Stephen Fowler: Wife-Swap Video

Stephen Fowler, appearing on the ABC reality TV series ‘Wife Swap,’ has drawn widespread scorn for fulfilling every imaginable stereotype of an upper class intellectual snob. See video here and find out more about the uproar.The popular TV series has a simple premise; two families with very different values take part in a two week challenge in which the wives exchange husbands (but no, not the bedroom) and children and find out first-hand what it is like to live the lifestyle of another woman. For both viewers and participants it is an eye-opening experience and usually makes for entertaining viewing.

With the swap of Stephen Fowler, 49, and his wife Renee Foster, 43, and Alan Long, 38, and his wife Gayla Long, 37, the clash in culture and values is staggering.The Long family lives in a Missouri town of 55 (of which the husband is mayor) and is passionately patroitic. The family has invested thousands of dollars in paintball equipment, which is their main obsession and riding ATVs running a close second. They subsist on fast food and the typical American diet and the children are already overweight as is the mother.

In contrast, Stephen Fowler is a British born venture capitalist and environmental entrepreneur who, along with his wife, Renee Foster and “certified hypnotherapist/life coach” are millionaires living in San Francisco in an environmentally friendly home, favor organic foods, and send their children to a bi-lingual international school where they are taught in both French and English, with the goal of making them highly educated “citizens of the world.”

The controversy and the attention stems the outrageous and abusive statements Stephen Fowler makes about the new wife, Gayla, who he frequently insults because she is overweight and does not have a higher education. The contempt he shows openly towards her is blistering; he says she speaks two languages “bad English and redneck” (and that is one of the milder insults). There are some comedic moments, such as when Gayla gets back at Stephen by demanding that he sing the national anthem and not use big words. But overall, Stephen Fowler’s contemptuousness is unrelenting and he seems to take delight in every opportunity to call Gayla low class and uneducated. Eventually, the two-week period was cut short and Gayla moved into a hotel after Stephen contacted the show’s producers in an attempt to end the swap.

Meanwhile in Long household, the class in values progressed with more civility. Renee Foster is at one point driven to tears seeing the unhealthy eating habits of the family and the inevitable consequence, that some of the sons are overweight. The husband insists the family eats meat and potatoes and one of the sons mockingly chimes in that the family does not eat grass or hay or anything else that animal would eat. She tries to get them to do exercise but must first convince them that riding an ATV is not a form of exercise. With her more empathetic and non-confrontational approach, she was able to make progress in helping the family.

It is Stephen Fowler’s behavior that created a critical mass of public outrage, filling Internet forums, blogs and spawning Web Sites such as StephenFosterSucks.com and he issued a public apology on his wife’s Web site. He has also resigned from some of the environmental nonprofit boards of which he was a member. Additionally, his wife also issued a public apology.