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Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars

If you thought Bridezillas was something else, stock up on junk food, open that box of Chardonnay, and park yourself on that sofa. Don’t worry about what your roommate or partner may think about the train wreck you’ve just turned on because they, too, will be enthralled in no time at all with your new guilty pleasure: WeTV’s Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars.

The Low Down: Now in its third season, Marriage Boot Camp is a spin-off of WeTV’s wildly successful Bridezillas, which featured ill-tempered brides-to-be in the week leading up to their wedding day. The first two seasons of Marriage Boot Camp followed former Bridezillas (now just pissed-off wives) and their husbands as they strive to save their new marriages or decide whether it’s time to call it quits. Happily married directors Jim and Elizabeth Carroll conduct the various “exercises” throughout the boot camp, which include partaking in everything from a trip to the morgue, fighting in an actual ring of fire, a couples swap night, and even a paintball war.

This most recent season, Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars, follows five “famous” couples, two of which are not married, as they endure the challenges Jim and Elizabeth set before them. The couples include Traci Braxton and Kevin Surrat of Braxton Family Values, Tanisha Thomas and Clive Muir of Bad Girls Club, Gretchen Rossi and Slade Smiley of The Real Housewives of Orange County, Trista and Ryan Sutter of The Bachelorette, and Jenni Farley and Roger Matthews of Jersey Shore.

Jenni and Roger are currently engaged, as are Gretchen and Slade, but are putting marriage on hold until they can get their ducks in a row. Jenni wants Roger to show more affection and stop asking for sex, but Roger wants Jenni to stop exploiting their lives for money and leave Jersey Shore in the past. Gretchen, who refers to herself as “the White Oprah” multiple times in the first episode, desperately wants a baby, and Slade, who is unemployed and loving it, does not. Traci and Kevin have been married for 17 years and are trying to move on from their infidelity issues, which is proving very difficult, while Trista and Ryan are at the boot camp so they can “be better for each other,” even though they seem like the perfect couple on the surface. Then there’s the brutally abrasive Tanisha and her doormat husband Clive, who do nothing but scream and throw things at each other. Scratch that: Tanisha does all the screaming and throwing—not just objects, but punches too.

Why You’ll Get Addicted: From the ridiculously corny exercises (i.e. the couples take turns identifying their partner’s body in a morgue to give the feeling of what life would really be like without them) to Tanisha’s harrowing temper and Gretchen’s blatant racism, this show is a perfectly mindless, summer marathon series, as it’s almost impossible to watch just one episode without wanting to move right on to the next. It’s ideal to watch with your partner so you can high-five each other throughout, basking in the fact that no matter where your relationship ends up, you’ll never be that bad. It’s also great to watch with friends after you get a good buzz going. One thing is certain: it’s not boring.

How to Watch: If you have cable, it’s on WeTV just about every hour of every day, and new episodes air on Friday nights at 9 PM. If you cut the cord, full episodes are available to stream on WeTV.com where you can indulge in even more trashy, ridiculous segments includingMarriage Boot Camp: Secrets Revealed, which gives viewers an inside peak as to what went on behind the scenes, and Marriage Boot Camp: The Aftermath, in which the couples are reunited as a group for the first time since the season’s end to discuss any lingering issues (or rather, insult each other in front of a live audience for an hour). Also, WeTV.com allows you to backtrack to earlier seasons featuring “normal,” non-famous couples with as many insane issues.