Do You Remember the Bizarre Fake Prince Harry Dating Reality Show?

Meghan Markle isn’t the only one in the royal family to have their own TV show, as her husband Prince Harry also had one, sort of. Before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex got married, and even before they were dating, Fox aired a reality show where 12 American women were manipulated into believing they were competing for the affections of Prince Harry. The reality show, appropriately titled I Wanna Marry “Harry,” lasted for just eight episodes, and only the first four aired on Fox, with the remainder being available online in 2014.

“Prince Harry” was really a 23-year-old English guy named Matthew Hicks. While the contestants aren’t directly told it was the prince, there were some striking resemblances, such as his looks, the setting, and more, so the girls were tricked into thinking they had a shot. In 2015, contestant Kimberly Birch, who ended up winning “Harry” over, spoke to Fusion TV about her time on the show, admitting that the still kept in touch with Hicks but wasn’t in a romantic relationship with him.

Birch also said that everyone went along with everything because the entire time, they were “so brainwashed into it that you go with everything in order to keep yourself feeling sane.” That does make sense since the mind can basically play tricks on you. If you convince yourself of something, you start to believe it, so it’s not so surprising. Production probably went to great lengths to really make it believable that Matthew Hicks was Prince Harry. No matter how ridiculous it may have been, it sounds like everyone on set felt just as nuts.

With Prince Harry and Meghan Markle going strong, it would be hard to get a revival of I Wanna Marry “Harry” up and running, but maybe it’s a good thing, and not just because it didn’t last long. Some reality shows wouldn’t hit the same if they were made today. If there was another show similar to it with another British royal or maybe someone in the entertainment industry, people may be a little bit more cautious. However, that may not always be the case either, as Catfish after 11 years.

I Wanna Marry “Harry” is not currently streaming anywhere, but someone did upload all eight episodes to YouTube, that can be watched for free. It can also be bought on sites such as YouTube and Prime Video, so this show will never totally be forgotten.