Podcast Corner: Royal reality show and a dream prince

Scott Bryan presents The Bachelor of Buckingham Palace.

"Being in reality TV was always something I was interested in doing. I always thought that I would make great reality TV.” That’s what one of the contestants on 2014’s I Wanna Marry ‘Harry’ says on the latest podcast from Wondery, The Bachelor of Buckingham Palace.

The premise of the reality show is ridiculous: A group of 12 unsuspecting American women were flown to a sumptuous Elizabethan estate in the heart of the Berkshire countryside where they competed for a chance to win the affections of one of the world’s most eligible bachelors - or so they think. In fact it’s a lookalike who is “99% Prince Harry”. Who could fall for something like this? That’s what the podcast sets out to investigate.

It’s hosted by Scott Bryan, who you might know if you’re still hanging around the former Twitter - he posts hilarious clips, usually from unsuspecting BBC newsreaders, such as Maryam Moshiri giving the middle finger to the camera.

A former TV critic for Buzzfeed, Bryan remembers being sent a link to I Wanna Marry ‘Harry’ a decade ago, and the six-part podcast begins with him incredulous, laughing at how this got made. The Harry of a decade ago was “not just a regular prince, but a cool prince, maybe the kind of royal who would agree to take part in a totally bonkers reality TV show. I mean it’s not that likely, I know, but maybe. Right?” Bryan’s voice gets higher and higher as he tries to convince himself as well as us.

Part rewatch, part comedy, part investigation, Bryan posits at the end of the first episode, released last week (all six are available if you subscribe to Wondery+): “You realise the women are intentionally leaning into the concept as well.”

Bryan refers to the 2003 reality show Joe Millionaire, where women competed for the affection of a wealthy bachelor who turned out to be just a regular guy. There are also shades of There’s Something about Miriam, aired a year later - the twist there was that Miriam was transgender. Wondery released a six-part podcast about that show in 2021 called Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera.

Channel 4 has now made a three-part documentary about the show - the first episode of Miriam: Death of a Reality Star aired on April 29.