''Average Joe'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show broadcast on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

beginning in 2003. There were a total of four seasons, the first two following the original show premise, and the last two bringing back contestants from prior seasons.

Premise

Instead of attempting to make a "dream couple" between two extremely attractive people, ''Average Joe'' tried to get 16 to 18 ordinary men to win the heart of a

beauty queen A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes so ...

. The men were what the producers considered to be average in appearance, with many being

overweight Being overweight is having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is especially common where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary. , excess weight reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than ...

underweight An underweight person is a person whose body weight is considered too low to be healthy. A person who is underweight is malnourished. Assessment The body mass index, a ratio of a person's weight to their height, has traditionally been used t ...

and

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly t ...

y, or awkward in their behavior and personalities. Prior to the show's start, the beauty queen was not aware she was to be dating "average" men. She was instead led to believe her show was going to feature only handsome suitors. (The second series, taped before the first one aired, also contained this element, thus avoiding the problem associated with the second season of ''

Joe Millionaire ''Joe Millionaire'' is an American reality television series broadcast by the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox). The series premiered on January 6, 2003, and concluded with the finale of its second season on November 24, 2003. Both seasons followed ...

''.) Halfway through the show, several handsome suitors appear and compete against the average Joes. Throughout the show the beauty went on various dates with the men, both in groups and individually (at her choice). When the attractive suitors show up, there were also competitions between the rival groups of men. At the end of every episode the beauty votes to send a certain number (usually four) of the men home. In the end, she must pick only one to go on an intimate vacation with.

Seasons

''Average Joe''

The first two ''Average Joe'' series were intended to be somewhat of a mockery of traditional set-up shows such as '' The Bachelor'' and ''

''. The show was marketed to have an implied

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. ...

subtext, namely that beauty was only skin deep, and that personality could ultimately triumph over looks. However, the first two seasons ended in a way that seemed to prove the opposite. In ''Average Joe'', Melana Scantlin chose Jason Peoples, one of the attractive suitors, over Adam Mesh, the last remaining Average Joe.

Kathy Griffin Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television series, comedy specials and has released multiple comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her rea ...

was the host.

''Average Joe: Hawaii''

In the second season, ''Average Joe: Hawaii'',

Larissa Meek Larissa Meek is a former beauty queen who has competed in the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants and a reality television personality who starred in '' Average Joe: Hawaii''. Pageants In 1996 Meek won the Miss Missouri Teen USA 1997 title and c ...

chose attractive Gil Hyatt over Average Joe Brian Worth. A few days later, on a "

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds after their wedding to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase in a couple ...

" between Hyatt and Meek, Larissa revealed she had once dated

Fabio Fabio is a given name descended from Latin ''Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented in Portuguese as ''Fábio'' (with t ...

, which caused Gil to leave her in disgust. Meek now owns a website design and art company registered and situated in

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

, which is Hyatt's hometown. They are not a couple any longer, according to Meek's blog. She said "we gave it our best but decided to part ways."

''Average Joe: Adam Returns''

The third season, ''Average Joe: Adam Returns'', featured the return of rejected contestant Adam Mesh, this time as the object of the affections of 19 female contestants. The women in this situation were a mixture of fairly attractive and average, with the busload of "babes" arriving later sent home immediately by Adam. In the final episode, Adam chose saleswoman Samantha Trenk over schoolteacher Rachel Goetz

''Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back''

The fourth season entitled ''Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back'' started airing on June 28, 2005. The name references ''

The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...

''. In this season, one rejected Joe from each week received a complete makeover and the opportunity at another chance with the show's beauty Anna Chudoba. In the end, Anna chose Average Joe Nathan Griffin over model/bartender Rocky Fain, breaking the "Joes" losing streak. A contestant on ''Average Joe: Hawaii'', Alfred "Fredo" LaPonza, along with two other men, sued NBC claiming the network used ideas of theirs on the show. Matt Hoffman, who later appeared on ''Big Brother 12'' (American season), was a contestant on ''Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back'' and was eliminated on the first episode of the season.

Syndication and other spinoffs

GSN had acquired the first two seasons in 2004. Episodes were also aired on the

Fox Reality Channel Fox Reality Channel was an American pay television channel. It was launched on May 24, 2005, and was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group. It featured many shows that were originally on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network (or produced by Fo ...

. A role-reversal version of the show, with a series of ordinary women who were to compete for the love of a very handsome man, to be entitled "Plain Jane", was announced as being in the works, but such a show never materialized. The title was eventually used for another reality series with a different concept.

International adaptations

A local version of ''Average Joe'' has been made in France based on the original American format. Licensing of the format is handled by NBCUniversal.

External links

Official Website
* * * *{{IMDb title, id=0460079, title=Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back American dating and relationship reality television series 2003 American television series debuts 2000s American reality television series 2005 American television series endings NBC reality television shows Television series by Universal Television