Take Me Out Malaysia: The Stranger Truths

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.
- Mark Twain -


Take Me Out was a televised dating game show that aired on NTV7 from late 2011 to early 2012 for 15 episodes. Reality shows are usually nowhere close to reality. Some are thoroughly planned to go a certain direction and some are even down right scripted but what about Take Me Out? Let's just say there were things that was going on behind the scenes that wasn't really brought to light. Honestly, I am not sure if I would get into trouble for revealing some of these things but since it has been so long ago and my blog isn't really famous, I am guessing that it's going to be fine. If not, then you better read it before I have to take it down.

For those who are not familiar with the show, let me give you a bit of background. It was based on a similar Australian TV show called Taken Out but I believe that you, the reader, would recognize the Chinese version, 非诚勿扰, which is more popular among the Chinese community here in Malaysia. The point of it is for the single males to showcase themselves as possible dating candidates for one of thirty single females. If you were interested in appearing on TV while looking for someone to go on a date, you go for one of the audition sessions and hope you get selected. I decided to join one of the audition out of curiosity and one other reason which will remain to be not publicized. Lo and behold, yours truly got selected and went on his way to be a televised game show "contestant".

Right off the bat, there's one big issue in bringing shows like this to Malaysia and that is that it has to be sensitive towards Islamic values. Even though that every episode, the participants were a mix of Muslims and non-Muslims and it was made to seem like there were no issue whatsoever but this was told to all of us before each recording was done - Muslims are not allowed to choose a non-Muslim and vice versa. You may leave your lights on for a guy but at the end of it, he can't choose you. Bummer. The choices available shrunk in an instant.

So, was it scripted? No, it wasn't scripted but that doesn't mean that there weren't any form of manipulation involved. The procession of the show was generally kept in the way you saw it; there were no re-shoots (at least none that I know of) but there were technical issues that caused the recording between segments to be delayed. You can imagine moments where the male candidates had to stand in the middle of stage whilst having 30 thirty ladies staring at him awkwardly without having any interactions, waiting for the technical issues to be resolved.

Although the choices were remained in the hands of the participants, persuasion and manipulation were made from behind the scenes such as the way the short introduction and the interview videos were made. Many question were asked in order to compile the videos but not all of it are in the videos. There were question like "what do you dislike about him/her?", and "what do you want in a partner?" The final pieces were edited just the way the editors wanted it to be. The bottom line was still all about commercial value - dramas needed to be stirred, angles of controversy needed to be dug, all in the name of ratings. Society just likes to watch other people's conflict for entertainment.

At the end of it all, I'm still glad that I joined the show. It was an experience that I might not have the opportunity to try again and through it, I've made many new friends. Many of us have kept in touch even till today and some of us have became long term friends. And, although none of the pairings that were paired officially on the show were successful, some of them that met behind the scenes and engaged in dates through traditional means are - at least, one couple I know are happily married and recently have a lovely new born baby.

Oh yeah, one last thing, even though the episodes were aired weekly and that the hosts would say things like, "This week, we have someone new", the episodes were not recorded weekly. They were recorded on weekends - 2 episodes per weekend. Sometimes 2 episodes in one day. They just changed outfit.