Welcome to Wife Swap. I really enjoy this show to the surprise and horror of my friends. I just think it’s very interesting how the families affect beneficial changes in one another where they were initially so resistant to change. Also the families that this show brings on can be such train wrecks, that it makes you feel good about your own dysfunctional family. The families that are swapping in this episode are the Dragos from New Jersey and the Camerons from Alabama.
Ro and Jay Drago are the parents of three children in New Jersey. They are very indulgent and the oldest Nick, is nineteen, has no job, and hangs around the house all day. Ro is also the mother of 14 dolls called reborn babies. They are sophisticated dolls that have heartbeats, breathe, etc., and cost up to 5000 dollars. They will be swapping with the Camerons in Alabama which consist of Dave and Theresa and their three boys.
Dave and Teresa Cameron have a strong work ethic and they treat their kids as mini-adults. The children have to help man the family business of a coffee shop and hot dog stand, along with a list of chores. Discipline is important, Dave tells us, because children who aren’t disciplined are the ones that slap their teachers. Dave has met people from around the world at the hotdog stand including people from Canada, California and the city… no, make that the state of Africa. The Camerons home school their children. Dave is some years older than Teresa but can do everything a younger man can do (if you know what I mean). Yikes!
At the Dragos, Ro says her objective is to teach her new family to enjoy the day and get ice cream instead of doing the dishes. Teresa hopes to bring to her new family a good work ethic. Ro takes one of her plastic babies, Emma, with her to the Cameron’s .
They arrive at the houses of their new families. Ro finds the Cameron’s “great washer and dryer” and she worries she’ll have to do laundry. She seems to be very freaked out by the presence of a cat, a spider and the mushrooms growing on the lawn. Theresa is disgusted at Ro’s pile of clothes in the closet. Theresa finds Ro’s babies and thinks one doll looks like a dead baby, which indeed it does, and she “doesn’t like it all”.
Each wife reads the other’s rule manual. Ro learns the Camerons don’t spend a lot of money and she suggests going to a secondhand store because her old shirt would be “your new shirt”. Thanks for that lesson in the concept of second hand clothes Ro. Teresa suggests that if Ro worked, she’d be able to walk into her closet.
It’s the first morning of the swap. Ro wakes up at 5:30 am to get the boys on schedule. Dave encourages her to get on the kids. Theresa in NJ sleeps inuntil Jessica, the Drago’s daugher, wakes her. Teresa discovers Nick sleeping on the sofa and she thinks he doesn’t have a good work ethic.
Back in Alabama, Ro runs the Teresa’s coffee shop and she asks “What’s a cappuccino, what’s a latte? Wow, you think being from NJ she’d know what simple coffee drinks are; it’s not like she’s from the state of Africa where they may not have these drinks. She wants to go home and feels disgusted that the boys know nothing but work. The kids tell Ro they haven’t played with their friends in over a year since they were at school. Ro asks Dave about it and Dave’s reply has to do with a wariness of strangers.
In NJ, Jay is confronting his oldest son, Nick, about getting a job. Theresa feels the kids have no boundaries and Jay agrees. She tells him not to let Ro and the kids have their way.
Ro and Dave are at the coffee shop and get a call that the power is going to be turned off. Dave expresses frustration and starts to cry at the crumbling of his wife’s dream. Ro in all her sensitivity tells him that Teresa’s dream is not “viable” and asks when they are going to stop the business. That’s easy for her to say since she never works for anything. One of her cheapest dolls would be enough to turn the power back on for the Camerons. Ro does say she wants the best for them. Awww, she is such a good person.
Finally it’s rule change day. New rules from Ro include: Dave has to take care of Emma, the coffee shop must be closed for the week so everyone can play. Like a wet blanket, Dave reminds his excited kids it’s only for a week and things will then return to normal.
New rules from Teresa include: Jay picking picking up the dolls referred to as “demented creepy pieces of plastic”. Jay needs to clean out the closet. The family will run a coffee shop and hot dog stand. Nick has to dress up as a weenie to advertise for the stand. Jay seems to be taking all of this seriously.
Back at the coffee shop, Dave is upset about taking down the sign. Dave has to do all the chores as a part of the rules change, and he has to take his kids to the gym to play with other kids. Dave is neurotically apprehensive for their health and safety at the gym. The styrofoam blocks that the kids are jumping on could have something in there that could get stuck through the kids’ leg, foot or head.
In NJ they clean out Ro’s closet. She wants Nick to suck on a pacifier and he tells her to leave and that’s she is “ruining the family”. He goes outside and sits alone with his head down like a ten year old instead of a nineteen year old. Nick and Jay talk and Jay asks him to stay and do his share because he needs him. Nick decides to help out. They clean Ro’s closet and Nick says that in just a few of the bags alone, there are $7,200 worth of clothes. I wonder how he knows that.
Ro and Dave decorate the house for a party. They have the party and Dave says he would do it again and he and Ro hug. Later, Dave is affectionate to Emma and says he learned a lot from her “momma”.
Back in NJ, the family discusses the dolls and how the dolls have taken away from their experience as a family. They lock up the dolls. Dave is forced to kiss his kids good night in Alabama and Nick dons the weenie suit in New Jersey.
The swap is over and the couples reunite with their spouses and sit down to discuss the experience. The first subject is Ro’s dolls. Ro gets defensive. Jay informs her that they cleaned out the closet and brings up her spending habits. She freaks out and tells him to shut up. She leaves and Jay goes after he and she literally runs away. Jay points out that they need to fix their family. Teresa now understands why Jay talks in circles because Ro “blows up”.
Now for my favorite part, which is when the cameras go back to check up on the families. Jay says he got help from Teresa, and Nick is looking for a job. Ro is keeping her closet clean although her dolls are back out. In Alabama the coffee shop is closed. I was sort of hoping the Camerons would use the money they got from doing the show to salvage it. Dave has lightened up. He plays with the boys and is more affectionate, and they have invited people to their house. Dave closes the show by saying he enjoyed meeting Ro “as long as she wasn’t hollerin’ and screamin’….I liked her”.
