Show of the week: The Married Game

The international market is well-supplied with dating formats, but The Married Game seeks to stand out from the crowd by having married men colluding with their wives to fool a woman into thinking they are single.

The somewhat controversial format then tasks the woman to try and see through the subterfuge and identify which one of her five suitors is genuinely single.

If she correctly picks the single guy, the pair are whisked away on a luxury holiday. If she chooses the wrong guy, he gets to take his wife and family on the all-expenses trip.

Turkey-based distributor Global Agency has a reputation for picking up paper formats, which is what it did with this idea, which came out of the Greek market.

It has shopped it to TV3 in Latvia, where Nice – like TV3, is part of the MTG family – produces the show. It has also gone into Belgium, airing on SBS.

A French Canadian operation has also been greenlit with Cineflix making a local version for TVA.

“We picked it up a year ago and fell in love with it,” says Global Agency founder Izzet Pinto. “One girl dates five different guys in each episode and must find the single one. Four are married and we get to see how they try to woo the girl as their wife watches. The wife can also give advice and sometimes gets jealous, and there are some really dramatic moments, and also some really funny moments. It’s all about creating emotion

“It’s the first time there has been a show in which the wife helps the husband cheat on them!”

Both of the broadcasters that have it on their air put it out in primetime as an hour-long offering, but Pinto says it could be stripped and run through the week, or play in access prime.

Global Agency will be getting behind the format at MIPCOM next month. It has talked buyers through the paper format before – and has about ten option deals – but this trip to Cannes will be the first time it can show prospective partners tape of the show.

The show: The Married Game
The distributor: Global Agency
The broadcaster: SBS (Belgium), TV3 (Latvia)
The concept: Dating gameshow in which a woman has to correctly identify which of her suitors is married, and which one is single