Frederick family appears on ABC’s ‘Wife Swap’ show

The often humorous reality TV show follows around two families of a different lifestyle and outlook as they trade wives⁄moms for two weeks.

The process to get on the show was relatively simple. Sheron went online, e-mailed what she thought her family was about, and sent a picture.  

After the online submission, show producers called the Sherons and talked to Donna and her husband, Dan, a cost analyst for an engineering firm. They then sent in a tape of their family.

“Of course, we tried to be as out there as possible,“ said Donna, mother of seven and owner of The Mudd Puddle, a coffee shop downtown. Still in the audition stage, ABC then sent a camera crew to tape their family.

When accepted, participants are not told what type of family the wife⁄mom will be swapped with, or where the other family is located.

The audition tape crew came Oct. 31, and two weeks later Donna was on a plane to Tulsa, Okla. “We didn't have a chance to think about it. No chance for it to set in, and all of a sudden you're going somewhere,“ she said.  

Sheron, a busy mom who encourages her children to pursue art and music, traded places with Teresa Ketchum, a more traditional wife and mother whose life revolves around her 15-year-old son's wrestling career and taking care of the home.

The traded moms got their own bedroom with a door and lock, and the two families were not allowed to communicate with each other during the two weeks.  

The cameras were in your face from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, said CJ Sharon, 17.

“When you see people waking you up on that show, they're really waking you up,“ Donna said. “The show doesn't want re-enactments.“

When you start, you're all about looking OK, Donna said. “I kept thinking 'Fix your hair! Fix your hair!' but after a while you get used to it and forget.“

“It's stressful because you're miked all the time,“ Dan noted. “You never have an off moment.“

ABC gave the family a preview of the episode before it aired. “I would do it again,“ Donna said.  “I think everyone should switch lives with somebody else. I had my own preconceived notions, and it was good to switch shoes with someone else's life. “

Dan thought it was too disruptive. “There are other adventures I would do, and a reality TV show isn't it,“ he said. “It was fun to do something to look back on with my family though.“

“I don't want to see a camera forever,“ laughed CJ.