I recently watched a documentary called Love Me, which follows a number of guys in the US and Australia trying to find a wife in Ukraine through a mail order bride website. A big part of the documentary is focused on a tour to Ukraine organized by the company behind the site. Pretty soon I thought of TRP and Beta behavior.

I might have forgotten some details, but in large the guys you meet are:

Guy 1: around 50, good looking for his age, knows what he wants and he asks all the girls he meets in Ukraine how old they are. Ultimately unable to find anyone to his liking, says fuck it and reconnects with an ex in the US.

Guy 2: around 40, likes guns and appears to be a member of the NRA. Finds a girl in Ukraine, around 30, later meets parents, ultimately she moves to the US and they get married.

Guy 2.5: also around 40, looks like a cool guy, I like him. Also finds a girl in Ukraine, they also get married in the end.

Guy 3: around 30, farmer, seems very shy and nervous. Finds a girl in Ukraine, "love at first sight". Goes back after the initial trip, and one day loan sharks appear in the girl's apartment demanding money. They take all the money he has. He realizes something isn't right, calls it off.

Guy 4: around 50, talks a lot with a girl through the site, every message costs like 10 USD, because they are translated. Tells her he will come to Ukraine on this trip. At the events the company has organized, while all the other guys talk with all the girls there, he just waits for the girl he's spoken to.

The site owner tells him to talk to other girls. He refuses. Site owner finally tracks down the girl, and she appears. Doesn't look like the girl in the picture, and the guy has already said to the documentary team that he feels kind of iffy about it. She doesn't recognize pictures he's shown her, doesn't know details he's shared with her. Anyway, he proposes, and she says yes. After he goes back to the US, more strange things happen in the conversations, and he stops all dating for a while, only to return later.

Guy 5: around 50, from Australia, finds single mother in her 30s in Ukraine. They talk a lot through the site, and he goes there on vacation to meet her. He thinks about proposing, and he says that it's a big decision to leave your family, so he's prepared to move to her, instead of the other way around, he wants to provide for her.

He ultimately flies the girl and her kids to Bali, and they get married. She doesn't even kiss him after priest tells them to. Some time before the wedding the guy gets a message from someone claiming to work with the girl, saying that everything is basically a scam - ignores it. Suddenly the girl goes quiet, he doesn't hear from her for months. He thinks it's odd that she doesn't answer him on Skype, but he doesn't think anything is wrong - even though he says "it doesn't feel like we're married".

He goes back to Ukraine to find answers, and the whole thing is really weird to watch. You see them in a shopping center where the girl is in a store buying stuff, probably on his dime, and he walks outside the store with his hands behind his back. Like everything is great. Finally the girl can't take it, she tells him everything has been a "mistake", and they presumably get a divorce afterwards. He almost gets violent, and everything seems to fall apart for him. I think he says that they never had sex.