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WIFE SWAP
Air Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Time Slot: 8:00 PM-9:00 PM EST on ABC
Episode Title: (#418) "Coste/Ives"
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]

A WIFE WHO DOTES ON HER TWO DAREDEVIL MOTORBIKE STUNT DRIVING SONS AND HER GAS GUZZLING HUSBAND SWAPS LIVES WITH AN ECO-FRIENDLY ARTIST WHO MAKES HER KIDS RIDE BIKES IN THE ARIZONA HEAT IN ORDER TO SAVE THE PLANET, ON ABC'S "WIFE SWAP"

This week on "Coste/Ives," a revved up wife and mother of a motorcycle stunt family swaps lives with an artistic, eco-friendly wife from Arizona who dreams of one day living in an environmentally friendly straw bale home, on "Wife Swap," WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Each week from across the country, two families with very different values are chosen to take part in a two-week long challenge. The wives from these two families exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover just what it's like to live another woman's life. It's a mind-blowing experiment that often ends up changing their lives forever.

Tonya Ives (39) from Georgia spends 10 months of the year on the road with her family's extreme motorcycle stunt show, dazzling crowds with their gas guzzling, testosterone-filled displays of motorbiking skill and bravery. Husband Shawn (41) and Tonya support the aspirations of her two sons, who perform gravity defying jumps and zoom around at high speed in their 16-foot Globe of steel. Shawn's son, Cody (15), entered the Guinness Book of World Records at age 10 for being the youngest rider in a 12-foot metal Globe. At age 9 brother Kyle (now 13) became the youngest Globe rider of all time. Life in this family is about engines, adrenaline and testosterone; everything else takes a back seat. They spend thousands a year on gas and the boys' careers, and own some 15 bikes. Tonya caters to her boys' every wish, cleaning their rooms, washing their clothes and making husband Shawn's plate. When the boys aren't on their bikes, they're go-carting, playing video games or just hanging in whatever hotel room they happen to be in that night.

Tonya travels to Arizona, where she swaps lives with Pam Coste (47), mother of an artistic eco-friendly family. The Coste children, Mina (10), Louis (9) and Ella (7), all play instruments using the Suzuki Technique, and are required to practice every single day, whether they want to or not. The kids also spend a lot of time at Dad David's (45) work, where he is director of music at a local church. The whole family is committed to saving the planet, and use bicycles in the searing Arizona heat rather than start up their hybrid car. Pam is so committed to her art that the family has given up one of the bedrooms in the house so she can have her own studio, leaving her three kids to share one small bedroom. Pam and David don't believe in spoiling their kids with toys and gadgets; instead they encourage them to make their own fun. Youngest daughter Ella spends hours in the garden, smashing rocks with a golf club to keep herself amused.

In the first week of the swap, Tonya trades in her motorcycle for a bicycle and abandons fast food for green living. She finds it shocking that Pam has a large room of her own to paint in while the three Coste kids all share a small bedroom. Meanwhile, Pam abandons her energy efficient ways for fast, gas guzzling bikes and testosterone. She clashes with Shawn about the boys' rides, and Shawn soon tires of Pam's conservation message. In the second week of the swap, when the wives change the rules and turn the tables, Pam confiscates all the motorbike keys and introduces music, art and green living to the Ives family. In the Coste family, Tonya faces the music and makes the family trade in their violins for thrills, and forces David to give eldest daughter Mina her own room. At the end of the swap, when the families are reunited, will Tonya take the driver's seat in her family and ask her husband and boys to help her around the house? Will Pamela give up her studio to give her kids more space?

"Wife Swap" is an RDF Media production. It was created by Stephen Lambert ("Faking It" and "Junkyard Wars") and is executive-produced by Stef Wagstaffe and Michael Davies ("Who Wants to be a Millionaire"). Mike Gamson, Mitchell Rosenbaum and Stephanie Schwam-Adams are the co-executive producers. "Wife Swap" is broadcast with Spanish subtitles via secondary closed captioning. A TV parental guideline will be assigned closer to airdate.

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