At the Table - French Reality TV

As we were finishing dinner, a French reality show came on where two families trade moms for a week. The moms don't know where they're going until after they get in the car and drive away from their respective families. They switched a chic, black Parisian mom of two little girls (4 and 6, maybe?) with a caucasian, 33-year old woman with two teenage sons and a 71-year old husband in the country. oh boy....

The country-mom had never been to Paris, never interacted with blacks, never taken care of little girls. She was completely insecure and did everything for her family. She said the most important thing in her life was that everyone in her family be happy in her company. She did all the housecleaning and got up every morning at 6 to make breakfast and prep for lunch. She worked at a factory making garage doors during the day while her husband stayed home and watched TV, coming home at noon to give lunch to everyone.

The Parisian mom had never been to the country and had no problem telling "the old man" as she called him, what she thought of the shitty life of his real wife "who works like a man then comes home to work like an old-fashioned wife". In the Parisian family, everyone shared the cooking and cleaning responsibilities.

The country-mom was crying every time they showed her during the first few days. First when she left her family, and then when the husband cooked dinner instead of her, and then about how she forgot the family and should've been up to take care of them when she was woken up the next morning with breakfast. But she was having the time of her life when she got to take the girls sightseeing in Paris and get them ready for a photo shoot (they're fashion models for stuff like Gap Kids). The poor husband was going nuts as he realized that his girls were forgetting all the rules of the house (like wash your hands as soon as you come in, take your shoes off, etc.) because the country-mom had no authority whatsoever with kids. (According to her, you should never use an authoritative tone with a child because you might scare them.)

The Parisian mom was laughing it off the first couple days talking about how everything was dirty and everything smelled. Then when she realized she had to do everything for the family with no thanks - she was pissed.

I still don't know the point of the whole thing for the participants - is it just for fun or do they get something in return? I didn't have the patience to stay to the end... maybe that should be a goal of mine - to be able to sit through an entire French TV show.