Online Brides,Lisa Ling follows a Houston man on a marriage tour to colombia

[michaelb]

I don't know if it's on internet. It was on cable TV tonight. 

[fathertime]

It's gonna be a TRAIN WRECK, and we all know it. 

 

Zulu

hey zulu, since you appear to have been mistaken i feel like piling on!  from what i'm gathering the show was NOT a hatchet job or train wreck!  You must have faith! jajaja

Fathertime!

[euforia51]

hey zulu, since you appear to have been mistaken i feel like piling on!  from what i'm gathering the show was NOT a hatchet job or train wreck!  You must have faith! jajaja

Cripes! Anyone of us who agreed and reinforced Woody's assessment needs to be piled on ... Woody you go first ... come on Zulu ... CeeTee ... Pivery ... Zon? (you can bring your armed guard if you want) ... but we all go down as a team! 

[mudd]

well, just watched it, i thought Lisa ling did a pretty good job. its was open and objective and it had its good pints and bad points. One old guy there 55 plus , trying to chase some 20 year girls old was pathetic, what an idiot.
and i really felt bad for the Karen girl who got pregnant by some American jerk who was already married, really sad.

but the David guy seemed very honest and open and probably the most normal of the guys that i saw, and he will probably be the only successful guy in the group for a few reasons.

1, he was actually looking for a girlfriend/ future wife and not some young girlfriend for a short relationship,
2, he was dating a girl somewhat close to his age and not a 20 year age difference.

anybody else see it?

[piglett]

  Lisa Ling has been a serious journalist. 

wasn't she in that band the cult jam?


pig

[piglett]

expensive proposition to some ... but only part of a "life hack" to others.   The expat / partial expat movement is significant.  And you do not need to be RICH, or OLD ( I mean "retirement old" ) to do it.

Yes, I agree with Woody - bet you a dollar it is going to be ugly.

I had preliminary telephone interviews with some agencies in LA about a year ago that was interested in shooing this kind of story to news shows.   They are not interested in the story - they are interest in demographics and advertisement.   Who are the primary spenders that are going to be watching this show?  Who are the primary spenders of the household?  Do these people want any power taken away?

NOPE! 

I would imagine this will look a lot like the TV show BIG LOOSER ... just add the word DESPERATE to the front of it.

if someone asked me to be on this kind of show i would tell them to shove it up there f*cking @ss so fast it would make their head spin.
I would talk to them in a very course way & i think they would quickly figure out that this little piggy doesn't always play well with others

screw those hacks!!
i hope i wasn't unclear

[william3rd]

I saw part of it. Certain ironies there. I will discuss further in the morning.

[piglett]

I saw part of it. Certain ironies there. I will discuss further in the morning.

i watched the 3 clips they have posted , i didn't really see any problem with them.


pig

[michaelb]

Slight correction to my previous post. The woman with the 1 1/2yo daughter from the bigamist is 25, not 19 like I originally said. 

[Woody]

Cripes! Anyone of us who agreed and reinforced Woody's assessment needs to be piled on ... Woody you go first ... come on Zulu ... CeeTee ... Pivery ... Zon? (you can bring your armed guard if you want) ... but we all go down as a team! 

Well, it seems I was wrong, but I didnt see it. (No Cable/Satellite)

[CeeTeeEnn]

I obviously haven't seen it yet but would relish any links on youtube. If they made it to be more balanced and positive than we feared it might be, that can only be a good thing. After all, if the TV media cries wolf too many times, nobody will believe them. The more recent European documentaries covering Western-FSU marriages seem to have become more balanced, so perhaps it's not unnatural for some balance to enter the minds of the program makers covering the Latin and Asian dating scenes as well.

I don't have a problem with negative images or stereotypes per se; i just seek some positive balance. Sure enough in LA there are old geezers chasing teens (mostly they get rebutted but on few occasions they score - and it's the remote but still feasible prospect of this happening that encourages them to carry on trying) and very sadly there are also unplanned pregnancies involving disreputable gringos. There are also many well-rehearsed warnings about not getting engaged after whirlwind holiday romances, but if even one such story leads to a happy ending then I say bring it on and air it.

[ignorante]

i watched the 3 clips they have posted , i didn't really see any problem with them.


pig

Posted where, piggie?

[thekfc]

wasn't she in that band the cult jam?


pig

That was Lisa Lisa. 

[Pivery]

I'm actually quite surprised that the show wasn't skewered toward absolute
and complete disaster as most usually tend to. Nice to hear that Lisa Ling
portrayed everyone as real people with real situations.

Can't wait to see it through Youtube or ?

Pivery

[piglett]

Posted where, piggie?

it looks like the link is missing .....hell i watched it last night & they had 3 clips 

[JimD]

The clips can´t be seen in Colombia.

[piglett]

That was Lisa Lisa. 

maybe they are sisters?

[euforia51]

OK … while I did not wish to give an entire synopsis of the show, I found it difficult to keep this short and keep my opinion to only a few points. It was obvious to me Lisa Ling was uncomfortable with the whole idea of foreign relationships. Of course, she could have been directed to act in this way but it looked natural to me. More on this later...

The episode focused mainly on a 49 year old divorced (twice), middle class man from Houston, TX with a daughter in her late teens. He would seem to have many of the qualities a middle-aged, divorced, somewhat normal man taking on this adventure might have ... frustrated with the local dating scene, hungry for affection, perhaps raked over the coals from his two prior divorces, and definitely looking to get out from a rut.

His time in BAQ begins with his introduction to a 42 year old single woman he had apparently been corresponding with through the website. There was just something about her I really liked, he stated to the camera. This woman had also traveled some 5 hours to BAQ via bus(es) to meet him for lunch (with a translator). All seemed to be going well until a very important subject came up: She wants a child; and he can’t have one (vasectomy). Date over ... finish your lunch ... have a nice life. It was just that awkard. And now a dumb question, if I may: if he was e-mailing with her back and forth prior to his visit, how is it possible this very important point could have been missed? After closing out this scene, I thought for sure we were all in trouble.

Onward to the first night social. It is set in a banquet hall with many big round tables filled with maybe 8-10 ladies per table. About 100 ladies in all (some pretty, some hot, some not so much) and the 10 men scattered around the different tables. But the story remains focused on our main character. With the exception of a few side distractions such as the short, round, bad dressing, sugar daddy looking perv groping on a very pretty, 20-something year old, and few of the other men doing group chats with the ladies ... and all via translators, of course.

An ongoing side story, as mentioned in an earlier post by michael, was the 25 year old girl who is raising her 1-1/2 year old daughter from a gringo-slime who totally mislead her. This quickly becomes obvious when Lisa mentions he had a wife in the States and another wife in Colombia (somewhere). Anywho, this girl goes to these socials as well on a regular basis and has had a difficult time finding a good man. She is a tall and very thin girl who is pretty but not what I would consider hot. At one point in Lisa’s interview with her, she noted that she some times she feels like a commodity that is for sale, waiting to be chosen and that she did not like the fact that she couldn’t choose; as the men could. And she would much prefer a one-on-one date with a man. I thought this statement, coming from a Colombiana, was insightful. If you have to ask why, you probably shouldn’t be pursuing this kind of relationship.

Meanwhile ... a quick cut back to the over-the-hill perv, who’s been busy groping this very pretty (and very young) Colombiana after he’s sucked down a few too many tall ones, she was obviously very uncomfortable! I pity and despise men like these who are so ignorant to not take notice ... or even care for that matter. Later, after she had somehow escaped from the clutches of his filthy hands, Lisa caught up with her and asked her what she thought. She seemed to be beside herself, reaching for words to explain she was concerned with their age difference, their interests were too different, and she thought it was best that he find someone else. Deep down however, I promise, she was ready to puke ... the eyes and body language cannot tell a lie!

Towards the end of the social, our hero is introduced to an attractive lady in her early 40s with a 9 year old daughter. Not only would she appear to be just another woman in Colombia but, she is also successful in a business of some kind and appears to be very middle class (if there is such a thing in BAQ ... no se?). There are quick side scenes where she is playing with her daughter and she states what she is looking for; and a few more scenes of our hero trying to talk to her with the translator. And by the end of the evening, he has asked for a date, and she has accepted.

As the remainder of the episode begins to pick up speed, the next day with the group at the beach features our hero and his new prospect. Lisa is surprised to discover the new couple holding hands on the bus and throughout the day. She later probes the staff translator who also informs her they have kissed. You could hear the disbelief in Lisa’s voice. And I could only think to myself ... she really has no freakin’ clue how attraction works at it’s very essence. As the week progressed, our hero ended up playing sleepover with his new novia; much to Lisa’s surprise yet again. When she did the final interview with the new couple, they were both dropping the usual words you might hear in a new relationship, chemistry, fate, destiny, love, among many others.

I found it odd at the end of the show when they showed the text that said something to the effect of our hero returning home and asking his new girlfriend to marry him ... and she said ... yes. Scratching my head, I wondered if he had done this on Messenger? With video? On the phone? Does a woman like this not deserve a marriage proposal in person? Anyone else who watched … did I miss something?

So I’ll give you my take by leaving a few must do’s (IMO) before diving into such an adventure. If you’ve been following this forum for a while, these points are nothing new or ground-breaking, oddly enough. And I’ll add more later here if I think of them:

If you’re going to do this with the serious intention of wanting to find a life-partner, do everyone a favor, including yourself, and make the effort to learn some Spanish. My overuse of the reference “with translators” in my summary wasn’t by accident. I thought it was pretty sad and boldly arrogant how not one of these men seemed to know any words other than hola; and this after throwing a couple of grand into this venture? Do they really expect the higher quality women who are also looking for relationships to take these guys seriously?

If you’re going to do this, do the best you can do to get your self-confidence up to snuff. It was almost painful to watch our well intentioned, lead character referring to himself as “just an average guy” over and over again to these women ... and through his translator no less! Actually, I was surprised he was able to pull off the marriage (as shown on the website) to this attractive and successful woman. And I will suggest if he carries on with his ways, she will eat him alive sooner or later.

If you’re going to do this with the intention of being a player, go and be a player ... but use protection. You’re a scumbag if you knock one of these women up (especially after misleading her) and then have no intentions of providing some kind of support if she has the baby ... without or without you. The last thing this world needs ... especially a developing country ... is another illegitimate child.

[whitey]

Nice summary, Euforia ... thanks for posting.

I looked around for a torrent of the show tonight, but couldn't find one ... hopefully the show will be posted sometime soon.

[euforia51]

Thanks whitey ... wanted to do something quick before this thread went into the trash heap along with the mundane arguments about old 80's one-hit-wonder bands. 

[michaelb]

All seemed to be going well until a very important subject came up: She wants a child; and he can’t have one (vasectomy). Date over ... finish your lunch ... have a nice life. It was just that awkard. And now a dumb question, if I may: if he was e-mailing with her back and forth prior to his visit, how is it possible this very important point could have been missed?

When it came up through the translator he said something to the effect of "Oh, yeah, she did mention something like that, but due to my lack of Spanish (who's fault is that?) I didn't understand that she was really that serious about it"----oh well, finish your lunch and be on your way.....yeah, he didn't come off looking like Mr. Nice Guy in that incident.

And I agree with you on none of the men knowing Spanish. A few of the ladies had weak but still understandable English, the men didn't know 20 words of Spanish between them.

[OrlandoGringo]

I thought that guy was a dork. 

[Colgando]

Great summary Euforia....it was painful watching those guys not speak a lick of Spanish, it always kills me how guys think if they talk real slow and over pronounce their words, the person who does not understand English will suddenly be able to understand him. The main character was translating destiny on the translator, and he finally got destino, told it to the girl, and the girl was like ok???, awkard moment, no context developed at all with the word and his thought, dude, you gotta learn Spanish, then he proposes a week later, nuts. Still could work out, but man, talk about an overly risky marriage proposition. The host said 5 of the 10 left with novias, they all broke up with the exception of the main character who got engaged 1 week later.

Lamar, the stereotypically dirty old man, was killing me, I wanted to turn away from the TV. I was like noooooo, please stop groping the 20 year old hotty who wants to puke on you and yeah, you do not have a shot at her, Lamar, killin me, but he sure was having a blast, all sauced up, if only for a week.

It was cool to see a black dude out there.....man, in a full suit, I was thinking bro, you gotta be hot right now in BAQ in that full suit, he didn't speak Spanish either, you disappointed me bro.

They cut in on one dude briefly who said, Ustedes tienen mas preguntas para mi. I was like, thank you, someone who can put together a sentence in Spanish.

The girl who got screwed over by the gringo put together a lot of English sentences, she was so cute when she was speaking English, she seemed so sweet.

Then of course you had the gringos wearing shorts looking like tourist at Disney land, killen me, have they never heard of Planet Love, guess not. There were 10 dudes, they only showed 3 I think, so maybe the other dudes who did not want their faces shown were more prepared and not so green behind the ears.

I agree with Euforia, the main dude was just as he described himself, an average, successful, middle class american wanting love, he had a real nice house, back yard, good grass, nice TV, modern...then he puts in a microwave dinner, I was thinkin yeah, I feel you dude, you missing that good home cooking right about...now. He seemed like a real good guy, pure intentions, he seemed real boring though, but real smart, he is a Civil Designer.

I thought the best part of the whole show was how they portrayed the women, I thought the host did a great job in portraying the women, well done.

They showed one of the girls getting ready for the social, she was chatting with a family member while doing her make-up, they were day dreaming about a tall, handsome, white dude, with skinny pink lips. I was like cool, you just never met a tall, handsome brother with full lips yet that had some game (game in a good way researcher...LOL)...but I'm coming, I'm coming, just give me 3 minutes of face time, you'll want some more, no ish, these are the types of thoughts that go through my crazy brain when I watch these dating shows...LOL...yeaaaahhh!

That AFA social looked nuts, 100 women at an event, doing a speed dating thing. Jamie's experience appears to be more controlled than this. I think the guys invited women, but a guy could have easily ended up at a table where he did not invite the women and/or the women are not interested in his profile, hey, go ahead and try to make some lemonade I guess with those lemons.

Let me tell you, I was stoked after watching because I was attracted to many of the women they were showing, when they spoke Spanish, it was so cute, if they slow down for me, I hope to be able to converse with them, I have my handy, dandy translator as well. Damn, I'd love to meet the 20 year old hotty Lamar was groping on, step aside Lamar, I got that one....LOL!

[fathertime]

Man I want to see this show.  That 25 year old with the child sounds a lot like someone I know in Colombia...can those of you that show the show describe her further.  It would be utterly amazing if, this lady is somebody I know personally.  What was her skin color, small breasts or big ones?  Braces or no braces?  Thanks.

Remarkably I was talking to my younger daughter today and she mentioned that she saw this cool show last night about some guys who went to Colombia to find a wife.  So I asked her "Who was watching this show with you?"  She said everybody went over to my ex sister-in-law's house specifically to watch this show.  So it seems that the ex-wife and entire family made a special trip to learn about these colombian ladies, and no doubt compare and comment negatively about me and my wife, as would be entirely typical. 

Fathertime! 

[michaelb]

Tall, very thin. breasts? You could tell she was a woman and not a little boy, but you wouldn't call them large. She had long dark hair (don't they all? and kind of a protruding lower jaw. She did have braces on her teeth. I think her name was Karen or some variation of that. She was too skinny for my taste (besides, I'm already married) but some guys who likes slim women would say she is attractive. She was triguena (or perhaps very light morena) but her little girl was pale and had blond hair.......does that help?