I know many of my Tone It Up readers watched and loved it, but I’m curious what non-TIU members thought of the premiere of Bravo’s new show Toned Up featuring my girls Katrina and Karena. You guys have asked what my relationship is with the gals in the past so here it is…
As most of you know, Katrina and I used to shoot videos for Diet.com starting in 2006. She was a trainer at the gym across the street from NESN (New England Sports Network), where I was working as production assistant. When I got the job at Diet.com, I still worked out there despite the location because my friend Josh got me a great a deal. Josh told Katrina what I was doing for Diet.com and asked if she would be interested in starring in a video. Kat and I met and started shooting videos together. This is literally the first video we shot together.
I am hungover and wearing a hideous/unflattering outfit. Shows you how many people I thought would see this. I produced all the videos and would tell Katrina what I wanted, cardio with bodyweight, playground, whatever and she would come up with the workouts. It was fun and we were having a blast. Then one day, Kat’s bf (now husband) suggested moving to California for his job. I was sad to lose my buddy but knew I’d get to see her plenty with my brother living out west too.
When I visited LA a few months later to shoot a video with Valerie Waters, I asked Katrina to help demo the exercises since I didn’t have a videographer and I’d man the camera.
On the drive home, she told me she met a girl that she was going to start shooting videos with. I knew she had researched branding extensively, bought a few URL’s and was filing paperwork with the city to officiate their company. I was surprised she was putting so much good faith in this girl she just met but quickly after meeting Karena, I knew why. On my next visit, all three of us shot a video. I, of course, am the frumpy one.
The rest is history and what you saw last night on television is what the girls really are like in person. I think they played up the ditzy card for the cameras but they are equally as positive, happy and quirky as Bravo portrayed them. I was working a little bit with the girls in helping promote the diet plan the past few years but am no longer affiliated, just still friends! We even shot a collab video with Cassey from Blogilates last February.
What I loved about the show was how at the end they actually were giving workout tips!!!! How many times do you watch the biggest loser and want to know what the interval workout they are doing on the treadmill is like!? The skinny dipper and dolphin were fun additions to the show I thought and original.
Katrina once told me to surround myself with positive, successful people who are driven. I’ve always remembered that quote as I found it to be grounding. Women often see themselves as competition towards one another. As my friend Bex of BexLife tweeted…
It’s so good to see women lifting up other women on reality TV for a change. Yay for @toneitup @bravotv #tonedup
— Rebekah Borucki (@BexLife) January 3, 2014
Instead of showing women bullying each other, Bravo was looking to showcase positive female relationships and how they don’t all have to be toxic.
I hope the show is a success because it not only is motivating women to get in shape, but it also demonstrates a side of friendship rarely seen in reality TV. It’s also hilarious. I flat out LOL’ed at the dark armpit fiasco. Today at Barry’s, after teaching in black sweatshirt, I had the same thing when I went to take class afterwards!
Next episode in on Thursday at 10:30 PM. What did you guys think of the show?
PS. I officially left Diet.com in March of 2013. During my reign as the sole producer and host, we earned over 110 million views! That number in addition to the views from SarahsFabChannel is included in my book press release – one amazon reviewer questioned where they came from. Another name you might know that used to shoot videos with me on Diet.com is Bethenny Frankel!
