Married by America

Married by America is an American reality television series hosted by Los Angeles-based DJ Sean Valentine that aired in the United States on Fox in the spring of 2003. Valentine is also the host of the syndicated IHeartRadio show Valentine in the Morning on 104.3 MYfm in Los Angeles. It was produced by the production company Rocket Science Laboratories (Joe Millionaire, Temptation Island).

Premise

Five single people agreed to be paired up sight unseen with strangers chosen by America. The five newly minted couples met and got engaged on the spot. This was accomplished through family members and phone-in votes by TV viewers. The five couples were Matt and Cortez (a friendly if awkward man and an attractive/uninterested woman who later claimed she was attracted to "the abusers"), Jennifer and Xavier (cold, unfriendly blonde woman and low-key Frenchman model), Stephen and Denise (uncomfortable average guy and low self-esteem woman who liked him much more than he liked her), Jill and Kevin (NHL team hostess and Catholic "daddy's girl" and a former pro baseball player seeking a new career), and Billie Jean and Tony (party girl and general bro).

Next, the five couples were sequestered at Copper North Ranch for an engagement period. Relationship Experts (Dr. Jenn Bermann, Dr. Don Elium and Ms. P.) eliminated one couple per week, and the final two couples could decide whether or not they wanted to wed.

In the end, neither of the couples (Jill Nicolini and Kevin, Billie Jean Houle and Tony) opted to get married.

Controversies

A Fox affiliate in Raleigh-Durham, WRAZ aired the premiere episode but then refused to broadcast the remainder of the series claiming that it "demeans and exploits the institution of marriage."

FCC fine

Over a year after the show's cancellation, the FCC fined Fox a record $1.2 million claiming that an episode which featured pixelated strippers and a woman licking whipped cream off a man's nipple during a bachelor party violated the FCC's decency laws The ruling underwent great scrutiny when blogger Jeff Jarvis uncovered that although the FCC originally claimed to have received 159 complaints, it later admitted to only receiving 90, which came from only 23 people. Jarvis studied the complaints and determined that all but two were virtually identical to each other, meaning that the $1.2 million judgment was based on original complaints written by a total of only three people. The fine was reduced to $91,000 in January 2009.