‘Multimillionaire’ bride: I made a big mistake

Lynn Elber

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2000 | 11:10 a.m.

LOS ANGELES - The woman who married a total stranger on national television said today she participated in "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire" on a lark and will seek an annulment.

"I don't think I was thinking clearly," nurse Darva Conger told "Good Morning America" today. "I committed an error in judgment."

She said she didn't want to disparage her husband, Rick Rockwell, but after spending some time with him, she concluded, "I was very uncomfortable around him. He's just not a person that I would ordinarily have a friendly relationship with."

She said they spent their "honeymoon" in separate rooms and she told him "I don't have those feelings for you, I can't let you believe that I do."

"I never, ever considered having sexual relations with him," she said. "I would never consider having sexual relations with anyone I just met."

She said the agreement to participate in the show included an annulment clause, and she would seek the annulment. "I never had any claim to his money. It's his money," she said.

"This is me. I am an Air Force veteran, I am a college graduate. ... I want my life back," said Conger, 34, who served in the Persian Gulf War.

Rockwell has acknowledged that an annulment was likely.

The Feb. 15 Fox television special received smash ratings and touched off debate about the limits of "reality" television. Rockwell, described as a millionaire from real estate investments, picked Conger from among 50 contestants.

"I was just going to be on TV and wave to my family and friends," she said today.

"We thought it was just a lark."

She said she was "was just in complete shock" when she was chosen, adding: "I wish I had the moral fortitude at that point to walk away."

"When I was up there saying my vows to him, I didn't know where to go. I didn't know how to escape."

She called the honeymoon "a chaperoned vacation with separate cabins. I never spent one moment alone with him." However, she said she "felt I should at least get to know him as a person and give him a chance to be a friend."

Fox canceled a planned rerun of the show after an online news service, The Smoking Gun, revealed Saturday that a California judge issued a restraining order against Rockwell in 1991 sought by his ex-fiancee, Debbie Goyne. She said Rockwell had hit her and threatened to kill her.

Rockwell told "Dateline NBC" that he never hit Goyne, but he admitted letting the air out of the tires on her car. He said he has a temper but "it doesn't manifest itself too often." Conger said Rockwell was not abusive toward her but "then again, I didn't give him an opportunity to be."

He said of the show that he "really had a romantic ideal" in his mind.

Despite the flap, three new series plan to take the gamble of putting real people in real-life dramas for fun and profit.

"Making the Band," ABC's behind-the-scenes look at a pop band, debuts March 24. This summer, CBS will air "Survivor," which will strand contestants on an island to compete for $1 million, and "Big Brother," which will stick players in a house filled with cameras.

Still, other networks said they were taking heed of Fox's misadventure.

"This certainly heightens awareness of the need to be careful," said CBS spokesman Chris Ender. "We're confident that our casting and screening process will ensure that everyone involved is appropriate and ready for the experience."

Fox said the show's producers, Next Entertainment, had agreed to conduct a full background investigation on Rockwell and his potential brides. Fox said it is looking into how extensive those checks were.

Next Entertainment said in a statement that "a good-faith background check performed prior to the show by a reputable, independent investigator did not reveal any information that Mr. Rockwell was anything other than a decent, successful man."

The marriage's fate aside, a Fox spokesman said Conger received prizes worth a total of $100,000: the honeymoon, the $35,000 engagement ring and an Isuzu Trooper.