Patti Stanger comes from a long line of matchmakers. The Bravo television show Millionaire Matchmaker is where she spotlights her business Millionaire's Club International Inc. Stanger just debuted her fifth season and it is currently running on the reality channel.
Windy City Times: Hi, Patti, great to talk to you again. You are back in L.A. for this season of your show. How are [Los Angelenos] better than the New York daters?
Patti Stanger: I think they're appreciative and I think it's a really rough town to be single in, as everyone's beautiful here but nobody commits. So when you have Matthew McConaughey as your poster boy living on the beach in a trailer with two kids and dating a Catholic girl who you don't marry, you know, anything goes here. We're the land of anything goes. You can't do that on Wall Street.
WCT: You have a Chicago guy on this season: Daniel Kibblesmith.
PS: I personally love Chicago. I think the hottest men come from Chicago. They grow them big there. I like them big and burly.
WCT: I'm a Chicagoan but not big and burly, sorry.
PS: It's all right. I did The Oprah Winfrey Show and I went to one of the drugstores early in the morning to get some allergy medicine. Man there were hot men everywhere and they're tall. You grow them like 6'3" over there.
WCT: Yeah, I'm 6'2." You're such a supporter of gay rights and you always have great gay matchups on your show. Do you have any this season?
PS: Yes. We actually have Madison from Million Dollar Listing and he's [paired] with another great decorator guy. I haven't seen the episode but the president of Bravo, Francis Berwick, said to me, "That's my favorite episode" and didn't recognize that it was Madison. I'm like, "That's Madison. He's on your network." So it was cute. He does find love. Whether or not they didn't whip it out at eye lock on the date. I'm not on the date to tell you that because you know how you gays are. But he basically was dating him for a while. I just know that they're still dating.
I mean you guys have, like, ADD in the dating world. I don't know what to tell you people. I tell you not to have sex and nobody listens to me, you know? I really need to give a speech at GLAAD and say, "Hey you need to start listening to me!"
WCT: I have interviewed Madison before and he seems like a great guy.
PS: He's been a longtime friend of mine. It took me five years to get him on. So I worked that one.
WCT: Would you ever do a crossover with another Bravo show, such as Most Eligible Dallas?
PS: I met the kids at [the Television Critics Association tour] and I'm really excited for it. I haven't seen the show. I've seen promos. But I've met all five except for the football player because he was in practice in Oakland. Matt is adorable. The girls want me to fix them up. So I am in loving this. So I told Francis that if we do LA or Miami I want to be involved with the casting in that. So I'm hoping the show takes off. Because I think they're learning that the category is really big for Bravo, being single. I think that's what's happening. There is another matchmaker show coming out with my production company called Soulmate Project, which takes place in New York. It's a husband and wife team. Last Tuesday they announced my production deal for Style, Bravo and Oxygen. So we will be coming up with a lot of love genre for you.
WCT: You have some guest stars on this season, such as Tori Spelling and Jenny McCarthy.
PS: Also, Perez [Hilton] just shot last week. Jenny, one of my closest friends, comes on to help a guy who's like kind of a nerd from Silicon Valley, find his sex appeal, and what to say on a date. Tori's on the second episode. We have a multimillionaire, probably one of our richest guys, from Vancouver—and he believes that when you're pregnant you need to stop working and be barefoot and never work again. He doesn't think you can do the whole thing at the same time. I wanted to show him that Tori didn't live off her family's money. She built her own career. She didn't marry rich. We know Dean's not rich.
WCT: Tell me about the Perez episode.
PS: I wanted Perez to date and he didn't want to do it on camera. So we met at his house and he has the most gorgeous house, by the way, in the world. He's adorable. He lost all the weight, looks hot and happening. He interviewed me for his show online and then I taped it. So you're going to see him interview me and ask a lot of personal questions. So it's going to be fun.
He's a really good interviewer. He's a different person these days. He really is different. He's been my source of music inspiration. I found Adele because of him. He really has an ear for music. I think since the companies, the studios actually hired him to source music he's changed his attitude. Since he lost the weight he's nicer. I think what happened to both of us is we both got single and lost weight. We're both nicer. People say I don't yell as much this season. We'll see, we'll see. You tell me when you watch what you think. Do I still have the bitch in me?
WCT: Are we going to see more of your personal situation this year on the show?
PS: Yes, the 13th episode I actually date and I do the mixer process and it was the scariest time of my life. I am a double Gemini. You will see a totally different Patti. I'm like soft, subdued and submissive when I date.
WCT: For the non-millionaires you have PSXOXO. What is that?
PS: PSXOXO.com is a business I started with J.D. We took over California Singles. We revamped it. It's a dating site where you not only can get fixed up, gay, straight or whatever, but you also get advice. So my Twitter is my most important thing—@PattiStanger is where I give you advice 24/7. Any of you guys can e-mail me or actually Tweet me your questions and I'll answer them. It's connected to Facebook. So PSXOXO is strictly advice on dating online. It's a really great site.
WCT: Thanks for talking to me today and I look forward to this new season.
PS: No problem. Thanks for having me.
Watch Cupid shoot her bow while Patti sets up matches every Monday on the Bravo Channel. For television listings and details check out www.bravotv.com .
