Five-month stag party

Chile's Double Temptation puts soon-to-be-married couples in adjoining Big Brother-style houses to see if they can resist the blandishments of "14 attractive singletons" bent on seducing them.

Marry If You Can from neighboring Argentina subjects couples to a five-month stag party replete with multiple temptations.

"Only true love can pass the test", the producers claim, with the winning couple getting a house, a paid-for paradise wedding and a honeymoon.

British channel E4 uses a more scientific approach. Its Game of Clones gives contestants the choice of eight identically dressed possible partners who exactly meet the physical criteria demanded.

"It all comes down to personality when they all look the same," the creators declared.

And the US show The Game of Dating lets viewers at home pitch in on whether a date is really boyfriend or girlfriend material.

Sweden's TV3, however, knows that the real way to a woman's heart is a man's toolbox. In Handyman Wanted it tries to pair "three strong, independent women who want to build their dream home" with the most qualified men.

"Remake your home and your heart at the same time," Mouseler said. "Every woman loves a plumber," especially, it turns out, one who can take orders.

Not everyone has given up on romance though. Nor is it ever too late. Belgium's Hotel Romantiek took 40 pensioners to the Swiss Alps for a week of high jinks.

The two hosts choose a "perfect match" from among them, who then cross a mountain lake in a swan pedal boat to spend the night in a love-nest cabin.