I was on the elliptical machine at the gym and trapped into watching the reality show on the TV set in front of me. I had never seen an episode of “Meet the Newlyweds”, but it looked like a competition for newlyweds to win a pot of money by competing in various challenges.

Usually, reality television has little to no basis in actual reality (”The Bachelor,” “Survivor,” et. al). But, there was a scene in this show that was dead-on accurate. In the final challenge, the three remaining couples race against one another by taking a baby doll through an obstacle course, pitted with parenting challenges, such as changing a diaper, making a bottle of formula, etc. This part seemed hokey. I mean, really, a baby doll?

But then, near the end, they had to collapse a stroller, put it in a minivan and drive off to the final location. All of the couples had trouble here, and one actually started yelling, “I don’t know how to collapse it!” Two of them ended up throwing the entire stroller in the backseat or trunk. That was pretty funny — especially for parents who have tried to collapse a tricky stroller behind a line of people at the airport or in a busy shopping mall lot, with lines of cars waiting behind you. The darn things always jam at that moment.

But the funniest scene was at their final location, where they raced to assemble a Pack and Play playpen. I remember that task took much longer than we expected. It looks like such a simple structure, but, trust me,  some sick engineer designed that crazy contraption.  Much to my delight, all of the couples had the same difficulty. The sides wouldn’t snap. But, husbands and wives started snapping at each other, trying to decode the instructions. I nearly fell off the elliptical machine, I was laughing so hard.

Why do they make baby equipment so darn difficult? Don’t they realize that new, sleep-deprived parents have enough stress to deal with?

Eventually, one couple assembled the playpen and secured a spot in the finals. And, if those newlyweds learn nothing at all from this experience — they will have gotten a solid lesson in Baby Mechanics 101.