When Mr. Right Turns Out All Wrong

Feb. 16, 2009— -- Sherri Daley was sitting in a private room at A.J. Maxwell's Steakhouse in New York City, surrounded by several friends. For the past month, Daley and her good friend Meryl Moss had been telling the rest of the group about Mark Noonan, a 30-year-old actor nearly half Daley's age that she'd fallen for. Her buddies were anxious to meet this new mystery man for the first time.

"I met him walking a dog," Daley admitted, sheepishly.

But the friends -- Sheila Callaghan, Linda Nelson and Ann Megyars -- weren't prepared for what Daley said next:

"I think I'm going to marry him."

This sudden confession was met with stunned silence, then the questioning began.

"How long have you known him?" Nelson asked.

"Since the 11th," was Daley's response.

"The 11th of what?" Nelson wanted to know.

Callaghan urged caution, telling her friend to "wait a year."

Surprisingly, Nelson countered with a show of support. "Go ahead, just jump," she said, but then advised her friend to take a long engagement.

Then she remembered that Daley had told her about Noonan's immigrant status, which prompted her to ask, "Is he looking for a green card?" Daley played up the drama, admonishing her friend, "Don't say that." But before things could become too heated, our Noonan arrived for this very special lunch date.

Unbeknownst to Daley's friends, her relationship with Noonan wasn't real. Noonan and Daley were both hired by ABC to take part in a social experiment to find out how people would react after discovering that their friend's boyfriend wasn't worthy of her time.

Things began smoothly enough as Noonan introduced himself to the ladies. "I'm Mark and my hands are a bit sweaty," he said, charming them with his smile.

Daley, giddy with excitement, immediately told Noonan that she had announced the happy news about their pending nuptials.

Then came Olivia Long, also an actor hired by ABC, who played the role of an A.J. Maxwell's waitress for our scenario, as well as the role of someone who already knew Noonan under mysterious circumstances. When Long entered the room to take orders from the group, she did a visible double-take upon seeing Noonan.