“I want the inner vixen coming out, okay?” – Patti Stanger
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Allison Baver & Devin Alexander”: Patti meets the clients
Devin Alexander, 42, of Manhattan Beach, CA introduces herself by saying, “Life for me is awesome.” She’s a “TV chef and entrepreneur” for starters and also runs a “restaurant on a cruise line.” The only thing missing is “Mr. Right.”
Check out our full and snark-tastic Millionaire Matchmaker episode guide and updates! Trash and treasure in equal increments, we promise.
Devin also notes that she’ll get really into guys, but then they won’t treat her well. She also alludes to past boyfriends having lived “off her.” Seems like there’s a lot to unpack right there.
Patti Stanger joins Devin as she’s in the middle of cooking in her kitchen, which seems a little sponsored content/product placement-y. Soon though Patti points out that Devin seems quite “needy” when it comes to relationships.
Patti also shows off one of her worst qualities, which kind of relates to her seeming drive to “neg” her clients into convincing them that they need her, that Patti is their only potential savior or salvation, perhaps. This manifests itself here when she pushes back on how Devin has handled her relationships in the past, reminding her that “you’re 42 approaching 50.”
“Do you think you’re a little unusual?” she adds.
Patti also tells Devin that she needs to work on her flirtation game: “I want the inner vixen coming out, okay?”
And next up, we get Allison Baver, 34, an Olympic medalist in speedskating from Salt Lake City, Utah.
This is Allison’s second appearance on The Millionaire Matchmaker. For more of her adventures in dating, check out “The Olympian and the Rock Star,” an episode in which Adam Gaynor of Matchbox Twenty fame also attempts to find love.
Allison frames finding and working on a relationship as hard as training for the Olympics. We also learn that Allison has been dating a guy named Tommy Snider for the last ten months and is seeking Patti’s help to “build our relationship even stronger.”
A couple of things strike me about this: first, this is a very unusual element that The Millionaire Matchmaker introduces at the halfway mark of its eighth and final season. Secondly, it did occur to me that perhaps the show producers had trouble finding an eligible “millionaire” willing to appear on the show for this episode and Allison, although already boyfriended up, served as an emergency backup.
Allison also mysteriously mentions that there’s “something” about Tommy’s past that she’s working on getting over.
Tommy for his part tells us that he’s 34, a nutrition consultant, and that he’s the more “relaxed” one in the relationship while Allison is more “aggressive.”
When Patti sits down at a café with Allison and Tommy, she immediately asks them whey they first had sex because “that’s all I care about.” She then quickly pivots to asking Tommy why he’s blushing. “You’re like 6’ 4”, why are you blushing?” she asks.
Patti also claims to be appalled that the couple is living together without being engaged after dating for ten months. Patti tells the camera that a “rule” is that people shouldn’t move in without being engaged, and that men should propose by the nine-month mark.
While Patti can at times be insightful about dating and relationships, I must strongly assert that I find her advice here to be steaming hot garbage.
Allison then reveals the thing about Tommy’s past that she’s struggling with: he was “an exotic dancer.”
“A stripper?” Patti fires back. “Who cares?”
“I’m a very conservative person,” Allison says. Which is all well and good, but it’s fascinating that she’s struggling with this after dating Tommy for ten months while presumably knowing about his past for most of their relationship.
Patti also feels that Allison needs to work on not emasculating her boyfriend. “You seduced him, don’t reduce him,” she advises. And, as bonus, it rhymes.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Allison Baver & Devin Alexander”: the recruiting session and mixer
Due to the unusual nature of this episode, Patti contrives to have both Allison and Tommy attend the recruiting session and mixer so that Allison can get a look at what will happen if she screws things up in her current relationship (or something?).
Throughout the recruiting session, there are multiple cutaways to Patti semi-scolding Allison with regard to the proceedings to the tune of this could be your future if you’re not careful.
The first round of recruiting involves Patti interviewing a small group of men with the idea of yielding three potentials for Devin. One semi-creeper is easily discarded, for example, because he’s 43 and goes on at length about how he “likes them young.”
Patti’s Final Three selections are Aaron, an entrepreneur from San Diego, Todd, an athletic trainer, and Dan, who designs super simple TV remote controls tailored for the older demo.
When Devin meets the fellas, she then engages them in a little roundtable meet-and-greet session of sorts. One of the less scintillating questions from one of the guys involved asking Devin what her favorite color is, and it didn’t get all that much more interesting than there.
Patti then pulls Devin aside, and she’s clearly frustrated that she chooses Todd, the good-looking athletic trainer who did not seem all that engaged in their conversations, over Aaron, who went all in trying to form an initial connection with Devin. Even after being pressured by Patti, Devin maintained that Todd is The One for her.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Allison Baver & Devin Alexander”: Allison and Tommy’s “love lessons”
Patti sends Allison and Tommy to an ice-skating rink, where they meet with Wilma Boomstra, who we learn is “one of the best coaches in the world.” The goal is to get our guy Tommy out on the ice for the first time.
It is interesting that after ten months of dating, Allison has never given Tommy an ice-skating lesson, but maybe in her off-time ice skating is the last thing she wants to do.
Anyway, Tommy is legitimately impressive for his first outing, and the couple seem to enjoy spending time together while ice skating.
With no rest for the wicked, the two are then sent to a pole dancing class, where they meet their instructor, Blue Britt. The idea is to take Allison into “Tommy’s world” in this way, I guess?
Allison ends up saying that she was able to express herself in a “feminine and sexy way” and that she loved participating in this activity.
“I feel like we got closer,” she tells Tommy.
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Allison Baver & Devin Alexander”: Devin and Todd’s first date
Devin and Todd meet at what looks like Echo Park in Los Angeles with the idea of going paddle boating.
Devin tells the camera that she’s now “even more taken” with Todd because “how ripped” he is.
Out on the water, Todd talks about how he’s very focused on his 11-year-old son and asks her if she’d be okay with dating a “soccer dad.” Devin giggles and nods yes in response.
They later sit down to eat at a restaurant called Cowboys and Turbans, where Devin and Todd talk more about their families.
Devin tells the camera that she “hasn’t had a date like that in I don’t know how long” and that Todd “seems like a really solid good guy.”
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Allison Baver & Devin Alexander”: post-dates and love lessons upshot
Patti and Candice call Todd, who relays that he thinks that Devin is “a great girl… but she’s really busy, so I don’t know if she would be interested in getting involved in that kind of lifestyle that I live.”
He may be referring to when Devin talked about how she at one point wrote eight books in six years, and asked Todd if “maybe you could help with that,” meaning find a path to slowing down in the work department.
When pressed by Patti about the “sexual attraction factor, Todd says, “Was I strongly attracted? I wasn’t really feeling that.”
“She didn’t pick right,” Patti concludes.
In the office Devin quickly tells Patti that she did feel that they had sexual chemistry. Patti counters by calling her Delusional Devin, emphasizing that she needs to be with someone that assertively pursues her and who makes her feel weak in the knees, and swoon-y and all of that.
Later, Allison and Tommy sit down with Patti at the office, where Allison tells Patti that she sees Tommy as her “future,” and Tommy agrees that he sees Allison as his future wife. Patti then pressures/goads Tommy into proposing on the spot, borrowing a ring from Patti to do so.
“Surreal,” Tommy says, and Allison says, “Awesome,” with regard to now being engaged.
The end of episode captions then reveal: “Devin has learned her lesson. She’s dating a new handsome guy who has a daughter. Best of all, she’s chosen a guy who likes her for who she is.” And: “Allison and Tommy have set a date for 2015. For their first dance, Allison has promised to let Tommy lead.”
The Millionaire Matchmaker, “Allison Baver & Devin Alexander”: where are they now?
This is from Allison Baver’s Wikipedia page:
On December 15, 2021, Baver was charged with fraudulently applying for $10 million in COVID relief payments and funneling some of the money to Elijah Wood‘s production company SpectreVision to fund the 2021 film, No Man of God, starring Wood. Prosecutors said Baver submitted eight Paycheck Protection Program loan applications in April 2020 seeking $10 million for her entertainment firm. In each request, Baver said her average monthly payroll was as much as $4.7 million, but she actually had no payroll at all, court documents show.[21] Her criminal case is filed as United States v. Baver (2:21-cr-00520).[22]
Meanwhile, Baver’s Instagram profile only mentions that she’s a “momma to the one and only, Golden Japanese Pomeranian, Prince!”
Some stats and info about The Millionaire Matchmaker – “Allison Baver & Devin Alexander”
TV SHOW – The Millionaire Matchmaker
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 8, Episode 8
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Bravo
AIR DATE – February 12th, 2015
GENRE – Reality TV, Dating Shows, Trashtastic TV
GOOGLE PLAY DESCRIPTION – Olympic speed skater Allison Baver returns to Patti after two years, this time with her new boyfriend. Of course, Patti can’t help but give them a relationship tune-up… with a surprise ending! Celebrity chef and bestselling cookbook author Devin Alexander is 43 and adorable, but she still hasn’t met the one. Patti claims Devin is choosing the wrong guys, and that she can help Devin find a mate…if only Devin will listen to her.