Posted by Hemant Mehta in Pastafarians: it looks like your family’s talents are needed.
Wife Swap, ABC’s hit primetime reality show, is looking for Pastafarian families for an upcoming episode.
Families must consist of two parents and at least one child between 7 and 17.
Families that appear on the show receive a generous honorarium. Anyone who refers a family receives $1,000 if that family is cast in an episode.
Email Greg at your earliest convenience if you or anyone you know have what it takes for this amazing opportunity. Please include names and ages of all family members and a brief description of your family and a photo.
Bobby Henderson says it’s a legitimate request. Sounds like they want an atheist family for the show.
Greg’s contact info can be found here.
I’ll bet they just don’t know what Pastafarian is.
Good luck with your newfound Pentacostal family!
I would be a little concerned, because if I recall correctly there was a similar show (or maybe the same one; I remember so few of the details that perhaps this comment will be utterly useless) that did an episode with an atheist family. But the show was edited in such a way as to make the atheist family appear pretty terrible–never going outside to play, portraying both the husband and the wife (who was staying with the other family) as obsessed with their work, etc. I would want to be sure this new episode isn’t going to be spun in a similar way.
We fit what they want, exactly. Mom, Dad, 2 heathen kids. UbiDubiKid#1 was all for it, until I reminded her that it would no doubt involve swapping moms with a fundie family, and there was no way I could endure that!
I can think of fewer less dignified ways to portray atheism as a good, decent, and reasonable way of life than to submit to a highly-contrived and deliberately provocative reality television show like this. And that’s before the film editors get their hands on the footage and try to manufacture the image of conflict where there may only have been mild discomfort.
I wonder, though: will the evangelical wife be required to actually eat the babies during the week she has to live as an atheist, or is it okay if she only cooks them?
Sigh…
looks like someone only did half their homework. The conversation in boardroom must have gone something like this:
Boss: “Alright people, I want some really wacky people. Strange hobbies, massively disfunctional, strange religions or…”
Minion: “Ohh, I’ve got something. There’s this group of people, called Pastafarians. They believe that noodles made the universe and they worship spagetti!”
Boss: “That’s TV gold. Bring them to me now!”
Another example of childless people being discriminated against.
Maybe atheists should leave the low rent reality TV to the trailer trash evangelicals.
They did that once with Reg Finley (the atheist also known as the Infidel Guy, from the Infidel Guy Show), and they edited it against him and his family. I really hope they’re not able to find a Pastafarian family (though, I’ll admit that’s pretty odd) to do that to.
What about the meaux with kids?
I think it’s a trick to finally get the JW’s through the door.
Susan B. said:
wasn’t the atheist in question in that episode Reginald Finley, a.k.a. ‘The Infidel Guy’?
Yes it was Reginald and he appeared to be more fixated on work than his kids but he came around and learned to spend more time with his son.
Reginald Finley was the one I was thinking of. I didn’t see the show, but I heard second or thirdhand that the show producers deliberately filmed and edited it in such a way as to make his family look bad. It was made to look as though both he and his wife were obsessed with their work to the point where they ignored their kids, and the kids always stayed inside playing video games. Apparently there were times when Finley and his kids would go play outside, but the cameramen refused to film them.
I would take everything I’ve just said with a huge grain of salt, but it’s concerning enough to me that if I were going to volunteer for this I’d want to look into it very carefully and determine how true of a portrayal I’d get.
[...] Pastafarian Swap [...]
I’m pretty sure there isn’t enough money in the world to get me to appear on that show.
I’ve watched the show a few times and just assumed that was the goal no matter what the family.
No thank you. Although maybe I should ask what they are paying first. Heheh