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Reality hits marriage

IT WAS one of the most popular shows in the history of Kaya FM.

Two Strangers and a Wedding was a first for radio reality shows in this country. The show was going to be a case study and the mystery surrounding it in terms of the participants' identity was the icing on the cake.

Barely announced, the show, which was run on the Breakfast show and was clearly the suspended host Phat Joe's baby, attracted a huge amount of entries from both the fairer sex and repentant playboys. Listeners were on tenterhooks.

And the charismatic Phat Joe kept the suspense, anticipation and excitement at fever pitch.

The couple who eventually emerged winners, Gayle Brookstein and her fighter pilot beau Derrick Mathee, were hardly in each other's arms when rumours of trouble in paradise surfaced. The tabloids had a field day on the groom's exploits, insisting that he had a wandering eye.

The petite Gail was obviously having a hard time keeping up and it was not long before the wedding that had grabbed the attention of the nation, crumbled. The two are locked in a divorce tussle that will see their supposed-to-be romantic and fairy-tale wedding dissolved in a court.

They have moved out of the flat that Kaya FM had rented for them for a year, but they can keep their cars, cash and a whole lot of other prizes.

Two Strangers and a Wedding is a social experiment, where two strangers only meet at the alter.

For eight weeks, the show's panel and Kaya FM listeners get an opportunity to listen to and vote for their favourite bride and groom.

The second series' pursuit to find the city's perfect match unravelled at the beginning of October on Kaya FM's breakfast show, which broadcasts every weekday between 5am and 9am.

Pospective candidates (both male and female) were invited to submit entries from which the panel and Kaya FM listeners would select the ultimate bride. The bride-to-be must then select her perfect stranger from the top five most eligible male prospects.

Finally, the strangers are presented with opportunities to talk to and learn more about each other, without seeing each other, for the sake of making a true emotional connection.

Each of the prospective participants is vetted by a panel of experts, which includes marriage counselors and psychologists. The battery of tests cover physical and mental health, personality profiling and compatibility as well as financial wellbeing. This gives the candidates the unique advantage of a 360degree view of who their potential partner could be.

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