Water-n-Oxygen

While online dating sites cater to the masses (and reap the financial benefits of doing so) boutique matchmaking agencies are also lucrative business. OneDegreeFrom.me is a Washington, D.C. based agency in the business of matchmaking and relationship coaching. While it does provide inexpensive and convenient online services, it also employs certified professionals to give personal attention that a website can’t offer. Agencies like this are very profitable because the more personalized attention they give, the more it’ll cost you. OneDegreeFrom.me offers private relationship coaching starting at $225 and matchmaking search plans starting at $3500. I know some of you are thinking “well damn” but there are a lot of lonely millionaires willing to spend it (hence the success of Patti Stinger, The Millionaire Matchmaker).

And while we are on the topic of lonely millionaires, we have to talk about reality dating shows. I’ll admit I’ve never really been into the ones that the major networks offer, like The Bachelor, but have been suckered into a season or two of Flavor of Love and the many VH1 adaptations thereafter. We know the networks receive ad revenue from these shows (let’s keep it real, these type of shows totally revived and now sustain VH1) and the celebs (and I use that term loosely) that star in them get a big fat check in addition to publicity for their often waning careers.

I personally would never audition for a reality dating show but when I heard that one-half of “My Perfect Guy”, Chad Ocho Cinco, was getting a show, I had to check it out. (In case you are wondering, the other half of “My Perfect Guy” is Marc Lamont Hill but I digress.) The press release for Chad’s show The Tournament states that the participants will be paid $100/day for each day they appear on the show. So it looks like a Win-Win for everyone involved. In the dating business, everyone gets PAID!