Reality Shows Hit Arab TV: Al Hawa Sawa (On Air Together)

[JCMach1]

And you thought For Love or Money was Bad!

I am afraid I missed this one on my cable :)

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DUBAI - The first Arab reality TV show ended on Monday after three months of controversy over its format - parading women before suitors in a luxury apartment for 24 hours a day.

Critics damned the groundbreaking dating show Al Hawa Sawa (On Air Together) as too liberal, but fans writing on Internet diary sites said it supported traditional values of limited contact before marriage.

Suitors could view the girls 24 hours a day and contact them before a possible meeting in the flat to propose marriage. In a region of 280 million Arabic speakers, such shows have huge potential audiences and provoke much public debate...

The show ended early on Monday morning when one of the last two contestants dropped a bombshell on-air, saying she refused to get married. She then locked herself in a bedroom until she was flown back to her native Algeria.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayArticle.asp?col=§ion=theuae&xfile=data/theuae/2004/March/theuae_March65.xml