Swap meet
By TOM MUSICK - tmusick@nwherald.com
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| Samantha Myers of Huntley, right, her husband Shane, their son Thom, 4, and the rest of their family will be featured in Wednesday's episode of Wife Swap on ABC. (Travis Haughton photo) |
Shane Myers started to worry shortly after his family signed up to join the reality-TV ranks as part of ABC’s “Wife Swap.”
“I thought it was going to be terrible,” said Myers, 37, of Huntley. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, they’re going to put us with some farm family with no teeth.’
“You think the worst, but it wasn’t that bad.”
Myers soon discovered that a Kentucky coal miner’s family had teeth, but little else in common with his own wife, Samantha, and children.
Tonight, several members of the Myers family will gather to watch their episode, which airs at 7 p.m. on ABC.
For two weeks in December, Samantha Myers swapped roles with Karen Sutton, a stay-at-home mom with three daughters and a coal-mining husband. The culture shock was significant for Myers, an insurance executive and avid ghost-hunter whose husband stays home because of a back injury.
Myers could not talk to her family for two weeks while she tried to adapt to the Suttons’ way of life. She said she missed her husband and four children – 19-year-old Drew, 16-year-old Cassie, 14-year-old Ricky and 4-year-old Thom.
“It was very different,” said Myers, who also had to adjust to wearing a microphone and having cameramen follow her around the house. “It was lonely. There were not a lot of people to talk to.”
In Huntley, Sutton slept in Thom’s room for two weeks while the Myers’ youngest son slept in his parents’ room. Shane Myers said his children enjoyed being part of the show.
“The crew was awesome,” Myers said. “They played with Thom on the floor. They played with our dogs. They were really cordial with everything.”
Sutton disapproved of his role as a stay-at-home dad and objected to the family’s fascination with paranormal activities, Myers said. He was not reluctant to share his interests in ghosts and called himself a shaman who can communicate with the dead.
Myers and his family travel to sites touted as haunted across the country.
“Yes, they’re going to find things that make you different, and they’re going to kind of exploit that,” he said. “They’re going to make it apparent.
“But then, they’re going to show you how the families work through it and what they learn from it.”
The show helped the Myerses re-evaluate their lives. Shane realized that he missed the camaraderie of a workplace, while Samantha appreciated her children much more after the time in Kentucky.
The couple knows that some people will criticize their appearance on reality TV. But they said they did not regret the experience regardless of other people’s opinions.
“I’m sure there are going to be people who say, ‘You guys are a bunch of freaks,’ ” Shane Myers said. “But in the end, [the show] always brings it back around.
“At least in my opinion, every family I’ve seen on the show, they learn something and they’re better for it.”
Tune in
What: “Wife Swap,” featuring the Myers family of Huntley.
When: 7 p.m. today.
Where: ABC, Channel 7.
