Sign of the Times: ‘Dating Game’ Matches Up Deaf Contestants

Like most of the answers to questions posed on “The All New Dating Game,” Bachelor No. 2’s response to the woman who posed it from the other side of the wall was laced with double-entendre. “I think it would depend on how dark the restaurant is that we’re going to,” he replied. “If it were dark, we’d have to be very close. . . . “

While the answer was standard fare for “The All New Dating Game,” the question was not: Social worker Mary Beth Barber had asked Doug Sampson whether he would be willing to go out on a date with a woman who didn’t know sign language, which would require him to read her lips.

Sampson, like all of this show’s contestants, is profoundly deaf. His answer, in American Sign Language, was translated by an interpreter for the hearing audience.

Although coincidental, the recent taping of the first hearing-impaired “Dating Game,” airing tonight at 6:30 on KCOP Channel 13, came on the heels of a significant event in the deaf community. In March, the students of Washington’s Gallaudet University, the nation’s only liberal arts college for the deaf, forced the resignation of Elisabeth Ann Zinser, the university’s new president, on the grounds that she was not deaf and knew little sign language.

The producers and participants in this unusual “Dating Game” installment do not believe that putting deaf contestants on the show holds the political significance of putting a deaf president at the helm of Gallaudet University, but they maintain that deaf participation in an American cultural ritual such as “The All New Dating Game” is an important step in making the general public more aware of the deaf.

“I think the message we’re trying to give the community is that we’re just like you--we date, we go out, we have fun,” said Sheri Farinha Mutti, chief administrator of the Greater Los Angeles Council on Deafness (GLAD), which helped in the search for deaf contestants.

Except for the presence of interpreters, and such giveaways as the ISIGN2U license plate on a car in the Sunset Gower Studios parking lot, it was indeed business as usual at the taping of this edition of “Dating Game.” Contestants gamely answered such pressing questions as “If you were a toy in a toy store, what kind of toy would you be?” The audience, many of whom were also hearing-impaired, cheered loudly on cue and responded warmly to host Jeff MacGregor’s halting efforts to sign.

“I got a real rush out of it,” executive producer Jeff Wald said enthusiastically a few days after the taping. “I find the signing attractive, it’s visually exciting, and the people were as good contestants as we ever got on the show. They were all totally charming, and really excited about winning.

“Gallaudet has triggered off tremendous awareness,” Wald added. “It’s good for society as a whole to become more aware. Any time you provide people with something that makes us all the same, you’re better off.”

The deaf “Dating Game” was inspired when a deaf contestant showed up to audition for a regular segment of the show. Awareness of deaf issues on the part of the producers also helped launch the experiment: Barris Industries, which produces the syndicated series, is owned by Burt Sugarman, who produced the feature film “Children of a Lesser God.” The film netted a best actress Oscar in 1987 for Marlee Matlin, who is deaf.

In the film, Matlin portrayed a rebellious student who refused on principle to learn to speak, preferring to let the rest of the world learn to sign if it wanted to communicate with her. Her teacher, portrayed by William Hurt, encouraged her not to reject mainstream society, but to try to learn its language.

On a somewhat smaller scale, some of the issues raised by “Children of a Lesser God” came up in preparing a deaf “Dating Game.” By putting the deaf contestants in a separate show rather than mainstreaming them into the regular game, were the producers truly endorsing the notion that society should be making a greater effort to accommodate the deaf, or implying exactly the opposite?

Following the taping of the show, contestants voiced mixed opinions on whether they’d prefer to be in a show with all-deaf contestants.

Contestant Kevin Mills, a travel agent and aspiring actor, was ambivalent about whether he would want to be matched up with a hearing contestant, but said he prefers to date women who know how to sign. “I don’t like to be slowed down,” he said with a sly grin.

He added that he believes that a deaf “Dating Game” will open doors for the deaf, rather than close them. “One problem with the game shows is that they’re too homogenous,” Mills said. “And as a deaf actor, it’s difficult to get any roles not specifically for a deaf person. This can lead to new opportunities.”

Cami Varela, a bubbly 20-year-old student at Cal State University Northridge, who plans to become a fashion designer, agreed with Mills that an all-deaf game can bring attention to the deaf community.

“I’m sure now the American audience will think more about not only deaf people, but other handicapped people as well,” she said.

Varela, however, was more eager than Mills to participate in the regular game. “I would really like to experience the regular one; I don’t see why they can’t let me go on the regular one with an interpreter,” Varela said. In fact, she had planned to audition for the regular show before discovering that auditions were being held for a deaf version.

Wald and Scott Sternberg, the producer of the show, said their decision to go with an all-deaf “Dating Game” was largely a practical one: If only one of the contestants required an interpreter, the person selecting his or her date would know ahead of time which contestant was deaf.

“How do you make it so they have an even chance?” asked Wald. “The person (choosing the contestant) thinks, ‘If I don’t choose the deaf contestant, I’m being prejudiced,’ and ‘If I do choose the deaf contestant, I’m being condescending.’ ”

In an interview at Barris’ West Los Angeles headquarters, Sternberg and Wald said the deaf “Dating Game” could lead them to consider more handicapped contestants in the future, but added that the show is unlikely to make matches that would come as a surprise to either contestant.

They continue to match contestants by age, height and race. They have so far not featured any contestants with a significant physical handicap.

Sternberg readily admits that most contestants are “your average yuppie” between 18 and 25, and he describes “Dating Game” as a fun show about attractive people rather than a forum for social reform.

“The idea is to keep it simple,” he said. “What this show is not about is, it’s not about embarrassment and humiliation. You don’t want to confuse it with anything but what it is.”

Other game shows have made small inroads in using contestants with disabilities.

“$25,000 Pyramid” did a program with blind participants. In the regular game, celebrity guests see words on a screen and describe the word to the contestant, who must guess it from the description; then they switch roles. In the blind game, they did not switch roles and the sighted celebrities did all the describing.

Bob Stewart, executive producer of the nighttime version of “Pyramid,” said the blind contestants had no unusual problems guessing the words, even when they involved visual descriptions.

“When you say a yellow fruit with a peel, they know it’s a banana,” he said. “They won as much money as the biggest winners on the game.”

Stewart added, however, that the only way a deaf person could play the game is if he or she were able to speak and only did the describing, rather than the guessing.

Maggie Speak, contestant coordinator for “Classic Concentration,” said that “Concentration” has featured contestants in wheelchairs. Because “Concentration” involves reading a game board, she said, the blind could not play, but the deaf could probably play with an interpreter. However, there are no plans at this time to use them.

Farinha Mutti would like to see more deaf people involved in all game shows, and thinks projects such as the deaf “Dating Game” will get them there.

“I just think it’s wonderful that Barris Productions was open to inviting the deaf community in to be part of the show,” she said. “They were wonderful to work with. And for once, people were able to sign and not be ashamed.”