Age of Love (TV series)

Age of Love was an American reality TV dating series that ran for one season in summer 2007.

The show featured then-30-year-old Australian tennis star Mark Philippoussis as he looked for love among a group of women ranging in age from their early 20s to their late 40s.

Hosted by Mark

Consuelos, the series aired on NBC, and premiered on Monday, June 18, 2007. The last episode aired on August 6, 2007, in which 25-year-old Amanda Salinas was chosen as the winner.

Format

The contestants were divided in two age groups. The "Kittens" were the women in their 20's, while the "Cougars" were the women in their late 30's to late 40's. Each week Mark would accompany one or two of the women on a private date, and at the end of each episode would ask all but one of the women if they would continue to see him. The rejected woman would be eliminated from the show; this continued each week until just one remained. For the show's season finale, the final three contestants flew to Philippoussis' hometown of Melbourne, Australia to meet his family.

Contestants

[edit]Kittens

Name Age Hometown Occupation Eliminated Notes

Amanda Salinas 25 Nashville, TN Hockey team dancer for Nashville Predators Winner Currently attending Middle Tennessee State University

Megan Khler 21 Chicago, IL Loyola University student Episode 7  At the time of taping, ended a 10-month relationship

Mary Sanks 24 Albuquerque, NM Hemodialysis Technician Episode 5 Last serious relationship was at the age of 20

Tessa Walker 23 Peoria, AZ Surgical Sales Episode 4

Adelaide Dawson 26 Manhattan Beach, CA Editor for Esquire magazine Episode 3 Born in Australia

Lauren Bryant 27 Greenwich, CT Lighting consultant Episode 2 Avid indoor rock climber

^1 Megan was chosen to be in Final 3 and on to the finale. On the finale, the girls and Mark had to take a plane to Australia to meet Mark's family. Megan was terrified of flying and refused to go on the plane, thereby eliminating herself from the competition.

Cougars

Name Age Hometown Occupation Eliminated Notes

Jennifer Braff 48 Carson, CA Executive assistant for the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers

Spokesmodel, Amore Fashion

Finale (Runner up) Was married twice (1979, 1999), 25 year-old son

Maria Rangel 42 Playa Del Rey, CA Actress, Photographer Episode 7  Married once, May 1989

Jayanna Howeton 39 Newport Beach, CA Mortgage loan officer Episode 6 Married once

Kelli Brook 40 Morris, MN actress, legal secretary Episode 4 former Los Angeles Raiderette

Lynn Borges 40 Nashville, TN Makeup artist Episode 3 Never married

Angela Harrington 40 Lakeside, MI Property manager Episode 2 Married twice (1987, 1993), 21 year-old son

Jodie Fisher 46 Dallas, TX Vice president for a commercial real estate company Episode 1 Married once June 1996, 8 year-old son

^2 Maria was shown on Episode 4 and 6 that she was thinking of leaving. On Episode 7, when Mark asked Maria to stay, Maria told Mark she thought it wouldn't work out, which resulted in Maria eliminating herself.

[edit]Call-out order

Mark’s call-out order

Order Episodes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 Adelaide Amanda Megan Maria Jennifer Jennifer Amanda

2 Tessa Mary Amanda Megan Amanda Amanda Jennifer

3 Amanda Megan Mary Jayanna Maria Megan

4 Megan Tessa Tessa Amanda Megan Maria

5 Mary Adelaide Maria Jennifer Jayanna

6 Lauren Kelli Jennifer Mary

7 Kelli Jayanna Jayanna Jayanna

8 Jayanna Jennifer Jennifer Kelli

9 Maria Kelli Maria

10 Lynn Maria Lynn

11 Jennifer Lynn

12 Angela Angela

13 Jodie

The contestant is in her 40's.

The contestant is in her 20's.

The contestant won the competition.

The contestant was eliminated by Mark.

The contestant decided to quit the competition.

The contestant was automatically eliminated as her fear of flying prevented her from going to Australia for the finale.

Criticism

Critics note that Philippoussis, who is 30, is closer in age to the twenties than the forties. He's only 3 years older than one of the twenties, and he is at least 9 years younger than all of the forties (disregarding fractions for simplicity's sake). A 35-year-old male contestant would have put women in their twenties on an equal footing with those in their forties.

The program also provided biographical information on at least two contestants that could be construed as misleading by omission: Jennifer Braff is described as an "Executive Assistant to the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers." Her online resume however, shows that Braff has worked as a Hawaiian Tropic swimsuit model, a makeup artist, a songwriter, a spokesmodel for Amore Fashion. She also markets her own glamour calendar and has appeared in Playboy. It doesn't mention Braff ever working as an executive assistant.

"Age of Love" describes Maria Rangel as a photographer, but her credits on the Internet Movie Database and a friend's website confirm that Rangel has worked steadily as a film and television actress since 1986. Her web site says she also runs a photography business that appears to consist chiefly of taking handout photo portraits for actors' resumes.

Mary Sanks has been described as a Hemodialysis Technician however, an interview with IGN Babes shows that Sanks has been a model

Outcome

It was unclear in October 2007 if the couple were still together- Philippoussis refused to comment on the subject, stating that he was "concentrating on tennis". However, in a radio interview which aired on November 28 in Australia, he did state he was "currently single"[citation needed], and in February 2008 had been seen with model Siobhan Parekh.It was announced on October 26, 2009 that Philippousis was engaged to actress Jennifer Esposito.

International broadcasters

The opening episode of Age Of Love in Australia, screening at 8:30pm in NSW, ACT and QLD, and at 9:30pm in other states, only managed to rate 849,000 mainland capital city viewers, rating behind both Channel Nine and ABC. Two weeks later, it was moved to a later timeslot of 10:30pm as ratings dropped to 545,000 viewers. The rights for the show in the UK were snapped up by E4, the digital channel from Channel 4 and is shown as part of their "No-Brainers" season along with other American reality TV shows like The Simple Life and Beauty and the Geek.

(source:wikipedia)