Patti deals with a repeat offender and a guy who needs his mojo back.
The episode title, “A Tale of Two Nice Guys” is a bit of a half-truth as only one of the two bachelors featured in this edition of The Millionaire Matchmaker happens to be a very nice guy. The other is a return customer that turns out to be a fantastic guy… in his own mind, at least.
Check out our full and snark-tastic Millionaire Matchmaker episode guide and updates! Trash and treasure in equal increments, we promise.
Patti Stanger is at first excited to have Ayinde back in her office. The attractive radio entrepreneur first appeared in a previous season, where Patti had to break down his inability to commit. Through some personal counseling and Stanger’s direction, Ayinde opened himself up to love but determined his match wasn’t as intellectual as he had hoped.
This time he thinks that Patti can get him the total package. Sensing another checklist monster brewing, Patti gives him three absolutes and he ticks off that the lady of his dreams needs to have a Master’s degree, be spiritual, and have business acumen. Patti gives him the eyebrow denoting BS, but promises she will wow him with smart, gorgeous dates in a five mini-date mixer.
The other bachelor is Mitch, a 42-year-old single father of three. An over sharer, Mitch verbally dumps his history easily with potential women as he talks about his messed up ex, his kids, and the hardships in his life. Patti labels him the “TMI guy” and lets him know that he’s scaring women off with his past drama. Mitch sweetly agrees and admits he’s lost his game. An advocate for Mitch, Stanger promises to find him a lovely, down-to-Earth lady that would do well with his kids.
At the five mini-date mixer, Patti matches her five hand-selected candidates for each gentleman in short ten minutes dates. Neither guy has to stress over selecting from a pack, they can just see whom they bond with over their chats.
Mitch starts out nervous but warms up with the women – especially Livia, a writer with her own kids, and Tova, a brand manager that lives in Mitch’s town of Hermosa Beach.
Ayinde immediately hits up each lady about his business and their backgrounds. Annoyed, Patti appears and lets him know after one date to cut it out with the business questions and to get to know them as women. He listens and backs off a bit and bonds with Yves, who started her own aromatherapy company, and Bracha, who is a cook and loves his favorite movie, Zoolander.
At decision time, Mitch selects Tova while Ayinde labors over his final choice of Bracha.
Mitch goes romantic with Tova and takes her to a winery for some vino sipping. He starts off awkwardly by mentioning his ex early on, but gets back on track when he zips it and instead takes her to feed some camels and zebras on the property. They chat easily and he lights up when she says that she likes being in a relationship and feels more balanced when with someone else monogamously. He feels the same way and said as much to Patti earlier. Score!
After they eat a specially prepared dinner by his personal chef under an arbor, they find they like one another a lot. She is even fine with him having kids. There’s a cute chemistry between them and it looks like a match.
Elsewhere in the city, Ayinde goes classic Alpha Male on Bracha and decides to test her with a date working with underprivileged kids. Dressed to the nines, Bracha is more than a little surprised when he shows up in outdoor clothes and explains they are going to garden with inner city kids for awhile.
She rolls with it though and de-heels and start digging in the dirt. Ayinde seems impressed that she does well with the kids and was willing to get dirty in her dress. I guess as a thank you, he then escorts her to an expensive restaurant, because that’s what a lady on a date wants to get fancy, then dirty in a garden, then go out to a fancy place right after!
As they relax and talk, Ayinde starts quizzing her on her culinary skills and her girly tendencies. She throws it right back at him but he confesses to the cameras that he’s not impressed with her intellect. Guess what Ayinde, she’s not impressed with your judgment or date planning. Neither are we.
Later that week, Mitch tells Patti that he and Tova had a great time are continuing to see one another. The nice guy has his confidence back and you can’t help but root for him in the future.
Ayinde however has proven to be one of “those guys” – the ones Patti hates working with the most. Their intellect, money, and Type A personalities have elevated themselves in their own minds. They’ve put themselves on a pillar and there aren’t many they consider worthy to stand with them.
When Stanger gets wind of his idea of a date from Bracha and that he was back with his checklist questions, she unloads on him in the office. He says the match was “meh” and Patti fires back that she got him all three of his requirements, but no one will work because he thinks he’s better than anyone now. She tells him to “Eat me!” (classy!) and throws him out of the club.
Who thinks he’ll be back for round three? Anyone?
Some stats and info about The Millionaire Matchmaker – A Tale of Two Nice Guys
SHOW – The Millionaire Matchmaker
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 5, Episode 8
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Bravo
GENRE – Reality TV, Dating Shows, Trashtastic TV
STARS – Patti Stanger, Destin Pfaff, Rachel Federoff, Livia Milano, Ayinde Alakoye, Jason Bross
This review was originally published on TV Geek Army.