Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra, you’re off the hook.
You no longer own the title of Marriage That Ended Before Halftime. That honor now goes to Rick Rockwell and Darva Conger, also known as the “Multimillionaire” and the woman who wanted to marry him.
The couple, united in holy matrimony at the conclusion of Fox’s first – and only – episode of “Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?” are now headed for splitsville. Conger, 34, said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” today that she made an “error in judgment” and that she was seeking annulment.
“I wish I had [had] the moral fortitude to walk away,” Conger said of the on-screen wedding.
The show, which aired Feb. 15, united a rich man and willing woman selected among 50 others through a beauty contest/dating game. After the wedding they took off for a Caribbean honeymoon, but Rockwell, 42, said Tuesday night on NBC’s “Dateline” that they didn’t consummate the marriage and slept in separate rooms. (Confirmed Conger: “I never spent a moment alone with him.”)
For those who must know the really intimate details, the TV bride and groom also signed a document saying either could annul the marriage, “no questions asked” — a clause which Conger plans to exercise. (No word if there are any money matters to be resolved and/or fought over.)
“Never in a million years did I think of it as an actual marriage in my heart and before God and I still don’t,” Conger said, adding that she went on the show for a “lark.”
Controversy surrounded the special when it first aired. Then reports surfaced that Rockwell once had a restraining order issued against him from an ex-fiancée, and Fox decided to pull a planned repeat, as well as the entire potential series.
Now, if you think that a little restraining order and vow breakage would deter broadcasters, think again. Two new marital-minded projects are now on the fast track for syndication, according to Daily Variety. Wanting to see the rice fly again (or perhaps determined to raise the divorce rate in America), Twentieth TV (the production company behind “Multimillionaire”) is planning a marriage-oriented show called “I Do, I Don’t” for the fall season, and Universal is working on “Wed at First Sight.”
Now who’s making the error in judgment?
OSCAR WATCH: Judi Dench has been added to the lineup of presenters for the Academy Awards, March 26 at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium.
Dench won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar last year for “Shakespeare in Love” and will likely present the Best Supporting Actor award, as tradition dictates.
Meanwhile, Wolfgang Puck has signed on as top chef for the Governor’s Ball, the annual post-Oscar bash hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. It’ll be his sixth go-round in the kitchen. Apparently, he can stand the heat.
