Last night Vh1 debuted its competitor to Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker and if the rest of the episodes are anything like what we saw last night, Patti Stanger has nothing to worry about. While the premise — female matchmaker fixes flawed daters and helps them find love — may seem familiar, Why Am I Still Single has a few tricks up its sleeve to separate it from the rest. Take, for example, the beginning of each show, where host Siggy Flicker sets up her two new clients on a “test date” with each other just to watch it go down in flames. And it does. Katie, a 25-year-old virgin and Rich, who describes himself as “The George Clooney of Brooklyn,” come across as awkward and/or terrible people — with Katie even offering to give away her viginity just because Rich said she was already in the “Friend Zone.” Rough. But somehow Siggy sort of gets away with it by announcing that it was all just a part of her master plan: “so I can watch you at your very worst and then hopefully try to bring out your very best.”
Another way in which Why Am I Still Single differs from Millionaire Matchmaker is the makeover element, which I was pretty excited for until I realized that the people doing the makeovers wouldn’t be Carmindy or Carson Kressley, but instead, twin blonde Jersey girls. The “Turbo Makeover” consists of hair extensions, fake tan, and layers upon layers of makeup, as well as terrible beauty tips like “Just when you think you’re done with your makeup — add more” and “everything is right cause you’re blonde.” Oy.