First of all, this is why I love my
job. How fun!
Last week Bret and I flew off to New York City for me to appear as a guest of the Gayle King Show, part of the Oprah and Friends XM radio network.
As a bit of background, m
ost of you know that Gayle and Oprah are
BFF's. Gayle has her own radio show (among other things). In July of 2007 Gayle started talking about this exercise program that she bought off an infomercial and how much she was loving it. Well, as you can probably guess that was
Turbo Jam. Since then, Gayle has made her workouts with Turbo Jam a regular topic on her morning talk show, including talking about the time while on the campaign trail for O'Bama she and Oprah did the workout together. That's right, the "O" has done Turbo (OMG!OMG!OMG!). Back to my girl Gayle......
Well, Gayle is my kinda girl. If there were so many miles between us, aside from being her personal trainer, I would apply for the rank of BFF 2nd position. She's hysterical (and in my opinion, you have to be very intelligent to be funny. Except for the accidental funny.) She's honest. She's an optimist. She's sassy. She's beautiful. She's fair. She's witty. She loves hip hop music and (most importantly), she loves her some Turbo. Actually I love that she loves to talk about things that she believes in. Doesn't try to get people to try them for her own gain, but rather because when she finds something that works, she wants to share.
Anywho... enough kissin' up. :) She has recently begun referring to me as "her personal trainer". Love it. So, after more than a year of doing Turbo Jam, Gayle decided it was time to meet me in person. So off I went to NYC (my first trip btw). It was so much fun and I'm so happy Bret was there to experience it all with me!
Of course I was just dying to meet her and just dying to go to NYC for the FIRST TIME!
Enough suspense.
So you walk in her studios and sit in the green room, which is really just a tiny little
waiting area. While I was waiting, who walks in by Holly Robinson-Pete. Now mind you, I'm a bit geeked up as I'm about to meet Gayle. I turn and see Holly and I recognize her, but it doesn't immediately click where I know her from. So as every good instructor does when they see a familiar face, I assume I know her from one of my classes and I give her the "Heeeeeeeeey Gurrll! How are you?" the same Oh-crap-I'm having a brain fade "hey" you give to people you totally know but can't remember their name. Only problem is, it's not one of my classes that I recognize her face from, it's from HELLOOO... TV! What a bowling shoe I am. Not only do I not
realize who this is, but the star of Hanging with Mr. Cooper and the wife of Rodney Peete CERTAINLY doesn't know me! But being one of those people who people think they know, I understand the "awkward" position I have just put her in.
None the less she played it off like a pro and was all sweet, down to earth and as beautiful as you would hope. She and Bret chatted football while I did some deep breathing to chill myself out. Chillax! Chalene, chillax!
Next, the production assistant (Andrea, a 24 year old with a smokin' hot body who begrudgingly told me she never works out) took me back to the studio to meet Gayle. The room is tiny, and set up kind of like a comfy living room with microphones next to your chair, a chair for
Gayle and a comfy chair for her guest. Her Production manager/side kick and on-air personality JJ sits across from you. She too was super sweet and made me feel like we were long time GF's.
Gayle is to-die-for-gorgeous. She's either super tall, or I'm super short. Okay. Fine. I'm super short. She was all dolled up in a beautiful brown knit, curve hugging knee length
dress and fab shoes to match. She looked as dee-gorgeous as she does and even more so in person that she does on t.v. Of course her first comment was how "much taller" I appear on t.v. and how fabulous she thought my pink and sliver Dior platforms were
. (I'm not braggin, but I do have to say the shoes are freakin' fabulous fuscia pink
with big silver square plates on the toes! You just want to eat them for desert. They are yummy and comfy too..well, kinda comfy for about 3 hours.)
We chatted with Holly Robinson-Pete who had followed me back for a few minutes, then we continued to chat fitness and fashion and diet for maybe 5 more minutes. Then a quick mic check and we were back on the air. We taped the show "live to tape" which means it will air at a later date, Monday October 20th to be exact. I adored her to pieces. The questions she asks just really show she's a curious person who wants to know "why" and "how". We talked about Turbo Jam and then on to ChaLEAN Extreme. I had sent her the only three advance copies in existence. She had done them a few times before the show. I won't spoil the show, you'll have to listen to see what she thinks about it. I think we chatted for a good 20 minutes or more on air and another 20 off. Not sure. Time flies when you are obsessed with the topic. It was all a blurr, but I do remember talking about my Mom, Marge and her cute little "Margisms". She loved that. She mentioned menopause and being a huge believer in weight training to change the slowing of your metabolism. Rock on!
Gayle was flying out to be on Oprah the next day. After we were no longer on the air
I just sat in the chair and kept talking and talking and talking, like a giddy school girl on a first date. I momentarily lost my ability to pick up on those subtle body language cues that people send when you've stayed too long. Once I snapped back to reality I kind of sat up straight and said, "Oh... am I supposed to leave now?" They laughed and said, "Ummmmm...... yeeeaaaah".
Wow. What a dream come true. Now if only we can get my new BFF Gayle to get her BFF Oprah to fall in love with ChaLEAN Extreme I can prove to her that a slowing metabolism is reversible!
I hope you'll subscribe to XMradio for seven days free to listen to the show. Go to
As for my new program, ChaLEAN Extreme, it's expected to be released in December. It's not available yet. You can sign up to be notified of its release and grab a sneak peak by going to www.chaleanextreme.com
Well, don't forget to visit my website... http://www.turbokick.com and sign up for my newsletter.
All for now!