Out of all my years in radio I have to say this is a first! I’ve heard of listeners winning cars, trips, money, and other goodies…but a mail order bride???

Just so you know it’s not your beloved Mix 96-5 degrading women in the name of ratings….(though as a female dj, I would love to see us pull this off) Nope this is happening across the border, in CANADA of all places! I am shocked and appalled.

Edmonton’s The Bear 100.3 has joined with A Volga Girl, a Russian “matchmaking” website, to give one listener a round-trip flight to Russia, 13 nights of accommodation and $500 to spend to meet a “lucky lady” provided by Volga.

Contestants have to submit an application….. and that’s pretty much it, the audience votes on who they feel is most deserving of love from abroad.  In fact the leading contestant is a woman named Vanessa, going by the pseudonym of “Woo,” who says she thinks the main benefit of having a wife is “lesbian action, duh.”

The runner-up is Michael Okeymaw, who claims he just wants someone to “love, someone to share my life with and for finally being happy.” Awwww how cute. The father of three also states  “stupidest” thing he’s done “in the hopes of scorin”? “Fed her a lot of alcohol. That was not a pretty site.”

Of course officials are upset about the promotion. Alberta’s Immigration Minister, Thomas Lukaszuk, who oversees both immigration and labor concerns, pulled all of the department’s advertisements from the station for the duration of the contest.

“I’m very familiar with [Eastern Europe], especially developing economies, and I do know that many of the women that make themselves available as Internet brides don’t do it as a virtue of choice,” said Lukaszuk, who also described himself as the last person to advocate censorship. “These women either do it due to dire economic circumstances — many are single moms — or they are coerced into it by a criminal element. We must do anything to prevent human trafficking.”

The stations brand manager is defending the promotion by saying the contest does not degrade women or guarantee matchmaking but rather provides people with “the opportunity to contact and meet each other in the hopes of developing a serious relationship — a concept similar to many other such contests held on reality-TV shows over the past few years around the world (IE-the Bachelor/Bachelorette).”

What do you think bout this one ladies???? Could Mix get away with this??? LOL