Andy DehnartCMT is resurrecting the reality show Wife Swap and is framing the series as one that will help a divided United States of America because families will “slowly learn to embrace their differences to come together and find common ground” over “politics, classism, gender and race.”
Though the title remains the same, the press release says families “will switch spouses,” perhaps suggesting that men will trade places, too.
But the format remains the same as the celebrity version. Here’s how CMT describes it in a press release:
“The one-hour, 10-episode series spotlights two families from different geographical and social backgrounds that swap spouses; showcasing hot-button issues like politics, classism, gender and race with the end goal of everyone finding common ground. During each switch, the new spouses must at first adhere to exactly the same rules and lifestyle of the spouses being replaced, only to later establish their own rules. At the end, the two couples meet for the first time, where they discuss what they learned from the swap and what changes and new rules will remain once they return home.”
This represents the third return for the series after its initial run ended in 2010. ABC brought it back for a four-season celebrity series that aired from 2012 to 2015, and the regular-person version came back for a brief run in the spring of 2013.
The show will be produced by Banijay Studios North America, a subsidiary of Banijay Group, which owns the international format.