Jackie Warner's hit Bravo reality show, Work Out, is back for a third season—with all the tension and drama audiences have come to love, though Warner says her relationship this season is relatively drama-free. She's also got several new ventures in the works, including an in-home workout DVD, Workout: One-on-One Training with Jackie. What is in store for fans? Windy City Times spoke with Warner to find out.
Windy City Times: What can viewers expect from season three?
Jackie Warner: Oh, boy. Basically, you get a sort of inside view of a new relationship for me, and also how that unfolds under the eye of the camera. Let me just give you a hint: Reality TV isn't good for relationships. It's real hard on them. My mom comes to visit, and it's touching and humorous. People that are getting under my skin might finally be going this season.
WCT: Can we expect the same level of drama this season?
JW: No; I really don't have much drama in the relationship. I don't have much drama in my personal life right now, but you definitely see the cracks showing. We moved very fast in this relationship—which I never do—but it was a weird extenuating circumstance, and you kind of see that really unraveling.
WCT: Do you have any good relationship or dating tips you can share?
JW: Oh, boy. [ Laughs ] Yeah, I actually said this a while ago in an interview: I'm great at giving relationship advice, but terrible at receiving it because I'm a very passionate person. This is something that I think you understand about me: when I want something, I get it. I go for it, and whether it's right for me or not ... but my advice is make a list of 3-5 must-haves in a person. Make that list and carry it around with you, in your wallet or the car, and really, really stick to that must-have list. I started doing it now and I will do it until I meet that partner, which I'm not looking for now, but I'm just saying ... when you go on the first, second or third date, ask those questions. If they don't fit that criteria, get out of there.
WCT: How has the experience of doing the show changed from the first season to the third one?
JW: I feel that the trainers are really quite mean and rude to me this season, whereas they never did that before, which I thought was odd. I think it is largely due to them trying to get camera time, because it was totally out of the blue, and I didn't have any issues with them but, again, I think people are savvy now and they want to be on TV.
WCT: Has anything changed for you as far as your position as a role model for the gay community?
JW: I'm not an outspoken person. I rarely do gay and lesbian events. I don't latch onto a cause, because I feel that just living my life as a regular person on national TV does tons more for the cause than if I carried a banner. Really, what I try to do within the show is show how fluid and natural a lesbian relationship is. It's like anything else and, hopefully, viewers see it. That's the only way I protest. I think it's the most effective way to protest, allowing people to familiarize themselves with the gay and lesbian lifestyle and not fall into stereotypes so much.
WCT: I read that you have a large fan base of married, middle-aged women. What kinds of things do they tell you when they approach you?
JW: Yeah, that never ceases to amaze me. ... That is my biggest fan base: married straight women. They are shockingly aggressive, way more than lesbians. Lesbians are not as aggressive as the straight women who come up to me, especially when I travel. They come up and shake or want to hug me, and tell me that they'd leave their boyfriend or they'd get rid of their husband and they have dreams about me. I mean it happens all the time. The first year it was a little disarming. Now I'm so used to it that it's completely natural to me. I'm very flattered by it.
WCT: Do you have a particularly funny experience?
JW: I get a lot of e-mails, thousands of e-mails from straight women and a lot of them send pictures, this is the funny part, they'll send pictures of themselves standing in front of the driveway with their husband and two teenage boys, and then the note will read, 'I am so turned on by you. If I flew you out would you train me? I would leave my husband for you' . . . I get a lot of nude photos sent which cracks me up.
One woman, I was in Mexico and I was eating in a restaurant, she came over and she was shaking, I mean non-stop shaking. She was probably about 35 or 36 years old and crying, and asked me to sign a napkin, which I did . . . then she pointed over to her husband and teenage girls and was like there's my family, but my husband knows I would leave him for you. That's kind of trippy. That's a little strange. I'm not sure why I've touched such a nerve in the housewife community, but it seems to be there and that's great.
WCT: You have a new work out DVD coming out in May. Tell me about that?
JW: It really is like getting a slice of Sky Sport. It's a one-on-one training session where we really focus on form and exercise and get a great work out. What's very important is that we modify it for people. I have one of the trainers in the background do a modified version of each routine for people who are just starting or maybe are obese or out of shape, and then we have our regular version, our intermediate, and the advanced version, which is usually holding weights. It's an upper body, a lower body and a core routine. So you can choose to pop in the 20-minute core one day and then the 20-minute upper body the next. I think it's diverse and you can grow with it; that's important.
WCT: What type of a relationship is important for a trainer and a client?
JW: Teacher student. Never in my life have I ever crossed the line with a client. I've never dated, never gone out, never even gone to lunch with a client. I've never even flirted, because for me when I'm in the gym I take that so seriously. It needs to be like a therapist relationship . . . it's not a friendship.
WCT: What do you think about the reality weight loss shows, Celebrity Fit Club and Biggest Loser?
JW: Any show that brings self-awareness to this cause and talks about fitness and health is a great show, and we're going to see a ton of them by the way. Tons of shows were ordered this season. You're not going to be able to get away from lifestyle and health and fitness shows.
WCT: Do you think this is a trend or a real shift in our culture?
JW: It's a shift in our culture and I will tell you why, because we are absolutely sick in this society. America is in big, big trouble. We are sugar addicted, drug addicted and general miserable people. So what should be the happiest and wealthiest nation is quickly becoming the slowest and economically most depressed, and that economical depression always leads to emotional depression and that leads to addiction and what I deal with is food addiction primarily . . . it's not a fad at all. People are panicked and obese and getting worse and we are getting cancer and diseases that are all connected with weakened immune systems. Weakened immune systems come from sugar intake. I'm writing a book and sugar is the devil. I'm not kidding . . . We're not talking about having a candy bar a week. I'm talking about eating our everyday products that we don't know are high in sugar . . . if it's got over 9 grams per meal, put it back on the shelf. Do you know how hard it is to find food that has under 9 grams? It's pretty hard, but that's what you should be eating.
WCT: Are you planning on opening any other locations, maybe in Chicago?
JW: I would love to in Chicago, because that's around my area. But, yes, I am working on a franchise deal. More importantly, I've got Sky Sport Hollywood opening in a month in a half and I am negotiating in Vegas. We're looking at a place. I'm working on a franchise deal. I would love to do affordable fitness everywhere so I don't want to pattern it after one-on-one training, all class group training, so it's affordable for people.
