Reaching a difficult crossroads
BACK in the noughties, Wife Swap was one of Channel 4’s biggest and most-talked about shows. For those whose memories don’t stretch back that far, it saw women with very different backgrounds or lifestyles swapping households for a fortnight. For the first week, they had to take over the duties of the wife and mother they were replacing, but for the second week, the guest got to lay down the law to her hosts.
It may have been a simple premise, but it was compelling enough to run for nearly seven years and spawn 19 different international versions.
The format was resurrected last year for a one-off Brexit Special, which may have left some fans hoping it would make a more permanent comeback. The good news for them is that while that hasn’t happened yet, last week Channel 4 did launch Seven Year Switch, which at first glance appears to have a very similar premise.
It features couples who feel like they have reached a crossroads in their relationship and have agreed to temporarily part ways to move in with a complete stranger who is experiencing a similar crisis.
However, the makers of the show would doubtless argue that Seven Year Switch has a different purpose as, rather than giving families a glimpse of how the other half live, it is instead there to help couples face the decision of a lifetime, namely whether they should stick it out or cut their losses.
Or as Duncan Coates, the creative director of production company 7 Wonder, puts it: “By shining a light on the mysterious world of other people’s relationships, Seven Year Switch brilliantly illuminates the truth of our own.”
The UK version began last week as the couples taking part in the experiment – Rachel and Tom, Nikki and Simon, Gemma and Tony, and Michelle and George – flew to a luxury villa in Thailand to meet their new “other halves”.
They were also introduced to the people who will be guiding them though the process, relationship therapist Lee Valls and relationship coach Vena Ramphal.
In this second instalment, the newly switched couples – who are now Rachel and George, Nikki and Tony, Gemma and Simon, and Michelle and Tom – head out on their first dates together, where they open up to each other about their problems back at home and what they hope to get out of this experience.
It won’t all be bonding with their new partner and discovering whether the grass is really greener though as they must also face their first exercise. Each person witnesses their real partners making some moving revelations and confessions which they have never had the courage to share before now.