Even before Fox confirmed his identity, we knew that David Smith, the star of The Next Joe Millionaire, earned very little as a professional rodeo rider. His total prize winnings in 2002 were just $11,000. Perfect choice for "Joe Millionaire," an impoverished man who pretends to have inherited family wealth, right?
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Well, maybe not. In fact, maybe the last laugh will be on the viewers, who expect the handsome David to be as dirt-poor ... and as devoid of prospects ... as the first "Joe Millionaire," underwear model Evan Marriott. In recent articles, TV Guide, the "Inside Track" column in the Boston Herald and even the National Enquirer have reported that David's father actually is a wealthy Texas oil man -- which means that, somewhere down the road, David really may inherit a fortune.
In fact, David -- who lives on a trailer on his dad's ranch (and how many poor people own ranches that employ several ranch hands?) -- told TV Guide, "My dad's done everything for me. I've never had to work.'' Thus, if David does make a "love connection" with one of the European beauties on The Next Joe Millionaire, she may be the one enjoying the last laugh.
Could the final twist on The Next Joe Millionaire really be that the women aren't chasing a chimera? That they actually might land a wealthy Prince Charming-in-waiting? We'll have to wait and see, we guess -- but it seems to us that if it weren't true, Fox would have denied it already.
Of course, whether David is actually "Prince Charming" is another issue, since the National Enquirer also reports that David tried (and apparently almost succeeded) to bed his ex-live-in fiancee's sister. Additionally, the Enquirer claims that the ex-fiancee, Misty, will move back in with David once the show's publicity campaign is over. No word whether the sister, Brandy, will have an adjoining bedroom.
Then again, we have a tough time imagining that a woman who caught her boyfriend trying to bed her sister would seriously want to continue with the relationship, especially after claiming to be deceived by him about his participation in Joe Millionaire, unless he really is filthy rich. We also wonder just what kind of a relationship David and his ex-fiancee still have, if any, (and how much credence to give to their comments to the Enquirer) if she and her friends have so little invested in it that they decided to sell the couple's dirty laundry to the Enquirer.