The match-making reality show My Mum Your Dad is returning for a second season this week and host Kate Langbroek has promised the new season will be filled with laughs, tears and heartwarming love.
Langbroek returns to the show ready to help a new group of single parents find love. While the parents will take up residence in a new retreat, their adult children will be watching their every move in the Bunker, where they will act as a Big Brother of their parents’ dating life.
Throughout the program, Langbroek will feed intel to the kids to help them in making informed decisions for their parents.
Mediaweek sat down with Langbroek to discuss all things My Mum Your Dad’s second season and why she thinks the show appeals to such a broad audience.
“I think a lot of reality TV is a bit cynical, entertaining, definitely, but a bit cynical in its genesis. By that I mean people are going on there because they want to lift a profile or they want to boost their business,” she said.
“How this show differs is that we are dealing with a different demographic. I feel like audiences genuinely understand the intentions of the people on the show, and the parents that are featured are quite sincere.
“I think people respond to the idea that everyone knows how it is to have loved and lost. It hurts but people also know how it is to feel that thrill of falling in love again, even when you think it’s not going to happen. In these times, it’s like an antidote where people can tune in and see people experiencing what you’ve experienced.”
Kate Langbroek
Langbroek explained that she hopes the show also breaks the negative messages around getting older.
“We all know that the reward in life is ostensibly getting old, and there’s a lot of messages about getting older that are kind of negative. However, finding love is very uplifting because it can happen at any point, but you have to open yourself up to the possibility.
“The show features people who are ultimately lonely and they are saying ‘You know what, I’m going to take the biggest risk I’ve ever taken and see what happens.’ I think that’s why young people also really respond to the show.”
Sacrifices are arguably in the same boat as death and taxes in life but Langbroek expresses that single parents have to make many sacrifices, including sometimes their romantic life and that’s why she thinks the show works so well.
“If you look at the participants in the show and imagine what their lives are normally like, you know these parents automatically have had to make sacrifices to look after their children. It’s like saying goodbye to a certain part of yourself because you can’t do everything you can’t work, look after a kid, have a romantic life etc.
“But then, you take this person out of their normal life and put them in this stunning resort and say to them, you’re not going to have any responsibilities for anything. You don’t have to work, you don’t have to cook, you can just be yourself with great music, great food and alcohol.
“It’s such a gift to see these people become who they essentially are and make them feel like they would have 30 years ago.”
My Mum Your Dad premieres October 31 at 7:30 pm on Nine and 9Now.
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