I'm not proud of it, but I was sucked in as well.

In the past few weeks I've watched FOX's "Joe Millionaire."

Like many who have watched, I was curious to see the reaction of the woman Evan chose. Most people I've talked with said they just wanted to see the last episode to see the reaction.

The women who chose to be on the show knew they had a chance to win the heart of a millionaire.

They must have all been gold-diggers. Why else would they go on the show?

The way the women seemed to swoon over the expensive dinner, posh digs and jewelry proved that they would be devastated without the millions.

Except for Zora. She said she was uncomfortable around money. She wasn't wholly impressed with fancy dates.

So in a way it was disappointing when he picked Zora over Sarah.

Evan wasn't rejected. She didn't walk off the show in a huff. The ending was sickingly positive.

In fact they got a million dollar-surprise for being on the show.

Zora was mostly disappointed that he lied to her, which was actually the problem with the show's premise from the start.

Nevermind that Evan Marriott doesn't have any money, there's no way these woman could have gotten to know the "real" Evan anyway.

In order to look like a millionaire, he had to act like one. That meant he pretended to like fancy restaurants, champagne, horseback riding and nice clothing.

In turn the women thought he liked all of those expensive things.

He couldn't talk about being a construction worker, a job he chose to have after modeling didn't work out. He couldn't talk about where or how his parents and friends actually lived.

In order to truly know a person, you have to know his past as well.

So the show sought out to see if a woman could fall in love with a man, disregarding any millions. But the show forgot that because of the money, he had to conceal key parts of his life in order to play along.

In fact, the lying and secrecy caused most of the tension between him and Zora, a woman who supposedly likes him for him.

It's not quite the perfect experiment.

The show did work in getting viewers to waste their Monday evenings predicting who would be chosen and what sort of reaction would result.

And the show tried to fool us all by adding a so-called "twist" at the end. Actually, it was as predictable as most fairy tales. I couldn't help but think of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" as the credits rolled.

Belle loved the Beast despite his flaws, but in the end she was given someone pleasing to look at anyway.

The twist took all the bite out of the show. It wasn't shocking because they ended up with money anyway. It was shocking because we weren't left with the feeling we wanted. We wanted harsh reality to seep into to this supposed fairy tale.

Instead we were left nothing more than happily ever after, something we could have gotten by renting "Cinderella."

Of course who knows if Zora and Evan are even still together. In my opinion, Zora could do better.

I guess next week we'll be treated to an "aftermath" episode and see how it all worked out.

If it's anything like reality, we'll see a little more of the tension we had been expecting all along.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at :mailto:cari.quam@austindailyherald.com