic.
Images: Fox; Tumblr/tonksgiflibrary; Tumblr/leroyalrealm; Martha Sorren
