Family gets a dose of reality

From the Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 edition of the Northwest Herald:

Family gets a dose of reality
By DIANA SROKA - dsroka@nwherald.com

LAKEMOOR – Ask Pete Berwick whether he will dress up as a nerd or Elvis for a singing telegram, and his response is when and where.

Ask him to surrender his guitar and spend time in the kitchen, and the answer is final: No way.

But that’s exactly what was expected of him when he and his wife agreed to be filmed for an episode of the reality-TV show “Wife Swap.”

“[The other wife] wanted to tame me, keep me in the kitchen,” Berwick said. “Everything was cooked, fried or shake-and-baked.”

Berwick and his wife, Denise, of Lakemoor, will be featured on tonight’s episode, which will be at 7 p.m. on ABC.

In the episode, Denise Berwick will trade places with Val, a mother of nine from an Atlanta suburb, for two weeks.

For one week, the wives must adapt to each others’ households and follow “house rules” established by the other wife while cameras document how successful they are.

During the second week of the swap, the wives get to write their own rules for the house in hopes of teaching their swap families different lifestyles.

The Berwicks have one daughter, Faith, who is 10. Pete Berwick is a professional entertainer who supports his family through music, comedy shows, and performing singing telegrams. Denise Berwick is supportive of her husband’s career. She works part time at a local health club and volunteers at church.

Val, the mother of the swap family, home-schools her children and runs a strict household. She wasn’t too keen on Pete’s lifestyle.

“She just couldn’t grasp how I came and went with the wind. In her eyes, it was selfish,” Pete Berwick said. “Really, it was paying the bills.”

Denise Berwick said that when she was at the swap family’s home, she tried to encourage them to explore their talents and dreams more.

“They’re very rigid with the way they’re disciplined and brought up,” she said. “When it came time to do something different, it was so foreign to them.”

The Berwicks were contacted by show representatives by e-mail in April. Camera crews began filming in late August for two weeks.

They enjoyed their brush with reality-TV, but said the most important thing that they took from the show was how much they valued their own lifestyles.

“You really do wind up missing your family and appreciating them more,” Denise Berwick said. “You definitely really appreciate your family who understand and support you.”