The God Warrior
About
The God Warrior is a nickname given to Marguerite Perrin, who appeared twice as a cast member on the popular reality TV program, Trading Spouses. In the show, Marguerite is portrayed as a dogmatic Christian struggling to get along with her exchange family members, who describe themselves as "New Age Humanists." Needless to say, highly entertaining drama and conflict ensued between the polar opposites and Mrs. Perrin became the subject of online exploits, most notably on YouTube and YTMND.
Origin
Trading Spouses follows the lives of two households, where each family trades and hosts a "guest spouse" and live together for a week. The following episodes were originally aired on November 2nd & 9th in 2005:
During her stay with the exchange family, Mrs. Perrin makes several attempts to convert the hosts to Christianity. To her own dismay, this religious crusade leads to a conflict with her "temporary" spouse Chris and his three children. Upon returning home, she unleashes a fit of rage before her family, complaining that they had not been praying for her while she was sleeping in the house of the "dark side." She also refers to herself as a "God Warrior," which became embraced by online viewers.
Spread
For hardcore reality TV fans and online pranksters who watched the episode, Perrin's appearance on the show became subject for multiple remixes. Remix videos of the episode grew popular on YouTube and YTMND in the mid-late 2000s, featuring highlights and quotable scenes like "It was so dork-sided! BAWWWWWW!" and "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE. IF YOU BELIEVE IN GOD YOU CAN STAY."[1]
In addition, a homemade, talking bobblehead doll of Marguerite Perrin was made by a fan and sold on eBay for $870. Thinking the doll was funny, Marguerite autographed a picture of herself holding a picture of the bobblehead doll. Jay Leno purchased the doll and surprised her with the gift during her guest appearance on The Tonight Show in November 2005.[2]
In a prank phone call made to Marguerite's house, she told the prankster that the show was heavily edited and not everything was as it appeared on television. She continued to defend both families involved, explaining that even her host family was portrayed in a very warped and "disrespectful" way, and that it wasn't true. She stated that she actually liked her host family and that they got along fairly well.
Reconciliation with the LGBT Community
In 2019 Perrin was unexpectedly spotted participating in a gay pride march in New York City. She was later the subject of "an interview with Esquire[3] where she explained that after the death of her daughter in a 2007 car accident, members of the gay community compassionately reached out to her, leading to a change in attitude. As she says in the interview:
[The gay community] weren't scared to talk about me losing Ashley and saying I'm sorry to hear about that . . . I was pretending like I was happy and I was okay. They would not leave me alone. You couldn't help but talk to them and be okay with them. The people that write those little memes and do those little things, I love that. That's what got me out of bed after Ashley's death.
Perrin currently runs a dance studio in Louisiana.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] KDK Prank Calls – God Warrior Soundboard
[2] Medicine Films – Jay Leno Appearance
[3] Esquire – Where Is God Warrior Now?