‘Temptation Island’: Is Host Mark L. Walberg a Certified Therapist?
Anyone who has watched any form of a game show or reality TV over the last twenty years likely knows who Mark L. Walberg is. No, he’s not the rapper-turned-actor that he famously shares a name with, but he’s carved his niche in a similarly long career as a television host. This means putting on many hats. However, Wallberg’s penchant for getting to the bottom of things has many wondering if he’s a therapist who happens to host a popular TV show.
Mark L. Walberg hosts ‘Temptation Island’
Temptation island is not your average dating show. While it has hints of The Bachelor and similar projects, it’s not all about falling in love for the perceived long term. As such, his role as host mixes the mediating and interviewing one might expect from a dating show while also coming with the added baggage of regulating the interpersonal conflicts, casual relationships, and drama that ensues. Despite the melodramatic reality television genre he hosts, however, Walberg always tries to remain true to himself.
He’s hosted several shows ranging from Temptation Island to the more refined Antiques Roadshow and the intense trivia game Russian Roulette. Throughout it all, however, he adapts while making sure his personality and convictions remain. He spoke to TV Insider about this role not only on Temptation island but other gigs he’s held throughout the years.
“The only way I know how to host anything is to bring my authentic self. When I’m sitting across this bonfire with these young people grappling with all these questions and problems, I can’t help but coach them through things based on what I know from my own life … I tell them the advice I give is exactly what they paid for it. I’m a game show host. I’m not a therapist. But I am a husband, a father, a son and all these things. The only thing I can bring to this is I’ve failed more than they’ve tried, so maybe I can help.”
This may explain why Walberg has held a steady slate of hosting gigs for more than two decades. While he claims he’s not a therapist, he draws from real experiences to make up for it.
Is the ‘Temptation Island’ host a certified therapist?
Walberg always gets people to open up in ways that put other hosts inside the genre to shame. This has many fans wondering whether he has training as a therapist or something similar. That’s not the case. While Walberg has compared his hosting gig to therapy, he’s never been a certified therapist.
On top of being there for the contestants on an emotional level, however, Walberg also serves as a mediator, or as he put it in an interview with Vulture, a lawyer. “A lawyer never asks a question he doesn’t know the answer to. In that kind of reality show, you’re smart to know the storylines,” he told the publication.
However, when it comes to relationships, Walberg doesn’t need a BAR exam nor any therapeutic certification. Instead, he draws from his 30-year marriage to his wife and everything they have gone through in the process. After all, she’s been there the entire way, from early success as a host to the personal drama of raising two adult children.
Walberg has been married to his wife for 33 years
According to a profile at USA Network, Walberg has been married to his wife, actor Robbi Morgan Walberg, for over thirty years. The couple has two kids — Morgan, a Naval Aviator, and Goldie, a professional ballet dancer. According to Walberg, his wife helps him understand the relationship aspect of his job, and his children help him relate to the younger audience.
It must work, Temptation Island is one of the USA Network’s most popular shows, and Walberg’s ability to play host, lawyer, therapist, and friend is a significant reason why. He might not have any certificates or degrees that make him a standard counselor. Still, in every role he takes, he can draw from a life full of experiences to make the reality show authentic and entertaining.
