Winner unlucky at ‘Love’?

The odds of walking away from the NBC dating show “For Love or Money” with $1 million apparently are about the same as winning a state lottery -- in more ways than one.

Eagle-eyed readers of closing-credit fine print Monday, when the series concluded, noticed that program rules state the cash prize “is payable in a financial annuity based over 40 years, or the contestant may choose to receive the present cash value of the foregoing annuity.”

In other words, the winning contestant, Erin Brodie, would have been paid $25,000 a year through 2042 or received a considerably smaller sum, the same sort of payout offered California lottery winners, although the state’s payment is spread over just 20 years.

Brodie, 31, instead chose to star in a sequel that begins airing next week, “For Love or Money 2,” offering her the chance to double her money and claim $2 million -- although, as has been established, it actually would be markedly less than that, unless she wants to wait until she is a septuagenarian to receive it, if she wins.

Representatives at other networks say such a payment system is at best unusual. The couple who emerged at the end of Fox’s “Joe Millionaire,” for example, received a $1-million lump-sum payment. CBS shows such as “Survivor” and “Big Brother” also pay their winners just once.

The protracted payout spurred chatter on Internet sites, with one viewer calling it “pathetic.” A few suggested that the approach was somewhat misleading, given the way the $1-million figure was tossed around during the show.

An NBC spokeswoman said the credits accurately describe how the prize is paid and that participants were informed. “Our understanding is that other prizes, including some state lotteries, are paid out in similar fashion,” the network said. The program’s producer, Bruce Nash, declined to comment.

Based on Nielsen Media Research estimates, nearly 13 million people viewed the “For Love or Money” finale, which easily won its time slot. The premise involved bachelor Rob Campos whittling down a field of 15 women, with the twist being that the winner, Brodie, then got to choose either Campos or $1 million. Brodie -- the daughter of former San Francisco 49er quarterback John Brodie -- selected the money, until the network offered her the double-or-nothing sequel. Despite respectable ratings, “For Love or Money” was another reminder of the public relations peril associated with so-called reality TV, with Web site www.thesmokinggun.com revealing last month that Campos, a 33-year-old attorney, was expelled from the Marine Corps judge advocate training program following a 1999 incident in which he groped a female Naval officer.

NBC and Nash acknowledged that the screening process failed to uncover that information, which emerged after the show completed production.