Two Strangers and a Wedding
Encyclopedia
106 Jack FM (Oxfordshire)
106 Jack FM is an English language adult hits format radio station that broadcasts on 106.8 MHz FM in Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. The station is branded as Jack FM...
and Glide FM in the U.K, created and first hosted in Australia.
In order to win the competition, two contestants who have not met or made contact with each other must be chosen by the station's listeners. They then have to get married legitimately.
Australian competitions
The first promotions were held in Adelaide and Sydney, Australia on 2Day FM2Day FM
Not to be mixed up with Today FM in Ireland.2Day FM is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia, on a frequency of 104.1 MHz, and part of Austereo's Today Network.- Transmission :...
and SAFM
SAFM
SAFM is a commercial FM radio station in Adelaide, Australia, primarily targeted at those in the 16-35 age group on a frequency of 107.1 MHz, and part of Austereo's Today Network.-Station History:...
and then on several other Australian stations in 1998.The couple involved in the 2Day FM promotion were Glenn Emerton and Lief Bunyan. Glenn Emerton later met Naomi Kennedy and married in March 2006 , currently living on the Gold Coast with two children
UK competitions
Radio stations 106 Jack FM (Oxfordshire)106 Jack FM (Oxfordshire)
106 Jack FM is an English language adult hits format radio station that broadcasts on 106.8 MHz FM in Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. The station is branded as Jack FM...
and Glide FM are running the controversial real life social experiment ‘2 Strangers and a Wedding’.
The experiment which asks "Is love really blind?" invites single men and women to nominate themselves as the ideal perfect partner in marriage. Over 8 weeks entrants and the audience will get to know all of the participants, who will be vetted by a panel of experts including psychologists and counsellors. With their help, the radio stations’ audience will help choose a bride. Then the panel, the audience, and the bride’s family and friends will help her find her perfect match. As the romantic drama unfolds it will be shared with the audience of both the 106 JACKfm and glide fm 107.9 breakfast shows each morning.
The twist?
The bride and a groom will not set eyes on each other until they meet at the altar, on their wedding day. Although as JACKfm listener Linda Sandels who has been blind since birth says “I don’t see why it shouldn’t work… I’ve been married to my husband for 21 years, and I’ve never seen him!”
Applications for ‘2 Strangers and a Wedding will open on Monday 28 February via www.2strangers.co.uk, and for more information listen to 106 JACKfm or glide fm 107.9.
Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
radio station BRMB
Brmb
brmb is a local radio station based in Birmingham, UK, owned and operated by Orion Media. The station broadcasts on 96.4 FM, DAB Digital Radio in the West Midlands and online...
has married two sets of couples, and both of these contests have sparked a national interest. In 1999, the first couple were matched by a panel of relationship counsellors and astrologers, including astrologer Russell Grant
Russell Grant
Russell John Dammerall Grant is a British astrologer and media personality. He has written several books on Astrology, provides syndicated newspaper horoscopes and operates premium rate astrology phone lines. In March 2010, he began offering a "Pet Psychic" service...
. The groom was 28 year-old Greg Cordell, a sales manager, and his chosen bride was Carla Germaine, a 23 year-old former model. Also to make it to the last 4 girls was her long term school friend Joanna Scragg.
The couple married, on air nationally and online, however they soon split after the wedding. Carla later met and married Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Kyle is an English radio and television presenter, best known for his British daytime television chat show on ITV, The Jeremy Kyle Show. Kyle is also the host of an American talk show of the same name that premiered on 19 September 2011.-Radio career:From 1986 to 1995, Kyle worked as a...
, who at the time was one of the radio station's DJs. They now have their own family together.
Later on in 2006, another couple were married. Again, the station received national interest. Becky, 28, and Craig, 30, were chosen for the stunt. Despite protests against the wedding, the two were married. The couple flew to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
the day after the wedding for their honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
.
Four months later on 7 May 2006, the News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
reported the couple had split, but not divorced. These reports were confirmed on the morning radio show, "the Big Brum Breakfast", when Becky (the bride) was interviewed.
New Zealand competitions
New Zealand radio station The EdgeThe Edge (radio station)
The Edge FM is a MediaWorks New Zealand New Zealand youth radio network, playing predominantly pop, rock and R&B. The network's flagship is The Morning Madhouse with Jay Jay Feeney, Mike Puru and Dom Harvey....
ran a similar competition where they married Zane Nichol and Paula Stockwell in 1999. To this day the couple are still together and have three children.(Two boys and a girl). Their third child, a girl was born earlier this year.
In 2003, The Edge also married Steve Veix and Kersha Taylor. Again, the two are also still together and have a son, Mitchell. In early 2006, it was revealed that due to Steve's long days working on the couple's farm, Kersha suffered post-natal depression which she has since beaten. On Wednesday 16 January 2008, Kersha gave birth to their second son Finn.
The Edge ran 3 Strangers and a Wedding in 2007 where the bride has to pick which man out of 2 she will marry on the actual wedding day.
Chantelle Swanson picked Paul Court as her groom on 27 September 2007 in Auckland, New Zealand. In March 2010 Chantelle gave birth to the couples first child Taylor Thomas Court on Sunday 7 March 2010. He weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces.
Other competitions
95.5 WPLJWPLJ
WPLJ is a radio station in New York City owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media. WPLJ shares studio facilities with sister station WABC inside 2 Penn Plaza in midtown Manhattan, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building. The station currently plays a Hot Adult...
, a New York radio station, in 2006 married a couple. They were together for six months before divorcing.
Similar contests have been run in Los Angeles, Budapest, Hungary and in Estonia.
95.5 KLOS
KLOS
KLOS is an FM rock music radio station based in Los Angeles, California, that debuted in 1969. The station is owned by Cumulus Media. It is home to the nationally broadcast Mark & Brian radio show, and Off The Record host Uncle Joe Benson.-History:...
in Los Angeles also ran, a variant of the competition called "Three Strangers and a Wedding" in 2007, this time the twist was that the Bride had to choose her groom in 60 seconds based on first looks. The couple split up after 1 week. She has a nickname of the Naughty Nurse.
Most recently WTMX
WTMX
WTMX is an adult top 40 radio station licensed to Skokie, IL in the Chicago market. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.-History:...
in Chicago ran 2 Strangers - Is Love Blind and the final couple refused to get married at the altar claiming marriage was too serious to be entered into via a radio competition.
The two most successful European 'social experiments' were held in Dublin on 98FM where the final couple are still together and have a child and in Budapest, Hungary where the couple from Danubius Radio are now media celebrities attending chat shows and film premieres.
More recently '2 Strangers' has also run successfully in on the WIL Cornbread show in St Louis, Energy FM on Calgary & and Kaya FM Johannesburg.
In Sept/Oct 2008 Energy 101.5 of Calgary, Alberta Canada ran Two Strangers and A Wedding. The Bride and Groom were to get married the last week of October. At the altar they opted out of marriage. They were to go on a date after the wedding and also spent a weekend with his family. No new info has been given since then.
In February 2009, a contest was launched by Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
regional station Beat 102-103
Beat 102-103
Beat 102 103 is an independent regional radio station in Ireland licensed by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland covering counties Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and South Tipperary in South East Ireland...
. There were 85 entrants, with the winners meeting minutes before the ceremony in April. The ceremony was legally void, since three months' notice is required. However, provision was made for a future legal ceremony and use of a shared house. The couple went to Portugal for a weeks' "honeymoon", accompanied by station staff. Upon their return, they split up, with the "bride" commenting, "I'm definitely not going to see him again."
2 Strangers TV
Strangers over the years has appeared on TV many times- Channel 9 Australia 1998
- BBC TV News, ITV TV News, SKY News & Have I got news for you February 1999
- ITV '2 Strangers & a Wedding' 2 episode special Tue 2 March 1999
- TV3 Ireland '2 Strangers & a Wedding' Special
- RTL TV Hungary & TV2 Hungary 2004
- ABC TV America 2007 & CBS TV coverage 2007
In 2009, 2 Strangers will be hitting television screens around the world, as numerous US & European networks look to option with the show's format distributors SMALL WORLD IFT & A&D llc. Small World IFT is headed by former Sony Pictures executive Tim Crescenti, whom at his time at Sony was involved in the international development of the Japanese television format Dragons' Den. Small World also distributes the hit ABC reality show "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" that ran in Summer 2008 and 2009.
Criticisms and controversy
- Birmingham's Churches TogetherChurches Together in EnglandChurches Together in England is an ecumenical organisation and the national instrument for the Christian church in England. It helps the different Churches to work together instead of separately so that they can be more effective and credible...
accused BRMB of "reducing a sacred and momentous decision to a media event", before the 1999 wedding of Greg and Carla.