This week on Celebrity Wife Swap we have an inside look at the unpredictable Gary Busey and the scandalous pastor, Ted Haggard.
“Gary Busey / Ted Haggard,” Steffanie Sampson, fiance of Academy Award-nominated actor Gary Busey, swaps lives with Gayle Haggard, wife of former evangelical icon Ted Haggard.
As Busey states in the opening of the show, “I am Gary Busey, prepare for the best, prepare for the worst and expect the unexpected.” Gary, Steffanie and their 19-month old son, Luke, live in their Hollywood Hills home.
Gary, born into Christianity and Steffanie, born into Judaism, have chosen to live spiritually and believe in reincarnation. They claim to be soul mates, married in spirit, and believe they are currently spending their 32nd lifetime together. When Gary is not working, he spends his time transcribing his visions from his experiences and his life now. Steffanie is a hands-on mother who has recently returned to her career as a hypnotherapist and healer.
Steffanie Sampson, Gary’s fiance, believes Gary is known for his films and motorcycle accident. In reality, Busey is well known for his outrageous behavior. Sampson’s motivation for wife swap is to show that Gary isn’t crazy. Can it be done?
Ted Haggard lives with his wife and four adult children, Christy, Jonathan, Alex and Eliott in Colorado. The Haggard family have struggled to overcome the humiliation that followed Ted’s highly publicized encounter in 2006 with a gay masseur and accusations of drug use. The scandal forced him to resign as senior pastor of the mega-church he and Gayle had founded 22 years earlier. He was also forced to resign as head of the powerful National Association of Evangelicals and move his family from their home in Colorado Springs to Phoenix.
Haggard told his wife to divorce him but she stayed by his side. Four years ago they were given permission by leaders of the church to return to Colorado Springs, where Haggard is currently leading a new congregation in a local middle school. Gayle wrote the book, Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour, describing in candid detail the bumpy road she walked alongside her husband following the scandal.
Each week, the mothers in two celebrity families with very different values swap lifestyles, children and homes (but not bedrooms) for one week and embark on a journey like no other. They’re given the chance to see how another celebrity raises their children and deals with life in the spotlight, while allowing both couples the opportunity to re-discover why they love each other and why they decided to get together in the first place.
Gayle and Steffanie must move into the other’s homes and adopt their new celebrity family’s lifestyle, no matter how different. When they arrive, they find a manual written by the departing mother, setting out the rules of the new household – how to parent, manage their social life, do house work, unwind and more.
Gary meets Gayle and they spend some time together, where Gary goes into different voices. Annoying – to say the least. Gary is insisting to Gayle that past lives are true and she will find this is true – TODAY!! Gayle is seeing contradictions between his Christian faith and how he lives his life. She thinks he is kind of like his own god. That’s a bit odd.
Meanwhile, Gary’s only question to Gayle is what sports she played when she was younger?
Gayle thinks Gary is a good dad but he needs to have a close eye kept on him since he can’t even buckle the high chair.
Gary brings his ‘friend’ over who is dressed in Indian garb. His friend tells Gayle that she is a lost soul. Gayle is not interested in cleansing her soul, so she just observes.
Gary takes Gayle out to dinner, since there isn’t a lot of cooking going on in the Busey house. Gayle is dying to talk about herself and her story but Gary hasn’t had much interest yet.
Steffanie is a bit concerned about Ted’s parish as it is mostly women. Steffanie reads Gayle’s book and is not happy with what she has to say about gay people. Steffanie discusses the book with Ted and probes him on his feelings about gay marriage. Ted is not sure about same sex marriage.
Steffanie gets a chance to talk to the family about what happened with the scandal. She is focused on the fact that Ted doesn’t spend a lot of time with his family – and too much time with the parishoners.
In the first part of the swap, they must abide by the resident family’s set of rules. But in the second half of the week, everything changes when the new moms take charge. They introduce their own set of rules and get to run the new household their way. It’s a radical shock to both celebrity families, with results that are explosive, enlightening, emotional and often very funny.
And the new rules are now in effect.
Gayleism’s:
- Consistency breeds sanity
- Take Luke on a walk or to the park
- Gayle wants to cook for Gary and open up to him
Steffanie calls her rules ‘new ways’
- Wants the family to have fun and organizes a family hike
- More father/daughter time – tea together
(Christy feels that the people in the church take a lot of his time)
Christy is attacked by her brother for blaming their father for not spending time with her. Christy and her father meet for coffee where they just talk. Then later Steffanie and the family go hiking where they bond.
Gayle is concerned that Gary is too impulsive. You think? She has Gary take the baby for a walk and wants it to be parted of a routine they can follow. Gary finally talks to Gayle about the scandal and how it effected her. Gayle claims she is grateful that she went through the process during the scandal. I don’t believe anyone could possibly be grateful for being raked through the coals for something their spouse did. Do you?
In the end, the two couples sit down at a picnic table and talk about their experiences. Ted offers to marry Gary and Stephanie when they decide they want to make their union legal . It’s at this point in the show that you realize you just spent an hour with two insane men with their incredibly loving and patient partners.
