Union Beach Couple Featured on Controversial Reality Show ‘The Briefcase’

A controversial new show has everyone talking, and an upcoming episode is set to feature a local couple.

On CBS's The Briefcase, two lower-middle class, debt-ridden families are each given a briefcase containing $101,000.

They are then told they can keep it all, keep half of it, or give it all away to another family in as much (or more) need as them. Hilarity Awkwardness ensues.

The thing is, neither family knows that the other is making the same decision. They only find out after they've both made their choice and are sitting across from each other. (Told you. AWKWARD.)

An upcoming episode will feature Mike Aponte and Andrea Kassimatis, a Union Beach couple who lost their home during Hurricane Sandy, got screwed over by their insurance company, and are now living in a trailer with their three kids.

The entertainment value supposedly comes from watching these poor families make the gut-wrenching decision to pull their own families out of debt, or help someone else...

On Wednesday's premiere, (spoiler alert) it wound up as a win-win, as both families decided to give the entirety of their briefcases to the other family, but I imagine that won't always be the case.

Aside from the whole 'exploiting the poor' thing, this just seems mean. Dangle a carrot in front of these people, and then possibly yank it away and leave them with nothing?

If they decide to help their own struggling families, they are greedy and selfish...if they decide to help the other family, they do a good deed, but keep their own families in a difficult position.

It just seems like a very uncomfortable thing to watch for enjoyment.

Reviews thus far seem to be mixed at best, so we may never even get to see what happens with the local family.