Ah, the quest. Every young hero must embark on some sort of journey to prove himself, to struggle to learn more about his inner being, to become a better man. Our Joe Millionaire, David Smith, seems to have begun his own mighty quest: he is out to find a woman who is not interested in his false eighty million dollars. A noble and lofty goal, I suppose, but he seems to have forgotten an important component of his whole quest: he needs to find a woman who will love him (okay, right, we’re in reality TV world here—so a woman who will at least tolerate sitting next to him through one cycle of interviews once the show finishes airing).
I understand the concept of the quest. I’ve gone on quests to be healthy and have found myself leaving the supermarket with bags full of broccoli, soymilk, and wheat germ. Then I get home and realize that I don’t like any of the things I’ve bought; in fact, I don’t want to even look at any of the things I’ve brought home. I end up ordering a pizza and the broccoli rots in my refrigerator over the next few weeks. I see the same sort of thing happening with David; he might ultimately find a girl who isn’t interested in the money (or in this group, the girl who is the least interested in the money), but that shouldn’t be the only reason he chooses her. If this is the only reason he selects the girl, he’s going to end up dissatisfied (like me with my ignored healthy food—see, the analogy is sort of working here). He needs to look at the overall picture, not be so focused on solely weeding out the gold diggers.
Olinda’s behavior troubled me the most this episode, and I was especially surprised that David kept her on. Granted, he may have kept her because she exhibited some personality and it’s difficult to pick and choose women after one date, but she seems disrespectful of things David considers important. First, the viewers are shown Olinda speaking with the other women; she says that she thinks the quality of the pearls that David has given them isn’t so great. David doesn’t hear the conversation, so we have to give him a pass on this one. But when David takes the first group date to work on some pottery, Olinda makes raunchy jokes about the shape of the vase she’s crafting. Her statements really seem to shock David, and he responds with, “Oh my gosh!” Olinda’s crude jokes paired with David’s “Oh my gosh!” seem a strange juxtaposition and makes the viewer realize how different these two really are. Then David says that European women are different from American women because they get “nasty like this.” Well, no, it’s not all European women. In fact, Gianna, who is on the same date, seems quite nice and polite. It’s just Olinda and her potty mouth that are nasty. But the biggest deal breaker, in my opinion, is when Olinda mocks David after he says a prayer before eating. First, Olinda proceeds to eat through his prayer. Even if she’s not religious, she should know enough not to sit there and gnaw at her food while David takes a moment to pray. Then, when he is finished, she waves her hands around and says, “Amen! Praise the Lord!” in a tone full of mockery. Incidentally, she also uses a Southern accent because, well, all really religious Americans are Southern hicks, right? Sheesh. Way to stereotype, Olinda. David gives Olinda a peeved look after her ridicule of his prayer, but he doesn’t say anything to her. Later in the show, after David gives Olinda a necklace, indicating she can stay on, he voices over that he can see himself with Olinda. How can he see himself with someone who so clearly makes fun of something he holds sacred?
At the end of this Tuesday’s episode, one of the women David eliminates is Tereza. He says that he got rid of her because she was the first to ask about the money. Perhaps, but what else do these women have to talk to David about right now? They’ve already tried talking to him about the horse, which has resulted in a disastrous lie. He’s told the women that he flew Hurricane (the horse he rode up on during the initial greeting) to Italy, and can’t come up with any more details about how this might actually transpire (horse tranquilizers, David). So now, every time the women bring up horses, David gets cagey. And what else do these women know about David? They know that he has money. And, like David said to the women who were peppering him with questions about the money, “How many people do you know who have eighty million dollars?” This is true, and it is something that makes him interesting. If he had eighty million pairs of socks, I’d probably spend quite a bit of time asking him questions about the socks. When you first meet someone, you ask them questions pertaining to what you know about them. So I don’t necessarily see asking about the money equaling gold digging, and I’m not sure he should feel so offended by the questions. I think the mockery of his religion is a far more serious offense, and one that’s bound to affect a relationship much more than some initial curiosity about money.
So far, Linda is the only woman who we’ve seen question the this whole scenario. She confides in Cat, saying that she and David have such different lifestyles; she even brings up the fact that David seems very religious whereas she is not. Linda says that she’d probably never talk to David if she met him on the street. Considering what different worlds they are from, there’s probably little chance that they even would meet each other on the street. Linda seems to be thinking through the future possibilities of a relationship with David, while David is just trying to figure out who isn’t there for the money.
But perhaps David’s got it right. In the end, the whole thing is really a game and maybe he is playing the game well. Paul the butler has promised the viewers some surprises along the way, and I’m sure there will be a big “surprise” involving money at the end. If David chooses a woman who ostensibly likes him for him and not for his money, there will probably be money to reward David and his lady for being noble and not greedy and for believing in the possibilities of love. Come on, you know—it’s just like the beautiful love that blossomed between Evan and Zora last season. Oh, wait. That didn’t really happen, huh? But they did get money. And they seemed as if they kind of liked each other for the last four minutes of the last episode. So that’s sort of satisfying for the viewer, right?
So we’ll have to follow along on David’s quest and see where he ultimately arrives. I’m hoping he somehow ends up with a ton of cash. Then he’ll have enough money to fly Hurricane back to Texas and prove once and for all to these women that a cowboy really can transport a horse overseas.
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