Maryln Schwartz: Fairy tales often don't come true

His assets weren't what they were supposed to be. He also didn't reveal everything about his past.

People watched that show like a bad accident. It was awful, but they couldn't stop watching.

Now they are shocked that the Fox TV network could be taken in by such a sleazy man. Such things could only happen on TV.

Well, think again. It happens all the time in real life.

People have always been desperate to find love and financial security, and other people have always been around to take advantage of that.

I found such a case about 15 years ago. It started with one of those looking-for-love ads that read, "Successful doctor tired of playing games. I want to find a real down-to-earth woman, not someone who is taken in by the fact that I drive an expensive car and live in Highland Park. I want a challenging woman to share my life."

He asked that applicants write him a letter and send a picture.

A woman who had answered called me afterward, and she was furious. She applied, and he called her. He told her he thought the best way to meet was in the coffee shop at Baylor Hospital. He was a busy surgeon, and it would be most convenient to have the first meeting there.

He gave her his name and she looked him up in the phone book. He was listed with an office and a home in Highland Park. She drove by the house. It was gorgeous. She thought this was the chance of a lifetime.

They met, talked and liked each other. He looked so cute in his white doctor's jacket. He had his name embroidered on the pocket. But he had one stipulation. He was tired of women taking advantage of him. She would have to plan and pay for the first date. It could be anything, it didn't have to be expensive. But he wanted to see the kind of person she was.

The woman told me she hired a limousine and took him to The Mansion on Turtle Creek for dinner. She wanted to impress him. She was so excited. He was very attractive and very successful, the kind of man that's hard to find. The fact that he chose her letter gave her much confidence.

She picked him up at the hospital because he was working late. They had a lovely dinner, drinks and went dancing in the bar. And yes, at the end of the evening he stopped at her house for a nightcap and stayed for the night.

He told her he was very busy but would call her for the weekend. She didn't hear from him. She waited two days, and was very upset. She called his office. The nurse said she'd pass on the message. He never called back. She called again and demanded to speak to him.

He came to the phone, and she discovered this was not the man she had gone out with. This doctor was single, but he had not taken out an ad, and he did not know what she was talking about.

She had been duped.

I met her at her home to hear her story. She cried and cried when she was talking to me. She thought she had checked him out.

But, of course, she had not. She was taken by the words "successful doctor," "expensive car" and "Highland Park." It never occurred to her that someone with those credentials would not have to advertise to find a date. Women would be coming out of the woodwork to meet him.

She was lucky. This only cost her a lot of money and some of her ego. He did not try to harm or bother her again.

But men and women always want to believe that there really are fairy tales, and they especially believe that if they are lonely.

I hear variation after variation of this kind of thing happening. Some people get taken again and again. Because, who knows, maybe next time it will be different.