Bob Croslin/OWN: OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK
Oprah Winfrey is at it again — taking the normal concept of a dating show and turning it on its ear. Now we’re not going to lie, and most of you know this by now, we dig a good (or bad) episode of The Bachelor. Still all those catfights and cocktail parties can get a little tired after a bit. But OWN has found a way to mix it up on Lovetown, USA. Not only will they be helping six singles find relationships, but also they’ll be helping the to transform the interactions of the entire town of Kingsland, Georgia.
In a recent exclusive interview with talked with the show’s matchmakers Paul Carrick Brunson, who’s billed as the Real-life Hitch and Kailen “The Love Architect” Rosenberg. The revealed how they each approached the unusual 30-day social experiment.
As Paul noted, the show’s first match-up was actually the one between him and his co-star, Kailen, since the two had never worked together before. He described their differing techniques, saying, “She’s like the Michael Jordan and I feel like I’m like the LeBron James. We have different styles but we still put points up on the board. We both score baskets. If you look at our backgrounds, Kailen is a very spiritually connected, very insightful, based on her experience, personal as well as professional, with the training that she’s logged. And she’s able to take that and really counsel individuals at a degree that is outstanding.”
Kailen concurred when she recounted, “They kept teasing me behind the scenes and calling me granola. I’m very spiritual based. It’s very spiritual. It’s very soulful. I’m very much about getting to the reality of what isn’t working and why... But I do it with compassion and I do it because I care. I like to call things out and I have a strong background in spiritual psychology and addictions and I guess how things can be stuck.”
Her partner, Paul, admitted he comes from a different place, “My approach is a little bit more stern. It’s a little bit more boot campish. It’s a little bit more around we have certain metrics that we’re up against. So therefore we have to get this done and we have to get this done based on the science of A, B and C.”
Despite the disparities, Kailen had only praise for her counterpart, “Paul’s just adorable and charming. He’s a guy’s guy and he’s very common sense. Where I can be emotional, the blend and the balance of his common sense was really good as well. And he’s more of that Anthony Robbins, coach, yeah rah-rah, you can do it type of guy. But together it would make for a good blend.”
Naturally this led to a few debates along the way. Paul confessed that although they were basically in sync, “There were a couple of things we disagreed with and you’ll see it on the show.”
One specific point of contention that Kailen recalled had to do with whether or not there’s one perfect person for each of us. She remarked, “There would be that time where he said he doesn’t believe in soulmates and I completely believe in soulmates. So it’s really just trying to figure out where we each come from and how can we make the best of what we have to do to help people.”
Still the conflicts were few and far between. Paul acknowledged, “But we were in sync and it really goes to show the fact that the connection around values is the most important element of any relationship — whether romantic or platonic or professional, the connection of values. And Kiernan and I connected on values.”
As a result, Paul and Kailen have created a classic collaboration. “The two of us coming together, while I had lots of maybe even skepticism about it early on, we were like Batman and Robin. It was good stuff. It’s very complimentary stuff.”
Watch them work their magic on Lovetown, USA when it premieres Sunday, August 19 at 10 p.m. EST/9 p.m. Central on OWN.
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