Ivana Play Matchmaker

Thu., Sep. 2, 2004 12:45 PM PDT by Sarah Hall

Ivana Trump is looking to give her ex a run for his money on the reality-television front.

The former Mrs. the Donald is set to serve as the host of an upcoming Fox special titled Ivana Young Man, in which she'll attempt to help a successful middle-aged socialite find love with a younger man.

The show plans to showcase the fact that "mature women are finding that true love can happen with younger men," Mike Darnell, Fox's Executive Vice President of Specials and Alternative Programming, said in a release.

"For years, rich older men have traded in their wives for pretty young women with bigger 'attributes,' " Parnell said.

The two-hour unscripted show aims to reverse that trend by pitting strapping twentysomething bachelors against one another to compete for the attention of a "successful but lonely fortysomething," per the network.

Trump, who fell prey to trophy-wife syndrome herself while married to the Donald (Marla Maples, anyone?), will handpick the eight handsome young things who will compete on the show. She'll then help the fortysomething object of their affection narrow her would-be boytoys down to the final selection.

The show is the brainchild of executive producer Scott Stone, who said he came up with the concept on the ski slopes.

"It was in the zeitgeist, with Demi and Ashton, and Madonna and Guy Ritchie," he told Variety. "And I have a lot of female friends always looking for me to help find men for them, but the men their own age are intimidated by their success."

Stone approached Trump with the idea and won her immediate approval.

"She said, 'Dahling, that's me. That's perfect,' " Stone recounted.

The Czech-born Trump is certainly no stranger to dating youthful members of the opposite sex. Her most recent romance involved a man more than 20 years her junior. Why the attraction?

"I cannot be with an older man; they're too set in their ways," Trump told Hello! magazine.

Luckily for her ex-husband, his latest flame doesn't share that opinion. In April, 33-year-old Melania Knauss accepted a "flawless" 12-carat diamond ring from her 57-year-old beau, agreeing to become his third wife.

Meanwhile, the second season of his hit reality series, The Apprentice, will debut Sept. 9 on NBC.

Ivana Young Man is slated to air next season on Fox.