“Sample the buffet.” – Patti Stanger
In the opening segment, Patti Stanger takes her staffers Chelsea, Destin, and Rachel to Napa via private jet “to get drunk.”
Check out our full and snark-tastic Millionaire Matchmaker episode guide and updates! Trash and treasure in equal increments, we promise.
“Viva la Napa!” Patt cries on the way to Pine Ridge Winery.
Once they get to the wine sipping, Patti announces that she’s having an orgasm, “which is better than a man.”
The Millionaire Matchmaker, Farrah Franklin & Kevin Ou: client intros
Chelsea announces that they have a celebrity client on deck: Farrah Franklin, 27, former member of Destiny’s Child. In her intro video, Farrah describes herself these days as a “singer/songwriter/mogul,” and owns a film company called One Love Pictures.
She’s been cheated on in the past, she says, so she has a hard time letting her guard down in relationships. Patti assesses that Farrah needs a “down to earth, stand up guy who doesn’t need her for her money or her fame.”
Then Destin introduces Kevin Ou, an Asian celebrity photographer from New Zealand. In his video intro, Kevin comes across as pretty mild mannered until he announces that “I’m definitely a rebel,” whereupon he flashes the tattoos he has on his arms.
When Kevin talks about how he lives a rock star lifestyle and runs into beautiful women and celebrities constantly, Patti notes that “he brags too much.” Kevin also says he has the problem of their “always being someone else out there,” which makes him a commitment-phobe.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, Farrah Franklin & Kevin Ou: Patti meets the clients
Patti heads to Kevin’s house, which she notes is nice but “needs a woman’s touch.” We then get a little montage about Kevin, where we see him taking photos of Verne Troyer, the actor who played Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies. We also see several other people quickly, one of which might have been Michael Strahan, but I’m not sure.
Kevin tells Patti that the longest relationship he’s ever had was two weeks long.
“Mystery solved,” Patti says. “You don’t even know what to look for.”
“I love my life and I think that’s the problem,” Kevin says with no hint of irony.
Patti tells him that he’s no Keanu Reeves, and that he needs to look for “an 8 or a 9.”
Patti then meets Farrah at a music recording studio. Farrah tells us that she left Destiny’s Child because she didn’t like the way she was treated*.
* Which… seems far from the full story. More on this after the episode recap below.
Patti thinks Farrah deserves someone who will make her feel secure and safe. “You are the jewel to be adorned,” she tells her.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, Farrah Franklin & Kevin Ou: the recruiting session and mixer
Highlights from the recruiting session include:
- Patti reminds her staff and the audience no less than three times how important her clients are because they are in the entertainment industry, her “reputation is on the line,” and so on.
- Eric tells Patti and crew that he works in a “legal department.” After being badgered multiple times as to whether he is in fact a lawyer, Eric finally admits that he is not one.
- Patti asks a group of dudes if any have had children “out of wedlock.”
- Daniel says he is “big in the MMA world” and then references his “guido type looks.”
- Mandy talks about how she is a former elementary teacher but now is a porn star who desires an “empire.” Patti refers to her as “sloppy seconds.”
The mixer is termed as a “special one for celebrities,” but that seems to mean that it’s basically a regular Millionaire Matchmaker mixer that involves a “speed dating” aspect.
This part of the episode is typically not the most exciting, but I perked up here because Farrah ends up being super late. The problem is exacerbated to some extent because the mixer involves both men and women. When Farrah finally shows up “3-4 hours late,” Patti advises her to not pull this “diva s—” again.
When Farrah and Kevin end up having a lengthy conversation, I’m reminded why this part of the episode is typically not exciting.
During the mixer, there’s a revealing bit of Hollywood culture going on when Kevin meets with Angie, an aspiring Australian writer. Angie tells Kevin that she’s interested in writing a novel. Kevin then tells her that he founded a magazine that’s about “celebrities and her homes.” Angie follows this with, “I’d love to write about those things.”
Make of that what you will.
After the speed dating round, the “master date” selections are announced: Farrah goes for Chris, a former Marine and strapping systems engineer from San Diego, while Kevin picks Louisa (the two bonded over their respective tattoos, but we didn’t see much more than that).
The Millionaire Matchmaker, Farrah Franklin & Kevin Ou: Kevin and Louisa’s first date
Kevin and Louisa, who works in healthcare, meet at an outdoor trapeze school (called Trapeze School New York) that’s located on the Santa Monica pier.
Louisa picks up some of the trapeze basics faster than Kevin and is able to get caught by a fellow trapeze artist on another swing. When Kevin does end up accomplishing the same feat, you can tell Louisa is having a good time as she shouts, “You the man, that was awesome!”
Kevin also seems impressed when Louisa later talks about how after taking time away from her job to help take care of her ailing mother, she now wants to go back to school to become a hospice nurse.
The couple then takes a Ferris wheel ride on the Santa Monica pier and has an interesting conversation about finding the right balance of looks and personality in a relationship. Louisa later tells the camera that she thinks that Kevin likes her, but that he’s “scared.” She adds that she thinks that he “really doesn’t know what he wants,” perhaps related to the industry he’s in and how women have “a lot of mixed thoughts on relationships.”
When the ride is over, Kevin tells her that he had a blast and that he’d like to see Louisa again.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, Farrah Franklin & Kevin Ou: Farrah and Chris’ first date
Farrah and Chris meet on the beach for a private beach volleyball lesson with volleyball pro Sinjin Smith. It’s here that I noticed that Chris has a super drawl-y SoCal accent, though maybe it’s exacerbated the closer he is to the beach, brah.
The two seem to have an easy, fun chemistry, and Farrah seems less guarded than we saw her earlier in the episode. And Sinjin tells them that they work together well as a team after the lesson.
Over dinner (at what appears to be a place called Arnie Morton’s), Chris tells Farrah that he’s deeper than people realize as he typically projects a happy-go-lucky attitude, and Farrah seems to relate to that.
A potential huge red flag pops up for Farrah when Chris admits that he cheated on his last girlfriend, though he tells her it taught him “what not to do.” However, she tells the camera that Chris “won lots of points” with her because he was honest.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, Farrah Franklin & Kevin Ou: post-dates upshot
Farrah stops by The Millionaire’s Club office, and she tells Patti and crew that she had a really good time on her date with Chris. Destin cracks up when Farrah relays that Chris admitted that he cheated during his last relationship.
Patti tells the camera that women should “cross the street” when a guy they’re interested in admits that they have cheated in the past.
While Farrah tells Patti she is still interested in seeing Chris again, Farrah strongly advises her to give him the boot and to avoid making mistakes with guys just because they are “cute.”
I’m honestly not sure whether I agree with Patti here – which is rare as I usually have a strong reaction one way or the other to almost everything she says.
“Sample the buffet” and “play the field” is Patti’s advice.
Also: it’s very rare that we don’t see footage of Patti talking to Chris after the date, and it’s not explained why.
In another rare and kind of weird move, we don’t get to see or hear Patti’s conversation about her date with Kevin. What we do learn is that Patti relays that Louisa told her that Chris, post-date presumably, told her that he “doesn’t want to give up my celebrity lifestyle” and that while he says he wants a girlfriend, he really doesn’t.
Kevin then stops by the office. He tells Patti that he in fact does want a girlfriend, and that he thinks he could have an “amazing friendship” with Louisa. Patti tears into Kevin here, telling him that he wouldn’t know a relationship if it was standing right in front of him.
Patti strongly encourages him and borderline bullies Kevin to take Louisa on a second date, and to not think of her as a friend but someone that he’s courting to develop a romantic relationship.
Kevin then tells the camera that he understands that if he’s going to have a girlfriend, he needs to make that relationship a “top priority,” but it’s hard to tell how serious he is about the notion.
The end of episode captions then tell us: “Farrah took Patti’s advice and broke off all contact with Chris. She is still looking for someone trustworthy to settle down with.” “Kevin is still working on overcoming his fear of commitment. In the meantime, Kevin and Louisa are building a relationship.”
The Millionaire Matchmaker, Farrah Franklin & Kevin Ou: where are they now?
In reaching what Farrah Franklin is up to these days, it seems that her being super late for things is not an aberration for her, and tardiness/not showing up for professional dates played a role in her being kicked out of Destiny’s Child after only six months:
On July 20, 2000, after six months with Destiny’s Child, Franklin exited the group. A day later, group member Beyoncé claimed in an interview that Franklin had missed three major promotional dates and expressed a lack of interest in continuing with the group, leaving them with no other choice but to dismiss her.[15] In a later interview, Franklin denied Beyoncé’s allegation, stating that she had suffered from dehydration and a stomach virus but was recovering as she traveled with the group to do shows in Seattle and Europe. Farrah contended that after being verbally attacked by management, due to her not showing up because she was ill, she stormed out of the room and quit the group.[
More recently, Farrah has released two EPs that are available on Spotify. The most recent is called Push Up On Me, and was released in 2020. Usually an “EP” means that it’s a collection of four to seven or eight different songs, but in this case, Push Up On Me consists of a single song by the same name, with the regular version available in addition to an urban version, dance version, and “Ibiza Mix.”
I’m not really the demo for this style of music, so with that being said I’ll just say that I’m not into it.
Some stats and info about The Millionaire Matchmaker – “Farrah & Kevin”
TV SHOW – The Millionaire Matchmaker
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 11
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Bravo
GENRE – Dating Shows, Reality TV, Trashtastic TV
AIR DATE – April 30th, 2009
GOOGLE PLAY DESCRIPTION – Farrah, former member of Destiny’s Child, has been hurt in the past by previous relationships causing her to be very guarded with men and in her dating life. Kevin, a celebrity photographer, has only had a string of two-week relationships and is always looking for the next best thing since he only dates models. Patti is up for a challenge with these two millionaires.