If you have traveled down Interstate 15 within the past month, then you may have seen one of ten billboards promoting the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for twenty lucky ladies to shoot their shot with a mysterious millionaire bachelor.
In what is lauded as an exclusive one-night event organized by LDS Matchmaker, a team made up of dating coaches and matchmakers certified by the Matchmaking Institute in New York City, an unidentified mid-single Utah bachelor will embark on the journey of a lifetime for the chance to find his wife.
On the LDS Millionaire Matchmaker website, the enigmatic bachelor is described by his team as an “amazing LDS man that you will enjoy meeting – a total keeper.”
Further extensive research by publications such as the Salt Lake Tribune and Washington Post have discovered that the bachelor is in an age range between 31 to 40 years old, is approximately 6’1, and was once a speechwriter in the White House under a Republican president.
Would the anonymity of a competition reminiscent of Thirty Day Bae or Provo’s Most Eligible work in the bachelor’s favor?
Students at Salt Lake Community College believe otherwise.
Miriam Johnson, a Homeland Security Emergency Management major, shares her belief that LDS Matchmaker’s publicity for the event could lead to a negative response.
“[The billboard] gives the impression that he’s putting his money as his leading attribute, which makes him appear shallower,” she says. “To be perfectly honest, the way the billboard is worded made me think about human trafficking, as money and love are many pimps’ traps.”
Despite the recent mainstream attention, LDS Millionaire Matchmaker is not the innovator of billboard bachelor promotion.
In 2005, Orange County Register reported about Dean Marrow, a 44-year old investment banker who was searching for love via a billboard on Newport Boulevard at 16th street and Costa Mesa.
Marrow claims that he was inspired to embark on his quest for love “after reading about a guy in Texas who advertised for love on a billboard.”
Other notable billboard bachelors include Orlando’s John Smith and Chicago’s Gordon “Gordy” Engle.
What does LDS Millionaire Matchmaker think about the public’s reaction?
In an interview with ABC 10 News San Diego, LDS Matchmaker’s Founder and CEO Amy Stevens Seal shared that the billboard promotion “was definitely not the bachelor’s idea … it’s a little out of his comfort zone to do something like this.”
In the time since the LDS Millionaire Matchmaker’s billboards have taken over Interstate 15, the promotion has received responses from all over the world.
According to Seal, as of May 8, she has received more than 600 applications regarding the one-night event.
What would an application for the chance to match with an LDS Millionaire entail?
Notable questions from the questionnaire include:
- What is the applicant’s educational level?
- Would the applicant like to have children (or more if they already have them)?
- How would the applicant describe their level of activity in the LDS Church?
- What Ward/Stake is the applicant in?
- Is the applicant currently a worthy temple recommend holder?
- Did you serve an LDS mission?
Most of the questions on the questionnaire are copied directly from LDS Matchmaker’s official application. The only question that appears on the Millionaire Matchmaker application that does not appear on the regular LDS Matchmaker application is an optional question about what is the applicant’s primary personality color result from the Color Code test.
So what happens to the twenty women who are chosen to meet with this mysterious bachelor?
LDS Millionaire Matchmaker shared that the twenty finalists will attend an exclusive event June 7 at an undisclosed location. This three-hour event at a private venue will include dinner, entertainers, and a “high caliber list of quality attendees.”
However unlike ABC’s “The Bachelor,” this private event will not receive any airtime.
At the end of the event, after all twenty women have the opportunity to mingle with the mystery man, the bachelor will choose two women to accompany him on a private one-on-one date the following day.
Would any SLCC students want to take the risk for love for this mystery man?
“First, I’m married,” says communication major Sarah Keuhl, “Second, I don’t want to find love by socially competing with other women because of my weight, education or occupancy.”
Johnson mirrors Keuhl’s sentiment.
“While I could always use more money so I wouldn’t complain about a wealthy husband, I wouldn’t apply, as their filtering process of applicants seems to have some problems,” she says.
