Comments on: Wife Swap looking for one good Mennonite family

By: Jfirefly

Jfirefly — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:17:16 +0000

I am a mennonite and think that everyone makes a big deal of us and think it is very rude

By: RP

RP — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:16:28 +0000

Tim Baer, you are my new hero! I like how you think. Monkey wrenching at it’s finest.

By: ST

ST — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:52:18 +0000

You found an unresolved one there, Adam. Maybe all of the above? However, being traditional is not necessarily better than being non-traditional, of course.

My cousins are Friesens. Maybe their ancestors stabbed cows. They participate in 4H now though, and win lots of ribbons for having beautiful animals.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:02:47 +0000

That’s the question, isn’t it: what defines a Mennonite family as “traditional”? Is it tied to ethnicity and cultural traditions, or is it adherence to ‘traditional’ Mennonite ideals of peace, community, and Christ-following?

By: Tim Baer

Tim Baer — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:56:26 +0000

chadthepottersaid:
“I keep thinking it would be great to get, say, a gay or lesbian couple from my congregation to agree to this. What would they do with that?”

THAT’D BE A GREAT PRANK!

Oh wait…you’re not kidding, are you?

I think the show is probably looking for a more traditional menno family. I’d apply but we are far from traditional.

By: Skylark

Skylark — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:10:09 +0000

Well… if the couple are pacifists and has at least one child over the age of 7, then it sounds like they might technically qualify, Chad. I’m thinking they’d have to be lesbians since Wife Swap is pretty woman-wife-female specific.

I would imagine a gay or lesbian couple in the Mennonite church would have to have a higher-than-average sense of optimism and hope for the future… since much of the Mennonite church is so anti-gay. If so, that’d fit right in with what the show’s producer is seeking.

By: chadthepotter

chadthepotter — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:59:59 +0000

I’m a pastor at a Mennonite church and have received this inquiry at least twice in the last few months.

I keep thinking it would be great to get, say, a gay or lesbian couple from my congregation to agree to this. What would they do with that?

By: TimN

TimN — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:00:55 +0000

Tim B,

How dare you mention the Puppy Milling Fiasco of 1923! To merely speak of that incident is an embarrassment. It isn’t the fault of our noble ancestors that something was lost in the German translation of “hot dog”.

But seriously, truth is stranger then fiction. One terrorist sect of our Anabaptists were famous for having stabbed to death 125 infidel cows in one sitting. Note that they were eventually “absorbed” into the local Mennonite community. Got Frieslander ancestors? You may be descended from cow stabbers.

By: Tim Baer

Tim Baer — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:36:34 +0000

I think it would be a great joke if we could get someone on there to convince the public things about mennonites that are not true. We could go on and spread all sorts of untruths. Things that are normally weird, but with an added dimension of unbelievability. Some of the ones I would like:

Mennonites have more than one wife but we only sleep with one of them. The others remain lifelong virgins.

Although Mennonites are pacifists, we like chicken fights…but only with chickens that show a natural propensity toward violence.

Mennonites like to make their own pies but cannot make cherry pies because cherries are not native to our Swiss homeland. (Today is national pie day, BTW)

Mennonites briefly sided with Nazi Germany, not because we agreed with their ideas of global domination and ethnic genocide, but because the tune to their national anthem, Die Fahne Hoch, was originally a mennonite hymn and we’d just never had a #1 hit before.

While our brothers, the Amish, sometimes participate in puppy mills, the mennonites abhor this type of breeding. Mostly because it conjors up the recent “Milling of the puppies” fiasco of 1923 in which a group of mennonites ground up puppies and sold them as a delicacy.

Mennonite women sometimes wear headcoverings. But this is not due to religious belief, as most assume, but because Menno Simmon’s wife, Geertruydt, was actually bald.

Post some of your own Mennonite untruths we should spread.

By: Skylark

Skylark — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:23:38 +0000

Other possible pairings:

A military family, especially one living on a military base.

A “big corporate” family with every gadget in existence.

A re-enactment family big into RenFaires, Civil War balls and productions, and gladiator-type shows.

A raw vegan family.

An Old Order Amish family. I’m starting to think the sparks would fly more in that setting than in any of the others… at least in part because the camera crews would have to be invisible.

By: ST

ST — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:05:45 +0000

Whoa. it is real. Weird. Good luck to whomever.

By: TimN

TimN — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:06:27 +0000

Interesting, I wonder if they plan to match up the Mennonite family with a family into fencing (dueling, not farming):

http://www.theswap.com/forum/Blah.pl?m-1228983412/s-15/ (posted about a month before the email above)

If your kids are the ultimate fencers in town and you’re a die hard fencing mom (or dad!) who makes practice and competition priorities in your family, we want to hear from you!

By: TimN

TimN — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:21:58 +0000

I emailed the casting producer at the email provided and here was her response:

Hi Tim,

I am a Casting Producer from Wife Swap and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have for me – and yes, we are hoping to find a Mennonite family. Please feel free to call me at any time [number removed]. Thanks so much and have a great day!

Best,
Katie

It looks like it’s real, unless someone’s gone so far as to create a fake domain name, phone number and email address for the casting company.

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:27:55 +0000

Our church received the invite as well; the casting director’s name checks out, so it seems real enough to me.

By: Rini

Rini — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:27:11 +0000

A Quaker preacher from Indiana took part in this show in the past… they paired her with a pageant family.
They ended up editing out a lot of the dialogue between the Friend wife and the daughter where they discussed and worked on her self-esteem… (found Indy CBS6)

My roommate actually told me about this particular email… One of our friends back in Goshen working at a church there received an email from the show looking for families to participate.

By: ST

ST — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:39:55 +0000

This is kinda funny. But I already saw this ad somewhere else and it is “not real.”

By: Tim Baer

Tim Baer — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:51:40 +0000

I have to say that I disagree with the producer’s comments that they never try to make people look bad or promote negativity. I fully believe that Wife Swap chooses participants who not only meet the requirements of being drastically different, but I also believe they choose at least one family using personality profiling such as DiSC in order to locate people who are…well, bossy. The contestants are never easy going and laid back, rather, most seem to desire control and are prone to loud, violent outbursts.

My wife used to watch Wife Swap religiously and the show was never without people behaving irrationally, violently, or desiring the utmost control of those around them. In the end the two families sit at a table discussing their experiences and, nine times out of ten, scream profanities at one another.

Mennonite families might insist on peace and justice but one thing is for sure, Wife Swap is all about conflict.

By: TimN

TimN — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:44:59 +0000

Whoops, I forgot to thank jdaniel for passing on the email to me.