American women were flown to Britain to meet the country’s most sought-after bachelor. The truth was different.
Matthew Hicks played Prince Harry in the show. PDO
In 2014, anyone had the opportunity to get to know Prince Harry through the TV show and maybe even become part of the royal family. Or so the single American women participating in the program were led to understand.
A bride for Prince Harry – program (I Wanna Marry “Harry”) was that the women were made to believe that they were “competing” for the real prince, although in reality the bachelor of the program was outwardly similar to Harry Matthew “Matt” Hicks. He wasn’t blue-blooded at all, but his job was to clean up oil-corrupted soil. Hicks dyed her blonde hair reddish for the show.
The American women were flown to London to meet “Harry”. Hicks’ hopes were that he would find a soulmate who would love him even when the truth was revealed.
History had shown that the plot could work and the end result was watchable TV entertainment. The same idea was used in the early 2000s In millionaire Jussi (original version Joe Millionaire), in which an ordinary student let the female contestants know that he was a millionaire.
Matt dated 12 women. In the photo, Rose Copeland, who reached the final stages of the program. PDO
Fake fans and security guards
Hicks agreed to the format only on the condition that he didn’t have to outright lie to the women and that he could behave in his own way – not copy Harry.
– I didn’t want to despise girls, Hicks has said.
However, everything else behind the scenes of the program spoke in favor of now looking for a princess for the British court.
The women who participated in the program have later told how they were fooled. When they arrived in Britain for the filming location at Englefield House, there were British newspapers everywhere, in which “Harry said he was finally ready to find his princess”.
A bride for Prince Harry in the show, the fake prince dated women in a fun setting: there was a castle, a butler, security guards and helicopter rides. Sometimes the dates were interrupted when eager “fans” wanted to take a picture with the “prince”. The clothes chosen for Hicks were copies of the outfits seen on the real prince.
Matt Hicks gave interviews in 2014. PDO
This is what Prince Harry looked like during the show. Harry had a reputation as a party prince. PDO
Brainwashing
In the end, “Harry” or Hicks’ heart was chosen Kimberly Birch. Later, Birch has told about his own doubts. She told Refinery29 that she thought the man didn’t look like Prince Harry, and that something like that would never happen in real life.
– At the same time, the other side of our brain was completely brainwashed. You are isolated from your friends and family and have no access to any media. You’re in a castle and if you’re asking if this is Prince Harry or not, you’re crazy, Birch described.
The two had chemistry before their eyes. However, the relationship between Hicks and Birch, who lived on different continents, faded soon after the cameras turned off.
In the end, “Harry’s” choice was Kimberly Birch. PDO
A flop
Birch, who later created a career as an actor and lives in New York, has said that he received nasty comments about the format: real royalty would never be interested in him because he was “not British enough or famous enough”.
Birch commented on the issue last year in an interview with the Insider publication in an ironic tone. She jokingly commented how the real Harry ended up marrying an “American B-grade actress”. Meghan Markle’s with.
At the time, the program sparked a lot of discussion about how anyone can go to such a thread and believe they are dating Prince Harry.
In the US, the reality show was a flop. The series was shown behind the curtain for only four episodes.
Since the show, Hicks has disappeared from the public eye as quickly as he came into the public eye.
Source: DailyMail and Refinery29