Earlier today, New York City opthalmologist Dr. Emil Chynn posted a 2,400-word essay about what he did on Tuesday to the Park Avenue Safe Sight news page, and I can barely stand to read what my friends have to say in 140 characters, let alone that many words. But Dr. Chynn’s Tuesday was probably just a tad bit different from yours or mine, as he went on CNN’s New Day morning show to discuss why he’s suddenly being painted as sort of a desperate douchebag by some media outlets.
For instance, the New York Post wrote about Dr. Chynn over the weekend, labeling him as “pompous” because he’s offering discounted and possibly even free cosmetic procedures to anyone who can hook him up with a woman who meets his “incredibly exacting standards.” So what exactly do those standards entail?
… “very skinny” dress size 0-2, white, aged 27-35, graduate of an Ivy League school, “Type B” personality (not “Type A” like him), and a rating of 8 or 9 on a 1-to-10 attractiveness scale.
Breaking: Single wealthy guy has a type, story at 11.
What about those rewards? What’s in it for me if I hook him up with this double-jointed babe I know?
For a first date, he’ll shell out a $100 reward. He’ll offer free eyelash-enhancer Latisse or pay $200 for the second date; he’ll offer free Botox or pay $300 for a third date; he’ll offer free Juvederm injections or $400 for a fourth date; and free Lasek surgery on one eye worth $2,000 or $500 cash for a fifth date.
That’s not a bad deal, ladies, even if you just get him to take your annoying-but-hot friend on one date.
But still, pompous? I like to think that I can slap a label on a douchebag from a mile away, and this just seems like a 47-year old guy who is a busy professional and is tired of getting dicked around on the singles circuit. This isn’t the first offer that he’s made either. Despite spending tens of thousands of dollars on high end matchmaking services – a little douchey, but he’s still a busy dude in a huge city – Dr. Chynn offered up $10,000 to a charity of any person’s choice last year if they could set him up with someone who meets his standards.
He’s also not denying that he’s picky, but as he wrote on his blog today, all of the other media outlets are ignoring the more important qualities that he’s looking for.
Anyway, I wasn’t thrilled with how I came across on interview, because I let them misquote the NY Post article (which they are correcting), even though they promised me that they would talk about the actual accurate email I sent which included the “requirements” (totally ignored by the media, of course) like: “sweet, kind, altruistic, selfless, not entitled, fashionable, polished, confident but not vain, hard-working, real career, sense of humor, follows the Golden Rule, nice and kind to others, ideally good nuclear family so can emulate good patterns of behaviour”.
Let’s not forget they labeled him “pompous” right out of the gates, kind of damning the dude from the get go. It also didn’t help that he felt like New Day co-host Kate Bolduan ambushed him seconds before they went on air.
Chris Cuomo, who seems like a solid guy, tried to put me at ease a bit, saying he’s a triathlete and asking me about my recent trip following the Tour de France last month. I mentioned how we raised over $1,000 to start no-kill dog shelter in NYC. He said kindly “don’t worry, we will take it easy on you.” To my surprise, Kate Bolduan cut him off in a snippy way, saying : “Don’t say that.” It’s amazing how on the set, 10 seconds before you’re about to go live on national (and even international) TV, that the atmosphere can turn on a dime from warm-and-friendly to we-are-going-to-try-to-make-you-look-like-an-idiot. In retrospect, I wish that Chris had been given the “lead” to interview me, because it’s natural for “dudes” to sympathise with other “dudes”…but that wasn’t to be.
Kate opened by reading from a piece of paper that had the NY Post article excerpted, so I knew right then that it would be rough going. It’s hard to steer three professional anchors towards the truth when they’re starting from a misleading place–impossible in 5 minutes on live TV.
In fairness, Dr. Chynn attributed Bolduan’s “cold” demeanor to the show’s director whom he wrote tricked him into winking at the camera for a promo, which was later made to look like he was winking at Bolduan.
Either way, it seems he’s learned an important lesson about the media and unique stories like this, but hopefully it doesn’t stop Dr. Chynn from finding his dream girl… if she exists.
(Banner via Park Avenue’s Facebook)