A Coal Miners Wife and a Ghost Hunting Wife Next Week on "Wife Swap"

A Coal Miners Wife and a Ghost Hunting Wife Next Week on "Wife Swap" 2/21/08

FEBRUARY 27

A TRADITIONAL, STAY-AT-HOME WIFE WHOSE LIFE IS RUN BY HER SPOILED KIDS AND COAL MINER HUSBAND SWAPS LIVES WITH A DOMINEERING, GHOST-HUNTING WIFE, ON ABC'S "WIFE SWAP"

"Myers/Sutton" -- This week on "Myers/Sutton," a down-home Kentucky wife swaps lives with a ghost-hunting wife who brings home the bacon to her shaman husband and four children, on "Wife Swap," WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Each week from across the country, two families with very different values are chosen to take part in a two-week long challenge. The wives from these two families exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover just what it's like to live another woman's life. It's a mind-blowing experiment that often ends up changing their lives forever.

A family from the backwoods of Kentucky, the Suttons have a traditional household where Karen (42) is the ultimate mommy-mom who devotes her entire life to keeping her coal-miner husband, Tommy (46), pampered and her daughters, Tiffany (18), Kaitlyn (13) and Lindsey (10), indulged. Tommy considers cooking, cleaning and child care woman's work and, while he's off working, he expects Karen to be doing just that. From the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes to bed she's cleaning, dusting, doing laundry and cooking full country meals. Karen considers her girls her best friends and goes to great lengths to please them by showering them with affection and gifts. They've never been asked to lift a finger. Tiffany even calls her mom's cell phone from her upstairs bedroom to request a drink or to have Karen come find her lost TV remote control.

Karen travels to the Illinois home of the Myers, a family of ghost hunters who all have paranormal abilities. She swaps lives with Samantha (39), a working mom whose corporate job supports the family financially and who leaves all domestic and parental responsibilities to her stay-at-home husband, Shane (37). In fact Drew (19), Cassie (16), Ricky (14) and Thom (4) call their father "dad-mom," and he assumes all domestic duties, beginning his day in his wife's closet, picking out and ironing her clothes every morning to her exact specifications. The Myers kids have grown to be extremely self-sufficient. They don't have structured rules, but each of the children does chores around the house and contributes to the family in some way. Drew and Cassie both work and have paid the monthly household bills whenever mom and dad found themselves low on cash. Drew, Cassie and Ricky also pitch in to the care of their younger brother, Thom, because Samantha admits she's not a "kissy kissy" kind of mom.

In the first week of the swap, Karen is creeped out by the Myers' ghost hunting obsession. Drew upsets her when he says she's not as intelligent as the rest of the family and criticizes Shane for not acting like a man. Meanwhile in Kentucky, Samantha is appalled at how spoiled and lazy Tommy and the Sutton girls are. And she is appalled by the state of Tommy and step-daughter Tiffany's relationship.

In the second week of the swap, when the wives change the rules and turn the tables, Karen puts an end to the Myers' ghost hunting. She bans the use of long words and tries to put Shane's shamanic gifts to good use by getting him a job at a local detective agency. She promises to show them all what a real Kentucky "momma" is like, looking after their every need. Meanwhile, Samantha informs the Sutton family that she's no longer their house-maid and tells Tommy that he's the new "dad-mom" and will be staying at home to do the cooking and cleaning. She leads a ghost-hunt in their own house and forces Tommy and Tiffany to try and salvage their relationship through a role-playing game.

At the end of the swap, when the families are reunited, will Karen stand up for herself and put an end to her family's dependence on her? Will Samantha loosen the reins on her husband and pay more attention to her children than the ghosts?

"Wife Swap" is an RDF USA production. It was created by Stephen Lambert and is executive-produced by Stef Wagstaffe and Michael Davies of Embassy Row ("Who Wants to be a Millionaire"). Mike Gamson and Stephen Pettinger and are the co-executive producers.

"Wife Swap" is broadcast with Spanish subtitles via secondary closed captioning. This program carries a TV-PG parental guideline.

Source: ABC Press Release