Age of Love (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Age of Love is an American reality TV dating series that features 30 year-old Australian tennis star Mark Philippoussis as he looks for love in women in their 20s as well as women in their 40s.
Hosted by Mark Consuelos, the series airs on NBC, and premiered on Monday, June 18, 2007. The last episode aired on August 6, 2007, in which it was revealed that the winner was the 25-year-old Amanda Salinas.
As of September 2007, they are still together and planning marriage.
Contestants
The following is a list of the 6 "Kittens" (women in their 20s) and 7 "Cougars" (women in their 40s)
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
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
Note 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, therefore eliminating herself from the competition.
Cougars
Name
Age
Hometown
Occupation
Eliminated
Notes
Jennifer Braff
48
Lawrence, KS
Executive assistant for the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers
Spokesmodel, Amore Fashion
Vice president for a commercial real estate company
Episode 1
Married once June 1996, 8 year-old son
Note 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.
Call-out order
Mark"s call-out order
Order
Ep 1
Ep 2
Ep 3
Ep 4
Ep 5
Ep 6
Ep 7
FINALE
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 eliminate herself from the competition.
The contestant was automatically eliminated as her fear of flying prevented her from going 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 show 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.
International Broadcasters
Country
TV Network(s)
Series Premiere
Weekly Schedule
Channel Seven
July 12 2007
Thursday 10:50pm
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.