Woman who won reality show ‘I Wanna Marry Harry’ brands Meghan Markle a ‘nobody actress’ and says it’s ‘IRONIC’ Prince ended up with her – because trolls always told her he would ‘NEVER’ date a ‘B-list star’

• The Fox reality show premiered in 2014, but was canceled after four episodes
• It followed 12 contestants who thought they were dating Prince Harry
• After Kimberly Birch one, she was told she had no chance with the royal 

The winner of the reality show I Wanna Marry Harry said she thinks it’s ‘ironic’ that Prince Harry chose Meghan Markle to be his wife – almost a decade after the show’s critics told her she had no chance with him because he’d never date a ‘nobody actress.’

I Wanna Marry Harry was a Fox reality show that aired for one season in May 2014, and it followed 12 American women who believed they were competing for a chance for date Prince Harry. Instead, however, it was a lookalike named Matthew Hicks.

After winning the series, Kimberly Birch, an aspiring actress living in New York City, faced a slew of nasty comments from viewers who told her the royal would never actually be interested in her since she wasn’t British or famous enough.

Now, nine years after appearing in the I Wanna Marry Harry, she has reflected on her win in a new interview with Insider, she said she finally feels ‘vindicated’ knowing he went on to wed an American ‘B-list’ actress like Meghan.

The winner of I Wanna Marry Harry said she thinks it’s ‘ironic’ that Prince Harry chose Meghan Markle to be his wife – after the show’s critics told her he’d never date a ‘nobody actress’

I Wanna Marry Harry was a Fox reality show that aired for one season in May 2014. It followed 12 American women who believed they were competing for a chance for date Prince Harry

Fooled: Instead, however, it was a lookalike named Matthew Hicks. Prince Harry is seen (left) while Matthew is seen (right)

After winning the series, Kimberly Birch, an aspiring actress living in New York City, faced a slew of nasty comments from viewers who told her she had no chance with the royal

‘At the time, it was just something that seemed so far-fetched for people,’ she explained.

Now, nine years after appearing in the I Wanna Marry Harry, she has reflected on her win in a new interview with Insider , she said she finally feels ‘vindicated’ knowing he went on to wed an American ‘B-list’ actress like Meghan

‘There were a lot of comments like, “Did you really think that Prince Harry would ever actually date some nobody actress in America?”

‘Then I remember hearing about the backlash that Meghan Markle got. She was just this B-list actress. 

‘She was a nobody, and now she’s married to Prince Harry. For me, it’s just so ironic. It was life imitating art.’

While contestants on the show weren’t told that the suitor they were fighting for was Prince Harry at first, they were all made to believe it was him thanks to Matthew’s strikingly similar looks to the Duke of Sussex.

They were also all housed in the luxurious Englefield House in England – which resembles a castle – and were constantly surrounded by security and servants who only referred to Matthew as ‘Sir.’

The show even went as far as staging paparazzi following them and security threats to make the women believe they were dating Prince Harry. 

Viewers watched on as the women went on a series of lavish dates with the man whom they believed to be the Prince, but the show was ultimately pulled from the air after only four episodes due to low ratings. The rest premiered on Fox’s website.

While contestants weren’t told that the suitor they were fighting for was Prince Harry at first, they were made to believe it was him thanks to Matthew’s similar looks to the Duke

They were also all housed in the luxurious Englefield House in England – which resembles a castle – and were surrounded by security and servants who only referred to Matthew as ‘Sir’ 

The show even went as far as staging paparazzi following them and security threats to make the women believe they were dating Prince Harry 

During her chat with Insider, Kimberly said that while she went back on forth on whether she believed Matthew was Prince Harry or not during her time on the show, she insisted that she knew it wasn’t really him by the end.

When asked if she still wanted to marry Harry, Kimberly admitted that after seeing everything Meghan went through, she didn’t think she’d be able to handle it – especially after seeing the backlash she got just from being on the show.

‘Absolutely not. Hell no,’ she said. ‘I give Meghan Markle so much credit. I, personally, wouldn’t be able to handle being under a microscope like that. 

‘When I was younger, being famous was something that seemed so enticing, and I’ve grown to feel the complete opposite of that. I don’t want all that pressure.’

She also praised the father-of-two for stepping away from the ‘outdated’ royal family and for ‘mirroring’ his mother, Princess Diana, who passed away in 1997, when Harry was 12, after she got into a car accident.

‘[Diana] tried to break away from stereotypes and she was a free spirit, and it’s kind of like watching her come back to life,’ Kimberly said. ‘He’s really taking a leap and finding happiness, so I think it’s beautiful.’

After the show first premiered in 2014, Kimberly sat down with Fusion TV to discuss some of the ways the crew ‘messed with’ the contestants – by doing things like purposely letting them overhear fake conversations and allegedly hiring people to pose as therapists – and slammed them for ‘brainwashing’ them into thinking it was the real Prince Harry.

Viewers watched on as the women went on a series of lavish dates with the man whom they believed to be the Prince, but it was pulled from the air after only four episodes

Kimberly told Insider that while she went back on forth on whether she believed Matthew was Prince Harry or not, she insisted that she knew it wasn’t really him by the end

After the show first premiered in 2014, Kimberly (left) sat down with Fusion TV to discuss some of the ways the crew ‘messed with’ the contestants and slammed them for ‘brainwashing’ them

She recalled: ‘People from production would stand outside your room. When you’d think that they didn’t know you were up, they’d whisper, “You have to get him back to Buckingham Palace. The Royal Family’s very upset. They’re not happy about the show. It’s this new thing they’ve never done before, and they’re trying to be up and up with social media, and the way that the world is.” They really messed with us.

She said they would do things like purposely let them overhear fake conversations and allegedly hired people to pose as therapists

‘They actually had a therapist come on set at one point and talk to a few of us who were saying it wasn’t him.

‘We found out later that it wasn’t a real, licensed therapist. It was just someone from the production team.

‘You’re so brainwashed into it that you go with everything in order to keep yourself feeling sane.’

She said the therapist would tell her things like, ‘You have to learn how to trust your mind. I understand that you’re in a different country, and you don’t know what’s going on, but you have to trust the people here. It’s not good for you to keep questioning.’ 

Harry married Meghan in 2018, and they announced in 2020 that they were cutting ties with the monarchy to move to America full time.

They are now living in a $14 million mansion in Montecito, California, with their two kids, Archie, three, and Lilibet, one.

Matthew said he only agreed to do the show if he didn’t have to flat-out lie to the women – and that he was told to act like himself, not a royal

Kimberly said the moment she realized for sure that she was being lied to was when she saw a photo of the real Prince Harry while out on a date with the fake

Kimberly spoke about her time in the ill-fated series again to Refinery29 in 2020, alongside her fellow contestants Meghan Jones and Rose Bricklin (formerly Copeland).

The women said they were told they were joining a show called Dream Date and knew little else when they were whisked off to England.

When they arrived at Englefield House, they said it was filled with tabloids featuring headlines about Prince Harry being ready to find his princess, which in hindsight, Kimberly said ‘all felt very fake.’ 

When it was finally time for the contestants to meet their mystery suitor, Matthew exited a helicopter wearing khakis and a blue button-down that matched one of the real Prince Harry’s outfits. 

Matthew said he only agreed to do the show if he didn’t have to flat-out lie to the women – he was told to act like himself, not a royal, but that didn’t stop others from nudging the women’s speculation along. 

Producers arranged for fake paparazzi to follow him and for fans to come up to him asking for photos. 

Paul Leonard, who played a butler on the show, named Kingsley, finally told the women in episode five that they were indeed dating ‘Prince Harry.’ 

‘[The] logical part of my brain was telling me this does not look like Prince Harry,’ Kimberly told Refinery29 of the moment they told her his identity. 

In a 2020 interview, Kimberly and her fellow cast mates said they had no animosity toward the show or its producers, despite being dubbed as ‘America’s most gullible women’ by Time after

Kimberly went on to get her master’s degree in drama therapy – and she actually did her thesis on ‘brainwashing’ on the show 

‘This is an absolute ridiculous premise. This would never happen in real life. But the other part of your brain is being completely brainwashed. 

‘You’re secluded from your friends and family, you have no access to any sort of media outlet, and you are in this castle [being told that] if you’re questioning if this is Prince Harry or not, you’re crazy.’ 

But she added that the moment she realized for sure that she was being lied to was when she saw a photo of the real Prince Harry while out on a date with the fake and realized it didn’t look anything like the man she was dating. 

After winning, she split the prize – about $300,000 – with Matthew, and after a few show-related meetups, they went their separate ways.

At the time, Kimberly and her fellow cast mates had no animosity toward the show or its producers, despite being dubbed as ‘America’s most gullible women’ by Time after. 

‘They’re just doing their job and they did a really good job,’ she said. ‘Like, you made me feel really screwed up in the head.’

Kimberly went on to get her master’s degree in drama therapy – and she actually did her thesis on ‘brainwashing’ on the show. 

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