If you missed the beginning of Joe Millionaire and joined mid-season, you may be wondering whether Steven McBee or Kurt Sowers is the wealthier man. Neither of the two leads of this rebooted show are struggling to make ends meet. Kurt is a 32-year-old CEO working in construction and Steven is a 27-year-old CEO working in farming.
Through three episodes, Joe Millionaire has established some romantic connections with the help of host and butler Martin Andrew. Kurt is digging single mom Carolyn, but he's also into Amanda because she makes him laugh. Steven kissed Rachel and Annie, but then Rachel left because she was mad the other women didn't give her a shot in the limousine ride back to the manor after they all agreed she'd had too much to drink. Steven seems to be enjoying the experience far more than Kurt, who threatened to quit during the Movie Tavern date because it was all getting too real for him. Steven, and likely production, talked him down from the ledge, and early on in the season the North Carolina and Missouri men have formed a bromance.
It's not clear how much money Kurt has in the bank, but the audience does learn in the premiere that Steven is a multi-millionaire. His secret was almost revealed to the women when he recognized someone on the cast, but she was promptly sent home so his cover would not be blown. Most of the women initially correctly believed that Steven was the wealthier of the two, although now they seem to be much more split on the topic.
On the first group date, Kurt took his women on a fancy date and Steven brought his women to a honky-tonk. On their first one-on-ones, the roles were reversed. After a premiere episode that featured many of the women attempting to figure out who was who, the most recent episodes have focused more on the mens' connections and who they are most attracted to.
It's not too clear how this show is supposed to end. Are the women going to be revealed as either golddiggers or genuinely looking for love, kind of like HBO's FBoy Island? Or will the men just continue to narrow down their contestants in more of a Bachelor-style format? Either way, the entire premise of the show seems kind of ridiculous because Kurt isn't poor; he's just not a multi-millionaire like Steven. But he's still a CEO, so any woman who winds up with Kurt will probably be happy anyway. That said, it would be shocking if any couples who met on the show are still together to this day.
Joe Millionaire airs Thursdays at 8pm EST on Fox.