A Pirate Mom and a Professional Organizer on the Next Episode of Wife Swap  2/24/07

WHEN A SWASHBUCKLING PIRATE MOM SWAPS LIVES WITH A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER, THE CANNONS ARE LOADED AND THE COURSE IS SET FOR HIGH ADVENTURE, ON ABC'S "WIFE SWAP"

New "Twist" in the Show Brings Dramatic Surprises for the Families During the Two-Week Challenge

This week in "Baur/Fine," a self-proclaimed "saucy wench" who runs her chaotic household like a motley crew of pirates swaps places with a polished professional organizer who believes that bins and labels are the solution to all the world's problems, on "Wife Swap," FRIDAY, MARCH 2 (9:01-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Network. (Rebroadcast. OAD 9/18/06)

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. This season, there's a new twist. After the rules change, the wives can call for backup, bringing in a friend or family member to help them enforce the rules and shakes things up even more with their swap family.

Tori "Mad Sally" Baur (42), her husband, "Ol' Chumbucket" John (51), and their three children, Cate (16), Millie (13), Max (6), and dog Shiloh are a modern day pirate family from Oregon. John and his best friend and business partner, Mark (aka Cap'n Slappy), are the authors of "Pirattitude" and founders of "International Talk Like a Pirate Day," celebrated all over the world on September 19. Chaos and creativity rule the Baur house, and the kids are encouraged to speak their minds. Tori stacks dirty dishes in the oven instead of cleaning them, and dirty laundry piles up around the house. The bill collector is over so often that John considers him a friend. John and Tori are unconventional and embrace the chaos of the pirate lifestyle. Millie and Max embrace it as well, but quiet Cate prefers to stay in her room with comic books, and she's often left out of the swashbuckling.

Tori sets sail for California, where Lisa Fine (36) and husband Craig (40) lead a life of organized perfection. Floor to ceiling bins line the Fine home and everything in their lives is labeled. The kids, Ashley (13) and Brandon (10), are the perfect cheerleader daughter and football playing son. Picture-perfect Ashley is a miniature version of her mom, obsessively organizing her friends' rooms and making sure that her mother's "systems" are being utilized throughout the house. She says she has to remind herself that she's just a kid, not a professional organizer. Brandon wishes he had a little more chaos in his life. After he builds something out of blocks, he has to take it apart and put the blocks away in individual bins by color. Craig says that Lisa is a perfectionist and keeping up with her is tough.

In the first week of the swap, Tori has a hard time boxing herself into Lisa's structured life, and chafes against the rules and the labeling. Lisa struggles with pirate life, which involves chaos, unruly kids, bill collectors... and lots and lots of fleas.

In the second week of the swap, Tori storms the decks of the SS Fine and gives them all a big chaotic dose of "pirattitude." Lisa whips out her trusty label-maker and begins boxing and labeling both

the Baurs' and their house. In addition, both families experience the new "twist" in the swap when Cap'n Slappy comes aboard with Tori and the Baurs receive a visit from Lisa's sister, Lori.

At the end of the swap will Tori make Lisa's organizational systems walk the plank? Will Lisa keep "pirattitude" in her perfectly binned life, or will she toss it overboard?

"Wife Swap" is an RDF USA production. It was created by Stephen Lambert and is executive-produced by Wendy Roth and Stephen Lambert of RDF Media ("Faking It" and "Junkyard Wars") and Michael Davies of Embassy Row ("Who Wants to be a Millionaire"). Cristin Cricco, Stephanie Schwam Adams and Mike Gamson are the co-executive producers.

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

Source: ABC Press Release