Smallscreen News

Jerry Springer brings Baggage to GSN

By April MacIntyre Aug 15, 2011, 18:48 GMT

No Baggage - GSN star Jerry Springer - Sony Studios - Culver City, CA, USA © Tina Gill / PR Photos

GSN announces a new special with Jerry Springer as "Baggage First Dates" airs Sunday August 21 at 8:00 P.M. ET/PT

Dating “baggage” takes on a whole new in-your-face reality when a couple who met on GSN’s hit series "Baggage" begins a tentative and highly awkward romance, as GSN announces the premiere of a new special, "Baggage First Dates", on Sunday, August 21.

"Baggage First Dates" hosted by Jerry Springer, will premiere during a five-hour best of "Baggage" marathon that begins at 7:00 p.m. ET and runs through midnight. The "Baggage First Dates" special airs Sunday, August 21, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.

From GSN:

Andre and Maggie found each other through their baggage—or rather, through GSN’s "Baggage.” Guided by host Jerry Springer, Maggie (the dater) and Andre (the contestant vying for Maggie’s approval) revealed their emotional and lifestyle baggage: Andre’s menagerie of pit bulls and a full-grown tiger and Maggie’s unfortunate adult-diaper issue.

Yet the attraction was strong and the couple agreed to a first date—and now the audience of "Baggage First Dates" gets to go along for the bumpy ride. Can Maggie, a born-and-bred New Yorker who’s terrified of dogs and large animals, deal with Andre’s snarling backyard beasts and his peculiar survivalist bunker? Can Andre get past his aversion to Maggie’s “leaked” secrets?  And can their budding romance survive the big reveal—when they meet with Springer back on the Baggage stage and open one last shocking piece of baggage?

"Baggage First Dates" will air during a five-hour best of Baggage marathon beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET. On each half-hour episode of Baggage, Springer guides the fun as one dater chooses among three contestants, who reveal the intimate secrets and hidden flaws that are typically kept under wraps to impress a first date. Each contestant enters with three suitcases—small, medium and large—containing the quirky, annoying and sometimes truly shocking “baggage” that may or may not eliminate the contestants from competition, to the accompaniment of the dater’s tagline, “I’m sorry, but you have too much baggage.”

With a lively pace and a playful sense of humor, "Baggage" reveals what people are willing to put up with in the name of finding love.

Following a “Baggage” Couple Through the Awkward Romance of Their First Date, "Baggage First Dates" Will Air During a Five-Hour “Best of Baggage” Marathon Running August 21 from 7:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m ET.