While Patti Stanger, star of “The Millionaire Matchmaker,” may be in need of a love match herself these days (she broke up with Andy Friedman, her boyfriend of six years, last year), but at least her career is on an upswing. Bravo recently signed a two-year development deal with the star to “find new talent, create and develop programming and potentially star in an executive produce a new series for the network.” With so much to do, who needs a man? Hopefully the men and women she finds in Los Angeles, after leaving New York and its many singles behind for season five, which premieres Aug. 15 at 9pm. In a conference call, Stanger talked about her new location, being fixed up herself and what she really, really wants (and no, it’s not a man).
How do the women of Los Angeles contrast with the women of New York?
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 [he doesn’t] marry, you know, anything goes here. We’re the land of anything goes. You can’t do that on Wall Street. If you did it on Wall Street you’d be a flight risk to them. You know, midlife crisis, cheating whatever and the Wall Street people wouldn’t take you seriously. And the wives don’t like that there. So this is a town that anything goes. And when the girls become beaten up emotionally they’re appreciative, which New York didn’t have. They were the bitterest people I had ever seen. And they’re dumb. They’re just dumb people. I mean smart in business, dumb in love, I say. I mean, they won’t date outside their zip code. They won’t go to the suburbs. Men in a down economy always buy houses, okay, because the real estate market, you know, totally took a dive and a crash. If they can get a mortgage or they — really rich men paid outright. You know, they buy real estate and property. And I’d say a real man is buying a homestead in Connecticut. Get to Connecticut. And they won’t listen to me. So L.A., they listen to me.
What’s one piece of advice you believe can help every single person out there?
I always say follow your passion. And, you know, I think one of the reasons my last relationship broke up is because we were friends first and we didn’t have a lot of passion. And you do get comfortable and complacent in those relationships. But, you know, the je ne sais quoi was missing. So I think whether it’s work, love, health, you’ve got to follow your passion, you know. I think that when we get off the road and we sell out in any of those areas we don’t end up happy to be honest with you. It doesn’t matter how much money you have. If you’re not happy with it who cares? Same thing in love.
Now that you’re single, will we be seeing more of your dating life on the show?
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. I’m completely different. My business person is a different – like my ex used to say can we push the business mode off and go back to, you know, sweet Patti? Because I’m really like that in my personal life. And you do – it does come across on camera. As far as my show runner said, he says nobody will believe it’s you. They think you’re going to think you’re acting. That’s how demure I was. And I’m quiet. I’m very quiet when I date.
Will there be any gay match-ups this season?
Yes. We actually have Madison from “Million Dollar Listing” and he’s counter-partied with another great decorator guy. And it’s probably – it’s really funny — 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. It’s like, I love the two gays. I’m like, ‘That’s Madison. He’s on your network.’ So it was cute. So he comes off, like, so 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… gays are. But he basically was dating him for a while. I just know that they’re still dating. I mean, you know, [gay] guys have ADD in dating world. You know… 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 know, you need to start listening to me.
What about a crossover for the new Bravo show “Dallas’ Most Elligible”?
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 love with 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. And I will be producing, as you know — 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.
Tell us a bit about the celebrities who’ll be on the show this season.
Perez [Hilton] just shot last week. Jenny [McCarthy] comes on — she’s one of my closest friends. And she was probably one of the first famous friends. And she comes on to help a guy who’s kind of a nerd from Silicon Valley find his sex appeal. And what to say on a date. Most guys talk about their business and we fall asleep. But Jenny comes on that way. Tori [Spelling] comes on and she’s on the second episode. So it’s not next week, it’s the week following. 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. And he doesn’t think you can do the whole thing at the same time. So 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. And that she was – at the time she was pregnant but she didn’t know it. And that she could have babies and chickens and cats and dogs. You know, she has an animal farm in her house. Yeah.
Since you get matched on the show, how did that process turn out?
I pick a guy who’s adorable but he’s metro. And I like rugged. But he was the only blonde. And I like blondes. So it was kind of like we’re still dating, we’re still friends. I’m dating other people as well. I’m not just dating him. We’re not exclusive. We’re getting to know each other as friends first. And I’ll actually see him this weekend. But it’s an interesting thing that happened because at first I wasn’t sure I was attracted because I like that rugged kind of Aidan type of personality from “Sex and the City.” I don’t really go for the Mr. Big metro. And he was more like that…You”ll see what happens. You’ll see what happens. And there is one rugged guy I pick but he’s totally not for me. And you will see what happens. It is disastrous.
Is there anything you realized about yourself going back into the dating world again?
Yes. I tend to date down. The men who are attracted to me are everything from firefighters to regular Joes. And I never dated a rich guy. And John probably is one of the richest guys I’ve dated. Not that he’s rich — he’s just successful. And I realize now — I think I’d like to date a millionaire. I never am attracted to my clients. They lead with their negative foot. They tell me all their dark secrets. And I don’t see any romance there. So even when they hit on me I’m like yuck, you know? There have been a lot of guys on camera for the last five years who hit on me and I went get away. There’s one guy this season who will not leave me alone who is in the last episode. I’m like get away from me. So I don’t tend to date millionaires. But it would be nice maybe off camera if I did. And date somebody who made equal or more money than me and let them romance me that way. And I haven’t met anyone like that. I have to be sexually attracted. You know, I say on my applications — the first thing I say is are, you know, which would you rather have, looks or money? And I’m a looks person. And the money person is a person is a person who doesn’t care about looks. And there’s a reason I say that. Because there’s no gray line. Getting looks and money together is really the chupacabra. That’s a hard thing to find. It’s not easy. Especially when you’re my age.
Are there any celebrities you’d like to match up?
Well, I’d probably like to put George Clooney in boot camp with Tiger [Woods] and Jesse [James] and Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. Yeah I’d probably like to have a boot camp with all those guys. Although George I would say he’s a serial monogamist. He dates for two years, you get a parting gift. He’s like Simon Cowell. You get cash and a car. You know what I mean? Or a car and a condo. So he’s not as bad as Jesse, Tiger and Arnold. They’re in a world of their own. They should be exiled to an island and castrated. But other than that, I’d probably want to do Sandra Bullock because I feel so bad for her. I feel she’s so wounded over Jesse that, even though a kid is great, it doesn’t take the place of a man.
You broke up with your last boyfriend because he didn’t want children. Are there babies in your future
I wouldn’t have a baby without a man. I just – it’s not that I wouldn’t or couldn’t it’s that I don’t feel comfortable. I’m adopted. So my mom was married three times and I’ve got some daddy issues with that. I would just feel better if I had a partner with that. I’ve wanted a kid forever. And I’ve wanted to adopt. I just want to have a partner when I do it. And I’d love to be a great stepmom.