Photo by: Myles Aronowitz/Bravo
If you’re
single and in search of a nice, filthy rich soul mate then Patti Stanger is
your girl. The star of The Millionaire
Matchmaker, was hooking rich guys up with hot L.A. babes long before her TV
series debuted in 2007. And her
success rate is pretty darn good.
But be
warned. Stanger is not a soft and coddling love guru. She’s all about the tough
love and doesn’t shy away from a little constructive criticism about her
client’s personal or emotional makeover needs.
This
season the show is going on the road to match up Manhattan millionaires. In a
recent conference call Patti talked about the difference between the East and
West coast dating pools, her success rate, and her own personal life.
The fourth
season of The Millionaire Matchmaker
starts tonight at 10:00 PM PST/9:00 PM Central on Bravo.
Q: There’s
been some big changes in your life since we last saw you on the show third
season. How is that reflected in the new season?
PATTI:
It’s not. Because the changes didn’t happen when the season was - you know I
was still dating Andy at the time. If you’re talking about my breakup it won’t
be reflected. The only thing that’ll be reflected which is really weird is my
best friend is pretty much the top astrologer in the world, Terry Nazon at
terrynazon.com and she’s a life and style astrologer. She predicted last season
I’d break up. At the end of this season she predicted I break up which I was
like poo-pooing her and it was during the Judith Reagan dinner that I have for
Judith Reagan that you’ll see on the show.
I’m
writing a cookbook called Man Catch Your
Meals. And I made this big dinner with Jill Zarin and Slate from the Housewives of Orange County and Judith
Reagan. And she makes this announcement that I’m going to break up. And I was
not broken up then. I was not broken up then. So she saw it coming so.
Q: How do
you feel about this kind of attention and do you think being in or out of a
relationship has anything to do with being a successful matchmaker?
PATTI:
Well, I think it sucks being in the public eye as I saw today with Courtney Cox
and Christina Aguilera. And Venus is in retrograde so lots of people are going
to be breaking up for the next two months. You’re in a fishbowl. Although I’m
not A-List I don’t walk the red carpet every week. And I only do it when I work
or for a friend like Jenny McCarthy. I just wrote a chapter in her book.
So I do it
for friends. So I’m not this go out seven times a week girl. And in that case
I’m more of a homebody. And it’s really hard to date in my own little turf
because I don’t date my clients because that could become a sexual harassment
lawsuit. Okay, at the same time I can’t go on match.com like I used to in the old
days and find a nice guy.
So I’m in
a quandary. I need help right now to be fixed up, too. So it is pretty rough
right now even though I’m dating sporadically, a lot of ex-boyfriends are
coming back… I start to look better to them because I’m a famous person.
But I’m
still trying to find the right guy to be honest with you. And it’s harder I
think more when a woman has money than when she has fame.
Q: You
just mentioned Courtney Cox and Christina Aguilera. How do you think they can
bounce back from divorce?
PATTI:
Well, Courtney I never felt was a match. I mean a Virgo and a Gemini is pretty
much a rare commodity. They always hit the wall at certain points. I kind of
got the impression she had a crush on Brian [Van Holt, her Cougar Town co-star].
So I think
she’s bouncing back but we just don’t know it yet and we’ll start seeing them
around Venice Beach.
But as far
as Christina goes, really weird, how many times did she say that he was the
love of her life even though he wasn’t very attractive, right? She could do
better physically. So maybe she’s doing this to launch [her upcoming film] Burlesque. I don’t know. I don’t feel
that’s clean. I don’t feel that one’s clean. I feel Courtney’s has been coming
and Jennifer wants a playmate.
Q: Why did
the show decide to make the move to New York?
PATTI: I
had been begging for three years to do other cities. And we’re probably going
to do Miami next.
So I said
you can’t type cast the L.A. Millionaire as the same type in the rest of the
country because every city has a different type of millionaire.
And they
wouldn’t spend the money. And then eventually I was in negotiations for another
show that was going to take place in New York and we just swapped it out for MM in New York. So I think it was a long
time coming.
And then
Bravo is there, that’s their headquarters at NBC Rock. So I think that they
wanted that.
And you
have to remember there are five women to every one guy in New York. It’s
completely different than any other city in the United States. So we needed to
show the millionairess in a light that was true to her form because nobody was
getting that concept in L.A. Whenever we had a millionairess it really didn’t
work in L.A. It worked better, way better in New York.
Q: And
what is it that makes New York millionaires different from L.A. millionaires?
PATTI:
Millionaire and millionairess' are different because not only do they expect
you to go to Harvard, look halfway decent, put on a Brooks Brothers suit if
it’s a man, they expect you to cure cancer. They’re kind of snobs in the
education and pedigree department where in L.A. all they give a crap about is…
what does she look like, how big are her boobs. They’re very shallow in L.A.
New York
is tough though. I don’t know if I could live up to their standard of education
and IQ even though I went to good schools. Did anybody see Social Network? In the beginning scene she’s getting pissed off at
Mark Zuckerberg and she says to him, “I’ve had enough. I’m going home. I have
to study.”
And he
says, “Well you don’t study. You go to BU.” That’s the way it was in New York.
Where did you go to school? What have you accomplished? They’ll take less looks
for more pedigree and education.
Q: We went
to BU so that line stuck out to us.
PATTI: And
I went to Miami so right on to us, right?
Q: Yeah.
PATTI:
Look at where we’re at, right? Those Harvard people don’t even have jobs. I
fired five of them in the ten years I’ve opened my company. They can’t get
around the block.
Q: You
talk about having a high matchmaking success rate—could you give us a
percentage?
PATTI:
Okay, well I don’t give statistics out because an old rabbi once told me once
you start throwing that out at people, that’s considered bragging and God will
take your gift away. So I’ve really been superstitious about this. But I have a
99% success rate in my business.
Now the
show, I don’t have that kind of success rate because I don’t cast the show.
Those are not my clients, okay. So when I meet them, I’m meeting them for the
first time like you. And in 24 hours I have to fix the guy and the girl up. And
like in the case of Heidi and Bill, Season 2, they had sex on the first date.
Now what
you didn’t see on the editing room floor is I scream my head off. But because
Bravo has the fluff concept, we’re not really considered housewives in a
catfight. So they have their road that they’re on to get you X to A to Y to Z.
Had you seen the editing room floor, that’s the best stuff that lands on the
floor by the way, you would have known that Bill and Heidi went out for two
years. Yeah, after the show. So and I’m the one that brought her to him because
she was an ageist.
So that
gives you an example. Will we see a marriage? We were close on Season 1… But I
don’t know. I would really need to be more involved in the casting process to
see a marriage because I have to do it from the inception matchmaking.
Q: Are
there was any gay match-ups this season?
PATTI:
Yes, actually there are two. And one of them is the worst. I mean there’s a
moment I have where the guy who’s gay is Dr. Siegel’s Cookie Diet’s son who
runs the company. He is a homophobe and he’s gay.
I don’t
know if you can believe that but you’ve got to watch the episode. And I take
him down. I take him down GLAAD-style. Let’s put it this way. He mocks his date,
who I happen to think is adorable. And I go crazy on him. I mean I was so
angry.
I’m
against Proposition 8. I’m for gay marriage. I’m wearing, probably, my bracelet
on Wendy Williams... I’m just so angry
at the back and forth, the passive aggressiveness. And the government should
not be involved in the process.
I actually
registered myself as a Reverend, a non-denominational Order of Unity Church
about 20 years ago and I’m thinking about paying my dues again so I can marry
people off.
Q: Did you
do the Adam Bouska thing yet?
PATTI:
Yes. I did No Hate. I already did No Hate. Well we did it on the show. We did
it on Season 3. Yeah. You look back in the archives and you’ll look at it. It’s
maybe in bravotv.com. We did it on Season 3, yeah.
Q:
Caroline Manzo’s sons [from The Real
Housewives of New Jersey] appear in your show this season. Could you talk
about how it was working with them?
PATTI:
Yeah. Caroline is like one of my buds, so is Deena. And we’re all from Jersey
so I was really excited to go back to my hometown. I went to Short Hills so for
those who know New York, the mall. Wa wa wa.
And we
headed onto Franklin Lakes. And we shot the episode of the Brownstone. And it’s
a different kind of twist so you’ve got to tune into Episode 2 to see it
because I’m not giving away the whole enchilada but Chris and Albie have to be
the most adorable two kids on the planet… I wouldn’t want to let them out of my
house and send them on their merry way.
And Chris
is not what you think he is and neither is Albie. They’re completely different
than what their show shows them. We show the real true inner side of them.
Q: And how
do you date differently when you have kids?
PATTI:
Well, dating differently with kids there’s always the one rule. You don’t bring
them home to your children unless you’re in an exclusive monogamous
relationship. And that should be… a little bit longer than regular
relationships… anywhere from three to five months. Because if you start putting
in the new guy… every five months, the kids start to think that mommy has a
revolving door and that she has no stability. And… eventually those children
will grow up doing the same thing. So what you set is precedent.
And the
other thing is don’t have them pick you up at your home until you know you’re
safe. And this is someone you want to see on a regular basis.
Most
people were parents without partners like women especially. They meet them at
the restaurant as opposed to having the guy pick them up. Now that’s okay even
though that seems non-chivalrous. You’re protecting your children first.
Q: And
what’s your advice for them to do differently in their next relationship?
PATTI:
Well, I mean it would depend. You know it’s not a “one-size-fits-all”
relationships. It would depend on what they’re doing. People grow and evolve
over time. Marriages collapse 25 years and poof it’s done. It’s over. So
there’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t understand why everybody thinks you get
married. You get divorced. You’re a failure. You’re not a failure. You’re a
different person now. At least you can commit.
As the
conference call wrapped up, Patti wanted to give us all a couple of updates.
PATTI: A
couple things on the show that you need to remind yourself is that we have
Judith Reagan who’s the ultimate millionairess. I think you can’t get a bigger
millionairess than that.
Freddie
Mitchell, the wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles who lost his contract
two years ago because his girlfriend who is aka gold digger girlfriend left him
the minute he lost his money. But she didn’t know that he had a lot of Internet
investments. Never underestimate the athlete’s money.
And then
you’re also going to see our first, I want to call her the plumpty dumpty.
She’s like a big and beautiful girl, and who does she go for, the chubby chaser
or the hot guy? You’ll see that on the final episode.
Couple
things happening in my life. Yes, I’m dating. I’m willing to pay for anyone to
fix me up. Hello? Hello? Hello?
But the
other thing is that I am also releasing a DVD in January called How to Get Married in One Year and it’s
through Lionsgate. You won’t see it on the show but you’ll see it in January.
My book is
majorly highlighted through the season. We actually give the tip of the week.
This is Andy Cohen’s suggestion. You’ll see a little mini seminar on every
episode so stay tuned for your tip of the week. And it’s based on my book, Become Your Own Matchmaker.
And then
I’m losing weight daily on Sensa and I’m down to 4 going down to size 2. I’m
going for a Shape cover so we’ll see
if I can get that.
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