Wife Swap:
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Monday, February 19, 8/7c
"Haigwood/Hess-Webb"
A scrappy farm wife who eats a raw meat diet swaps lives with a polished city wife who spends her days at museums and her nights at fine restaurants.
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Two southwest Iowa natives will make their television debut on "Wife Swap," Monday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. on the ABC television network.
Michael Haigwood, 39, a Shenandoah High School graduate, and his wife, Barbara (Davis) Haigwood, 37, a Clarinda High School graduate, along with their two children, Lee, 15, and Allesha, 13, believe the best life is a simple life.
The press release describes Haigwood as, "a woman who feels most comfortable in a stained pair of overalls and whose family barely interacts with mainstream society."
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In the episode, Haigwood swaps lives with the Hess-Webb family, who value culture and style.
The premise of "Wife Swap," is to take two different families, from two entirely different backgrounds, and challenge them to swap lives for two weeks.
The wives in each family exchange children, husband, homes, chores, hobbies and careers, to experience life in someone else's shoes.
The Haigwoods live outside Massena, Iowa on a farm. The press release said the nearest town is 45 minutes away.
The release also said the Haigwoods pride themselves, "on a self-sustained existence where food is grown, harvested and killed on their property with minimal help from the outside world."
"The family lives by a raw food philosophy that includes raw beef and chicken, spoiled cheese and un-pasteurized milk. They brush their teeth with a mixture of homemade honey-butter and clay and only shower on occasion, as 'bacteria is their friend'."
During the popular reality show, "Barbara bucks at the pressure she feels society puts on people to become prepackaged clones and tries to keep most forms of 'mainstream' culture out of her household."
While Barbara heads to California to live with the Hess-Webb family, Kim Hess-Webb, a 32-year-old professional, her husband Robert, 31, a male nurse, and their two children, Ivy, 6, and 4-year-old Breslin, believe in culture, education and appearances.
The press release said in the first week of the swap, Barbara is made over by Robert. This includes something she hasn't done in seven years, shaving her legs.
Taking on the rules of the Hess-Webb home, Barbara is then expected to clean the apartment using chemical products, which she feels is dangerous to her and the family.
Meanwhile back on the farm, Kim is in for a real eye-opener when she meets the Haigwoods.
The family who eats raw eggs as snack is not what the Californian expects.
"By the second day, Kim breaks down, sleeping in a trailer on the farm and only coming outside to milk the cows and perform her other farm chores - which she barely gets through," said the release.
The show can be seen Monday at 7 p.m. on ABC's Channel 7.
- Valley News Today Staff Writer Tess Gruber contributed to this story.
