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.

Noonan's Mysterious Past

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.

Too Controlling for Comfort

"Hey, Mark."

"Hey, how are you?" Noonan uncomfortably replied.

"Great, how are you?"

Mark did his best to play it cool, but this interaction didn't escape the sharp eyes of Daley's friends. Megyars, in particular, noticed the awkward encounter and Noonan's attempts to extricate himself, clumsily, from the situation. While that moment passed without further comment, when Daley attempted to order two more glasses of wine, Noonan stopped her, asking, "How many have you had?" -- suggesting that she had already had too much to drink. This drew questioning looks from Daley's friends, who were clearly wary of any man who might be too controlling of their independent-minded friend.

Once the orders were placed, Daley's phone began to ring. She told everyone that her son, Smith, was calling from Dubai and that she intended to tell him the good news as well. As she left the room to take the call, which was actually coming from ABC producers sitting two rooms down, Noonan braced himself for the questions to come.

Something Is Amiss

"OK, you're going to grill me," Noonan said. "I've been waiting for this. I'm prepared."

Megyars wasted no time and immediately asked, in hushed tones, "What's the deal with the waitress?"

Noonan remained evasive, saying, "I don't know. She's a friend of a friend but I think she's just surprised to see me here."

Daley's friends appeared skeptical, and Megyars responded by saying, "You really don't know her? She sure looked like she knew you."

Nelson noted that Long had called Noonan by his first name. It was clear that these ladies suspected something was amiss. But they weren't prepared for the revelation to come.

"So, she explained it all to you?" Noonan began, referring to his and Daley's engagement. "Because it turns out we have to do it next week. My visa runs out really soon so the papers have to be processed real soon. I'm looking at next Friday. Will you girls be free next Friday?"

Daley's friends were stunned at this announcement, which seemed to confirm the worst of Nelson's fears.

Callaghan was upfront, asking, "Would you be getting married this soon if it wasn't for the visa?"

Noonan replied, matter-of-factly, "Well, we were going to do it in the New Year and test the waters, but it looks like we won't have the opportunity. If I don't get it, I'll have to go home, and I know she's not going to let that happen."

Noonan also made it clear that Daley did not know about this expedited time table, and asked the ladies to keep the information to themselves. They agreed, but it was obvious that these women were now wary of the scheming Irishman and his intentions.

'I Wanted to Know the Truth'

Once Daley came back, Noonan excused himself from the lunch, claiming a prior engagement. As he left the restaurant, Megyars also unexpectedly had to leave, as she, too, was running late for an appointment. But, as we found out, her actual intentions were to confront Mark about what she had just heard.

"I'm not one to resort to physical violence," Megyars told us later, "but I wanted to know the truth."

The remaining members of the lunch party saw that the situation was much more serious than they had anticipated, and Nelson especially was struggling with how to deal with the conflict. By this point, she was convinced that she had learned something about Noonan that Daley didn't know, and her inner struggle was getting the best of her. "OK, I'm going to do something I shouldn't do," Nelson said. "I'm going to put my nose in where it doesn't belong."

Daley encouraged her to be direct, saying, "That's why I asked you to be here."

With Daley's prodding, Nelson could no longer hold back, and spilled the beans. "He wants to get married on Friday," Nelson said. "He says he has to get married in 10 days or he loses his green card."

A look of shock crossed Daley's face, as she pretended to process the news: "He didn't tell me that."

Nelson's emotions began to overcome her, as she apologized for becoming involved. "I'm sorry I'm the one telling you, because he said he was going to tell you later."

As the ladies sat there and digested this new revelation, Nelson began to break down, saying, "I just want you to be happy. I just want this to be perfect."

'You Just Don't Want to Rush Into Marriage'

Before the situation could get out of control, "What Would You Do?" anchor John Quinones entered the room and revealed the truth behind Daley's and Noonan's ill-fated romance. Upon realizing that Daley, Noonan and Moss had duped them, Nelson and Callaghan laughed in relief.

"Oh, my God, you are hysterical," Nelson cried, as she bemoaned her betrayal of Noonan's confidence on national television. Despite her regret at spilling Noonan's secret, her interest in Daley's well-being overrode any allegiance to Noonan.

Nelson believed that Daley needed to know the truth before entering what could have been a loveless marriage, saying, "You present the facts to her, even if it means betraying a confidence."

Even though Callaghan hadn't spoken up as Nelson had, she told Quinones that she was planning to talk to Daley in private, once they left the restaurant.

"You just don't want to rush into marriage, even if it is for a green card," Nelson said.

In the end, the scenario reminded the friends just how much they cared about each other. Daley teared up at Nelson's display of emotion: Not only did her friends care about her, but they would always look out for her interests.

"They love me and they're going to take care of me," Daley said. "They wouldn't let me make mistakes."

It was a lesson that Daley took to heart, because she knew that she would do the same for them. Daley left us with one final lesson for her friends. "Thank you, and don't be mad at me."