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If You Are the One is not Perfect Match

Why did China's cult dating show, which airs on SBS 2, suddenly rename itself in EPGs?

2014-06-22_2110It’s a curious Chinese version of Taken Out, but If You Are the One which airs in Australia on SBS 2, had been oddly retitled as Perfect Match in recent Guides.

The show, which sees singles select potential partners in a speed-dating game show, has pulled audiences of up to 50 million in China.

On SBS 2 it has developed a cult following for its unique romantic questions, such as determining if your new girlfriend will honour your mother.

But Perfect Match, of course, implies a whole other ball game in Australia.

An SBS spokesperson told TV Tonight,Perfect Match is the title the producer uses when selling the show internationally. We aren’t sure why, as the literal translation of the Mandarin title is something like “If not sincere then do not disturb” – which is delightfully kooky! But all the English promotions the show has received elsewhere uses the If You Are The One title, so we use that one too.”

For a few weeks in EPGs the title accidentally reverted to the title used on the contract, Perfect Match.

“This was fixed as soon as we discovered it, but for a short while it did slip through. The title will remain If You Are the One.”

Thank goodness for that.

Of course Taken Out, which was developed by FremantleMedia Australia, ran on TEN briefly in 2008, hosted by James Kerley. TEN tried to freshen up its 7pm timeslot with a dating show after repeated failures, before eventually settling on The Project.

It has since been adapted to Denmark, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Spain, United States, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and Canada (Quebec) but remains shunned in the country where it started.

3 Responses

  1. Ah, that must be exactly the same thing that happened with Seven renaming ‘The Blacklist’ to “James Spader’s The Blacklist” and with Ten renaming ‘Elementary’ to “Sherlock Holmes: Elementary”. It’s all perfectly clear now.

  2. Its a hilarious TV show which I am glad SBS2 shows the English version (even if the subtitle translations are a little on the strange side)

    It shows the really vapid and materialistic (and rather accurate) side of single Chinese women – comedy gold

    I’ve tried watching this show in HK and China, and noticed that the on-screen graphics are completely different though.

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