Win A Trip To Russia To Pick The Bride Of Your Choice

An Edmonton radio station is hosting a “Win a Wife” competition, and it’s just as bizarre as it sounds. Winners will get a free trip to Russia and introductions to Russian women, all sponsored by a mail-order bride website.

100.3 FM “The Bear” tells entrants, “If we pick you, you’ll be heading to Russia with 13 nights’ accomodation, return air fare, and $500 spending money to meet the lucky lady!” All this is furnished by A Volga Girl, whose website states, “we are an integrity-based American company dedicated to providing a wide range of services to those men who are interested in finding a compatible Russian wife, usually beginning with email correspondence, web-cams, and interpretive phone calls and graduating to a face-to-face meeting, engagement and marriage.” To win the trip, listeners have to fill out a questionnaire and send in a photo (“No pornographic photos will be accepted”) — five finalists will then “be subject to character assessment (live on air) from friends and family, as well as psychometric testing and suitability for marriage testing by a psychologist appointed by the Contest Organizers,” and an online vote will determine the winner.

The highest-rated applicant so far, according to The Bear’s website, is one Michael Okeymaw, who says he’s “Tired of being with ****** women because they have no asses!” He lists the “top 3 benefits of having a wife” as “love, someone to share my life with and for finally being happy,” which is sweet. However, he also says, “A perfect wife is one who are not like women from Canada and USA, because women from these countries are too spoiled, always want their way and will take everything from a man if they are not happy and leave the man.” Not all the entries are this insulting, but all of the entrants are applying to win a life partner from a radio station. And while the contest bylaws caution that “the Personal Introduction Experience is solely an introduction to Russian women and that the Contest Organizers shall not be liable in the event such Personal Introduction Experience is unsuccessful and/or does not result in a marriage,” it’s a fair bet that many entrants are hoping they’ll come away with a mail-order bride. All the problems with that industry — from encouraging misogyny to creating serious power imbalances within marriage — are compounded by the act of “giving away a wife” over the radio.