A cop-turned-pastor has eight minutes to convince escorts to leave their business in a controversial new reality TV show for the A&E broadcasting network.
Kevin Brown, senior pastor of Side-By-Side Church in Orange County, California, retired as a police officer with more than 30 years of law enforcement experience.
In that time he had seen numerous women working in prostitution and in need of help. On becoming a pastor, he set up a ministry to intervene and help them leave prostitution.
In the show, called 'Eight Minutes', Brown surprises escorts, meeting them in hotel rooms and then has eight-minutes to make his case.
"This is one of those great shows that was actually happening whether anybody was shooting it or not," executive producer Tom Forman (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition) said in an interview for Entertainment Weekly.
Forman said he read about Brown's work in an article in the Los Angeles Times and decided he had to film it. "It's the most incredible thing I've ever heard," he said.
The time limit is largely a security measure, both for the safety of the women and Brown and the members of his church who help with the visits.
Brown tries to approach women who have been forced into the trade, or have been mistreated.
According to the producer, who also works on the show Sex Box for WeTV, Brown manages to persuade about half of the women to leave prostitution. Forman said that none of the women were angry or resentful about what the pastor was trying to do.
The women who decide to leave are then followed in the documentary-style show, as they are helped to establish a new life.
"It grabs you and does not let go for an hour. But it does not play as sensational," said Forman. "I love the intersection of drama and transformation and faith—without making an overtly faith-based show."
Eight episodes of 'Eight Minutes' have reportedly been ordered by A&E and are currently in production.
