Desperately Seeking Sheila

I was watching tv tonight and happened to flick past SBS’s Desperately Seeking Sheila. As it seemed markedly more interesting than the rest of what was on offer, I decided to check it out. I missed the beginning so I’m not sure if they outlined how the whole series was conceived but it seemed that the gist was following the stories of several couples set up by whoever was creating the series.

In the outback of Australia, men outnumber women about three to one I think they said. So they had introduced women from the UK and Perth to some of our Aussie country bachelors and stuck around for about three weeks to see if they’d hit it off. There was general footage of the couples together and the women individually, voiced over by a narrator, and there was also diary footage from both the men and the women. All you got to see was a mere snapshot really but it was still kind of interesting.

In this particular episode, one of the couples actually got engaged and another chose to live together. The other two I saw did not work out so well. And to be honest, if I was the woman anywhere near those bachelors, it wouldn’t have worked out either. They seemed like complete and utter tossers. As it turned out, one of them wasn’t really out to find someone to connect with at all. He seemed to think it was all a joke and was shagging a barmaid from town on the side. He was of Indian decent and he was so hard to understand that he was actually subtitled.

The other guy chucked a hissy fit because his guest wanted to spend an afternoon getting to know some of the townswomen instead of watching him look after his sheep. He was an arrogant prick (I thought) and at one point, went on about how when he dresses up, he’s like ‘the bomb’ (not his actual words) but doesn’t ever pick up cause the women are just ‘too scared [meaning intimidated]’ (his actual words). He constantly talked about himself (according to her) and didn’t make an effort or listen to others at all. He lived with his mother.

So I can see why neither of the women paired up with these gentlemen or thought that they’d met their knight in shining armour. The other two men were much more down to earth though. And romantic. Those guys seemed blown away to have found a woman they could spend their life with and I guess I hope they make it. I’m not sure that I could cope long term with being that isolated but perhaps one of these days when I write bestselling books for a living, being swept off my feet into the countryside will be all good. Or maybe this Sheila will just have to have a gander on holiday some time.