Isn’t it wonderful to see that millionaires have just as much difficulty finding companionship as the rest of us?
Bravo’s reality-TV show “The Millionaire Matchmaker” offers viewers the guilty pleasure of watching host Patti Stanger trying to find prospective significant others for her oftentimes-eccentric clients. Now in its second season, the show is changing things up: Stanger is taking on her first gay client.
Openly gay PR/branding expert Kevin Grangier said he is happy with the results of working with Stanger.
“I would say it was successful,” he said. “The objective for me was to go through the process and find someone I was attracted to and interested in dating. That absolutely has happened. I still stay in contact with the guy. Long-term, who knows? It depends on how you measure success.”
Anyone who has seen a few episodes of “Millionaire Matchmaker” knows that sometimes the millionaire clients aren’t the most refined of personalities, with quirks ranging from severe narcissism and arrogance to total cluelessness. Which is fine by us, because we want to see Stanger break a sweat to make those matches and earn her paycheck.
Grangier said he hopes he doesn’t fall into that dysfunctional-millionaire category.
“I have not seen the show,” he said. “It’s a Bravo policy not to let us see the show and I respect that. I put myself in my own category. I’m the first gay bachelor on there. The way I come across and related to Patti was very positive. We had a great rapport. She respected my situation. She was unaccustomed to the gay lifestyle and making matches in that arena. I believe I do come out fairly well. I’m a pretty regular guy. I don’t suffer from a lot of the hang-ups that a lot of the bachelors in the episodes I’ve seen suffer from. But I’m sure I come with my own cadre of issues in my own right.”
Grangier, who splits his time between homes in Los Angeles and Kentucky, said Stanger helped him realize that his workaholic tendency is one of his main obstacles to finding happiness in a relationship.
“You walk into these situations very curious as to what you’re doing wrong and a little skeptical because you think you’ve tried everything,” Grangier said. “We believe we’re smart and intelligent people. I’m in my 40s right now and I feel like I’ve done just about everything. But there absolutely were some things that she brought to light. The great one is just recognizing and understanding the time that I need to commit to being in a relationship. I suffer from working too much. When push comes to shove, at the end of the day I always make the decision to focus on my company and whatever drama is at hand when I really need to take a step back and say, ‘Why am I working so hard?’ I really need to put as much time into focusing on a person or a relationship as I do on work.”
Given his successful and positive experience on “Millionaire Matchmaker,” Grangier said he hopes Stanger will open her doors to more gay clients.
“Being gay doesn’t disqualify you from any of the regular dating issues that anybody might suffer from,” he said. “A lot of the people on the show don’t fare well from a dating perspective and that doesn’t stop her retaining additional straight clients. So I don’t see why I would affect the way her business goes.”
Grangier appears on “Millionaire Matchmaker” at 9 p.m. May 7 on the Bravo Network. For more information, visit www.bravotv.com/the-millionaire-matchmaker.
Larry Nichols can be reached at [email protected].