Hey, Guys:
– National Geographic launched a new show they’re calling “Bachelors Abroad”. It follows men who are going on tours with A Foreign Affair. You don’t need to watch it – that’s why I’m here.
I’ve been involved in media for a number of years now. Following the launch of my book I was on 42 radio programs. We were on The TODAY Show with Matt Lauer. We had a cable show feature our family. The same themes continue to come up – it’s how the media likes to portray us – AND THEY’RE WRONG!
Like clockwork you can expect that those in the media who have a distaste for our industry will see global romance through the following lens . . .
- Men are pictured by our haters as odd, strange and weird who make dogs look intelligent
- Women who are beautiful, but motivated to leave for a better life and not for love
- They will make it seem impossible for sincere people to connect
The show followed three “Bachelors” as they got ready and then attended their AFA tours. Joe Gregory is a 51 year old police officer. The opening scene shows him telling his four daughters that he’s heading for Ukraine to look for his wife. They react with concern, but then relent to supporting their dad. Late we find out that this was his third tour. OK, so they staged a little bit of that. He was a likable guy and everyone wanted him to win.
The second Bachelor Abroad was Bill Williams, a short heavy-set man in his 60′s who had been married to a Russian woman before and then she left him. He had little personality and kept talking with the ladies about his ex-wife. He was also scammed, but John Adams just told him he was being too nice. It was this guy’s third AFA tour as well. The show didn’t make it look like he had a chance, and, sure enough, he went home empty-handed again.
The third Bachelor Abroad was Bob Ray, also in his 60′s. Bob works for A Foreign Affair as a tour guide on a regular basis, but he was set up to pose as the third dater. But Bob was not shown as someone serious about looking for a life-partner. He just seems to really enjoy the energy of the experience. Yes, he was another plant, but he wasn’t really a great example of an international dater either.
One obvious issue with the AFA format seemed to be the quick movement from city to city, which became even more pronounced in the span of a single show. Our favorite guy, Joe, made a wonderful connection with a woman in the first city. Everyone could sense the chemistry. But he has to leave with the group the next day and we never hear from her again. John Adams tells us, “Joe needs to meet a lot of women and so I’m going to make sure he’s on that bus.” There was a part of us that hurt for the guy.
In the end, the winner seemed to be Joe, but their idea of winning was that Joe has some phone numbers and Skype ID’s to follow up with once he got back home. John gave his explanation to the audience at the end and simply said, “You have to keep going back and going back until you find that special person.”
I just wanted to reach out to anyone who saw this and let them know – “It doesn’t have to be like this”.
Although it’s painful for me to watch, I will be vigilant and keep you informed on how we are portrayed in the media so you don’t have to.
Mark
New addition! We’ve added a new site to help answer men’s questions that are arising because of this show. You can see it at http://www.BachelorsAbroadTV.com. Yes, it’s the same content as on our Ultimate Match series, but guys searching for Bachelors Abroad may find this site before ours so I felt it was a good thing to do. I really want them to get the best information possible on the true stories of global romance, which is found right here!
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Wish I could have seen it Mark. I didn’t have that channel on my Dish! Do you know if there will be a reply online?
It’s a commercial for AFA. They had Bob Ray as one of the dating clients – HE’S ONE OF THEIR TOUR GUIDES!
It did accurately depict the AFA program of throw you in a room of 250 women and say ‘good luck’. They showed how the guys had to move from city to city every day and a half and the goal was to get them to want to come back on another tour. The guys on this show had been on two previous tours with no success.
Save an hour of your life. Do something more productive.
I just saw the show. I DVR’d it so I can see it when I got home. I noticed that all the men had been on previous tours. There is no coaching to help them have good success with their dates. They never get to really know any of the women because they have to go to the next city.
Bob Ray does not seem like he is serious about finding a wife. He just seem likes he wants to be having fun than finding a bride. What a goof ball
The older man seemed to be reflecting on his past. He talked about a conflict with his children and his former Russian wife. Not Good!!! He needs help getting back in the game. He needs to be coached.
The cop has a good chance of finding a bride but he never stays in one place long enough to know if the relationship will grow. Too many cities in a short amount of time. I wish him luck.
I have seen Bob (the tour guide)before in other videos with AFA and NO, I am not impressed with him
Pete you can find the show online just google “bachelors abroad xvid”
Mark -
Being in media, myself, I expected this, as soon as I heard about it. In fact, I am surprised, they tried to be a commercial for any company, or that they tried to make one of the guys seem decent (albeit less than he probably is).
It’s not about Truth. It’s about ratings. Even in cases of expose pieces. And of course, there are lobby group agendas involved, the one I reference, I am certain, you are familiar.
Hi Mark ,I watched the show it was fine ,i didn’t see it as bad , I wish had thought harder about spending time with Natalya ,why didn’t he meet her sooner and spend time with her more than the 2 hours he spent with her ,thats what bothered me ,I agree you do want to meet a hand full of women , when you find the one you feel for then don’t fly back with the group ,you should stay and spend as much time as you can with that woman ,and take a later flight when you have to come home ,these tours are great and I would be happy to join your group ,but I would for sure 100% stay longer myself, and truly get to spend quality with her. You don’t need to take many flights back and forth to finally find your wife like they portrayed , The Santa clause ,guy he was really bad ,why would they ever use him as an example ?
Thanks for putting up with the show Mark. I’m glad you reviewed here to affirm the scourge that is reality TV. And I agree with John it’s all about spin and ratings … thankfully there are not other shows like this in the mainstream casting international dating in the wrong light.
I have said plenty about this, I guess its time to say even more. Mark is right that if you didn’t see it, you didn’t miss much, it was typical of what AFA does and typical of its client base.
Look at anything AFA has done in the media and you’ll see the same thing over and over again; Men usually looked over in our society for being overweight, short, too much facial hair, usually from a small town or does things like driving trucks/farmers, etc.
Why do they go to AFA (and others)? If your from “Fly Over” country in America, the best talent in those bergs has usually checked out after high school graduation or married a local their age. That doesn’t leave you much and if you have tried to date in a small town in America you know what I’m talking about. If your over 40 and in this position, I wish you all the luck in the world because I know it sucks.
Men from major cities don’t fare much better, especially if they are chubby, middle aged, over 50 and divorced (still talking about your ex).
If I was AFA I would have two socials, one with women over 40 for men over 50 and one with women under 40 with men under 45. Some 25 year olds will be interested in a man over 40, so we can’t rule that out.
It might be more fair, but no wonder they have such a low success rate, some have said around 10-15%. That’s terrible. I heard one of the reasons they begged Bud to come back to the company is to sort of whip the guys into to shape. So Mark you have had that effect on them. Anastasia is a lost cause, I wouldn’t even mention them other than the girl that does Hot For Words on You Tube who is Russian has a profile on that web site which I found interesting.
This was another hatchet job by the mainstream media and AFA is laughing likely.
It really tells a lot about a company by whom they choose to be in their productions and the people they associate with their company. I’ve seen and heard Bob Ray representing AFA, and I have no idea why he was chosen to be in this program. He is not an AFA client or even a serious tour participant. Manuel, you describe him well – a goofball.
You guys caught many of the flaws in the AFA approach – moving from city to city, offering offensive to the ladies “meat market” socials which most self-respecting women do not attend, providing no coaching to the men during the tour (except to tell them after they’ve had problems to be more careful next time – “now you know”) and another big problem – interpreters who are connected to the local agencies and have no allegiance to the men. The extra cost of these ever-changing interpreters for the private dates can add up to $800 – $1,000 out-of-pocket by tour’s end. All in all, I think it’s a sad reflection of how a company can be too focused on making money and not work towards improving their tours to lead to more successful results for their clients. It’s so wrong.
Mark
I was on Joe’s first tour with Afa. He is a fun guy to be around. He was like most of the other men on that trip though,only there for a good time. The trip was fun,but it was not much of a success. We were told by the tour leader not to be disappointed that we did not make any meaningful connection. Then he went on to explain that it could take up to five more trips to find the one. Then he joked,”don’t worry though because y’all will get a discount on all of your future trips”.
Is this supposed to be a series or just a one off show?
They say it will end up as a season. Nothing on the schedule as of today.
Hello Everyone,
I watched this terrible show. I’m sure that some men need to be coached before they will go abroad for sure. They should provide them with emotional safety and peace of mind…This is not a joke to play with feelings.
My opinion is that the only one way to help men is to be prepared for reality. There needs to be a special level of comfort to men and women, and men must know to whom to give trust in their search!
You can find a review of “Bachelors Abroad” here:
http://www.mailorderbridenews.com/2013/01/14/not-just-a-bunch-of-horny-oldies-looking-for-laid/
A Foreign Affair insists that the show will run beyond its pilot but hasn’t announced any upcoming episodes on their website or Twitter feed. If any of you know when it will air again, let me know.
Thanks,
Michael Barnes
MailOrderBrideNews.com — Shining a Spotlight on the International Marriage Market
P.S. MOBN is NOT a matchmaking site. You will find industry news and advise on the IMM at our site. We are not affiliated with any agencies, but you can find them (such as Dream Connections) on our site. Thanks.
I don’t know if you saw the new addition to the post, but we created a new landing page for guys to find who are searching for information on Bachelors Abroad. It’s at http://www.BachelorsAbroadTV.com. It’s the same content from the Ultimate Match video series, but guys may find this site through their searching before they find our site. The truth needs to get out there if they are to have a real shot at making their dreams come true and I believe we have those answers.
We’ve been getting a lot of guys signing up for our series because of this. Perhaps some real education will take place. We can only hope.