“Did chivalry fall off a cliff?” – Patti Stanger
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Irv Richards & Stephanie Costa”: client intros
The first client on deck in this edition of The Millionaire Matchmaker is Denise Richards’ father, Irv Richards, who Patti claims she’s been begging “forever” to become a client (and presumably come on the show).
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“He is the sweetest man in the world,” she goes on to say, and then it’s noted that he lost his wife to cancer after 37 years of marriage.
Irv introduces himself via video as being 62 years old and a real estate investor. He currently is living with Denise and helping out with the grandkids. It’s also mentioned that Irv’s son-in-law is Charlie Sheen, so no doubt there’s a lot of family stories to share about that topic alone.
The other millionaire is Stephanie Costa, 30, who owns “a bunch of nursing homes.”
When Stephanie introduces herself via video, she’s an attractive woman but it’s impossible not to get distracted by her voice, which sounds like she just inhaled a helium-filled balloon. Patti, Destin, and Rachel gasp, and then are unable to pay attention to much else, sadly.
Anyway, Stephanie says that the guys she’s picking have been the wrong ones – which tend to be younger guys who don’t have a lot of money. Instead, she’s looking for an older guy akin to Ari Gold from Entourage.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Irv Richards & Stephanie Costa”: Patti meets the clients
As Patti heads over to Denise Richards’ place to meet Irv, we learn more about the famous actress’s dad. He comes across as genuinely grounded and someone who deeply cares about his family. As he talks about being ready to move on with his life and find love in his 60s, you can’t help but root for him.
And for all the righteous snark that I have for The Millionaire Matchmaker – which is expressed in great joy at the trashtastic, glorious mess that this reality show can often be – there are genuine human moments too that can sometimes make the show compelling.
Patti tells Denise and Irv that they’ll handle the mixer with Patti and Denise behind a see-through mirror to help observe and guide Irv toward who might be the best match for him.
Patti also gives Irv a little lesson in “French kissing,” which is uh… not pleasant to watch (even though it involves no direct contact between Patti and her client, I should note).
Meanwhile, we see Stephanie driving a Porsche convertible and she lets us know that her net worth is “$3-$4 million probably.” She also says she has dated losers in the past, and she’s done with “funny guys,” only serious dudes may apply to be her romantic partner.
Also: I can’t overemphasize how unusual and frankly distracting Stephanie’s voice is.
At Stephanie’s house, Patti hones in on the other financial and demographic parameters to focus on: “200 grand and above,” Jewish, and also someone who will treat Stephanie “like a princess.” And tall, dark, and handsome if possible.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Irv Richards & Stephanie Costa”: the recruiting session
Patti’s agenda for Irv is to find him a woman who loves “kids, pets, and is a Felicity Huffman-lookalike.” The set-up is that Patti and Denise Richards are in front of the glass while Irv and Stephanie are behind it.
Highlights of the recruiting session for Irv include:
- Irv reveals that he needs someone who is very “kid friendly” and ideally has kids already.
- It’s weird hearing Stephanie say “that’s weird” but… see my comments about Stephanie with regard to everything.
- A woman named Cassandra is a contender. She reveals during her interview that her now ex-husband slept with the neighbor’s babysitter (who “looked like a potato”).
- Jan is a sweet woman who Irv likes but says the physical match isn’t quite right.
- Sherilee is a 51-year-old former website developer who is now back in school to pursue nursing, her childhood horses. She also has a horse.
There’s no mini-date round on this episode, so in the end Irv opts for Sherilee.
For Stephanie, recruiting highlights include:
- One guy inexplicably reminds Stephanie of Joey from Blossom. (Whoa!)
- Bradley is a Jewish 37-year-old attorney who wants a family and seems pretty grounded, so Patti thinks he wouldn’t be interested in Stephanie for her money.
- Another guy, Mike, is seemingly a decent enough bartender. However, because Patti didn’t take a liking to him, she felt the need to go behind the glass to convince Stephanie not to date him. In fact, she attempts to terrify her into not dating him, saying that he will “take all your money” and “rape you silly.” That last bit might be the single most disgusting and offensive thing that I’ve ever heard Patti Stanger say on The Millionaire Matchmaker, though there are numerous runners up.
However, Stephanie doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, here’s her take: “If I could take a penis and stick it on Patti, I would Patti probably… only I’m not lesbian, that’s the problem.”
When it’s time to choose, it’s a no brainer that Bradley is the right one to go on a date with.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Irv Richards & Stephanie Costa”: Stephanie and Bradley’s first date
Stephanie and Bradley meet at the Wildlife Learning Center, and by meet it’s literally meet as this is the first time they’ve ever spoken to one another.
Christina is their guide to show the couple animals from all the world. It’s a bit of an unusual first date, but kind of an interesting way for people to get to know each other, I suppose.
Sidenote that my wife and I went to a wildlife conservatory when we were in Australia and it was one of the highlights of the trip. We even got to pet a koala!
Anyway, the first sign that things might not be set in the stars for Stephanie and Brad is when Brad starts making a series of pop culture references (including My Cousin Vinny, Rat Race, and We Bought A Zoo) and Stephanie is baffled. She’s not really a movie buff, she explains.
Stephanie also tells the camera that she doesn’t want an “over the top” guy, just “someone normal.” And then she kind of segues into saying that “at least he has a job.” It’s almost like she’s deciding if she should settle for this guy who she’s on a first date with in real time during the actual first date.
She then wrestles with whether Bradley is a “dork or a douchebag” and lands decidedly on “dork.” Not a great sign for our movie dude Brad.
They do then seem to bond a bit over the fact that they are both workaholics, but then Stephanie gets quite concerned when she learns that Brad has gone out on “over four hundred” dates with women over the years. “What’s wrong with him?” she wonders.
Over dinner, it’s legitimately hilarious – and perhaps a little bit telling of his personality – when Bradley brags about having “over 2,000 friends on Facebook.” This adds to Stephanie’s concerns about Bradley’s willingness to settle down. In fact, she tells the camera that she checked out of the date after learning about how many dates Brad has been on.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Irv Richards & Stephanie Costa”: Irv and Sherilee’s first date
A limo drops off Sherilee at Denise’s house, and Irv is waiting for her in a sport coat and with a gift of a bouquet of flowers. Classy.
Irv’s plans for the date involve preparing a meal with the help of a chef named Kate, and then taking the food outside for a picnic.
The two seemed very much at ease with each other while learning how to make a pretty fancy-looking dish, and it was kind of pleasant to watch how kind and attentive they were with one another (versus the often loopy narcissistic weirdos that often pass through The Millionaire Matchmaker).
I also appreciated Irv being very up front in telling Sherilee his age (62) and asked if that would be a problem. Sherilee said that it would not be and seemed quite genuine about it. At this point I started to genuinely root for them as a couple.
Over dinner, the two discussed “bucket list” items such as going to Yosemite, and then they agreed to take next steps and go out on a second date. Sherilee even tells the camera that she “feels like a little school girl.”
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Irv Richards & Stephanie Costa”: post-dates upshot
Patti calls Bradley to find out how the date went, and when Bradley chuckles in response, Patti immediately and somewhat weirdly tears into him, finishing with, “If you don’t have chemistry with Stephanie, you’re gay.” Which, not cool even if Bradley was obviously not right for Stephanie.
In the office, Stephanie gave her version of the date to Patti and Destin: too much pop culture, over 400 dates, 2,000 FB friends, etc. Patti quickly tries to turn this into a “well at least you know more about what you’re looking for now,” which feels like her boilerplate go to with clients where the date goes horribly awry.
Patti and Rachel then call Sherilee, who relays how great and gentlemanly Irv was on their date. And in fact they had already gone on a successful date, with a third on the books. In the office, Irv corroborated how much he likes Sherilee. Date #3 will be back at Denise’s house.
The end of episode captions then tell us: “Stephanie and Bradley never went out again. Stephanie is still searching for a less dorky, more serious man with a job.” And: “Irv and Sherilee are planning their trip to Yosemite. Denise is thrilled that her father has found love again.”
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Irv Richards & Stephanie Costa”: where are they now?
This is one of those “where are they nows” where I was hoping that Irv and Sherilee maybe had found a way to a serious relationship.
Well, that wasn’t in the cards apparently, but what I did find out is pretty wild and pretty serious. Apparently Irv wound up getting engaged to another woman at some point, named Deb, but like Irv’s wife (and Denise’s mother) passed away from cancer, Deb also dies of cancer in 2018.
However, there is some brighter news: circa 2021, reporting has Irv dating a “new and wonderful partner.”
I also learned that Denise Richards and her dad had also appeared on a reality TV show called It’s Complicated as well.
Some stats and info about The Millionaire Matchmaker – “Irv Richards & Stephanie Costa (Denise Richards’ Dad Is Looking For Love)”
TV SHOW – The Millionaire Matchmaker
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 6, Episode 4
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Bravo
AIR DATE – January 29th, 2013
GENRE – Reality TV, Dating Shows, Trashtastic TV
STARS – Patti Stanger, Destin Pfaff, Rachel Federoff, Irv Richards, Stephanie Costa
GOOGLE PLAY DESCRIPTION – Patti’s task is to set up Irv, actress Denise Richards’ dad, whose wife passed away from cancer five years ago. Irv feels he’s finally ready to date again, but can Patti find the right woman for the 62-year-old who’s looking for love again? Patti’s second client is an attractive, young millionaire, Stephanie Costa, who has a squeaky voice and an unlikely career as a retirement-home magnate. She just turned 30 and is ready for a serious man, but is used to dating jobless losers with no ambition. Patti’s job is to teach Stephanie how to fend off the losers and be on the lookout for a winner she could end up with for life.