Age of Love pits two groups of women, twenty somethings and forty somethings, against each other to vie for the attention of tennis star, Mark Philippoussis.
The series premiere, which aired last night on Global and NBC, focused primarily on the more mature women, with the younger group not being revealed until after the first elimination had taken place.
Jodie Fisher, a 46 year old VP from Dallas, Texas, was the first woman to leave the show. This afternoon I had the opportunity to talk with Jodie about her Age of Love experience.
Trevor MacKay: Thank you for your time today.
Jodie Fisher: Absolutely. Ask me anything, Trevor.
TM: First up, I’d like to ask you how you got involved with the show.
JF: It’s the funniest thing. I got simultaneous emails from two of my friends. Literally at like the same moment in time and they said you would be perfect for this show.
So I sort of paid attention and then I basically just responded to this e-mail from my two friends and sent in a picture to 3 ball productions. And I sent my picture, my information in and they called me 5 minutes later and said, “We want to interview you.”
TM: Ah.
JF: So it was kind of an effortless thing.
TM: And so when you were on the show, what was your initial reaction upon meeting Mark?
JF: I’ll tell you what, he seemed really nervous to me. And I was a little bit nervous but I was able to sort of just set that aside and be friendly to him. He’s obviously a gorgeous man, no doubt about it. I could tell he was uncomfortable and I just, I spent so few seconds with him really that I really never got a strong impression of him one way or the other, if that makes sense.
TM: Right. Yeah, I see that.
JF: And the more that I’ve seen of various promos and everything I thought, “Wow, he’s a great guy.” And I think the deal with Mark is that he warms up slowly. A little bit shy at first. I got the impression of a bit of shyness, a bit uncomfortable. But he seems like a nice guy.
TM: Do you think he had any issues with the age differences?
JF: *Laughing* Oh yeah, I definitely think he had an issue. At the time I could tell he was nervous. But then watching the show last night I thought “Oh, you can definitely see it on his face a lot better.”
TM: Right.
JF: I definitely think he had an issue. I think, you know he was engaged to a girl who was 20 years old. So someone at forty or forty-two or forty-six, is probably not anybody that he’s ever considered. That’s not part of his universe.
TM: Right, right. What about yourself, Jodie? Do you see age as an issue when you’re dating? Or do you kind of just ignore it?
JF: You know, it’s always a factor to a certain degree. I don’t really care that much about a person’s age. In terms of guys I’ve dated, I’ve dated guys from 22 to 52 so I like attractive men and I don’t care how old they are. Attractive is attractive, you know, whether they’re 35 or 52 or 60 or 20. You know, it doesn’t matter to me. But having said that, it’s easier in a way to develop a connection and maybe even a rapport with someone that’s closer to my own age.
TM: Right, more of a similar background, kinda.
JF: Exactly. We’ve sort of lived the same amount of time; maybe we both have been through divorce or have children. It’s fun to be with somebody like that because of all the similarities. I’m always looking for that. But having said that, I’ve definitely dated some younger guys that are so awesome and mature and, you know, really just great guys to be around.
TM: Oh, okay. And what were your impressions of the other women you were on the show with Jodie?
JF: I fell in love with the other women. I loved them. I mean they were all quirky in their own ways. They were all just warm and loving and vulnerable.
I made two really, really good friends on the show that I’ll be friends with for life. And really my goal in doing the show, because I don’t really have any control over this guy, Mark, I’ve never met him, he probably likes younger women. So I went into the experience looking at it like “I just want to go away from it having made a friend.” And I made two. So it was just an awesome experience being with those women. That was probably the hardest part about leaving for me. I really felt like I was leaving my friends behind.
TM: Mmm-hmmm. And what do you think, Jodie about the twist that was revealed at the end of last night’s episode where the younger women were added to compete with the initial group of women? Do you feel one group has an advantage over the other?
JF: First of all, while I was taping the show, I had no idea there were going to be twenty year olds on the show.
TM: Right.
JF: I was on the show, it was the seven forty-somethings and that was it. And I kind of liked it that way. So after I was off the show and I found out that twenty year olds were coming on, I was like “Oh, I’m so lucky!” *laughs* “I’m so lucky to be off this show!” You know, I think that might get ugly. I don’t know, it could.
What I would want to say to those twenty year olds is “Oh my gosh, please put your best foot forward.” Just from the promos and everything I’ve seen them acting in ways that are not making their generation look too good.
TM: Yeah.
JF: You know, so they have the advantage of, let’s say youth and maybe a sort of a carefree attitude, maybe they don’t have a lot of responsibilities in life, but I definitely think the advantage is with the forty year old women because they’re beautiful on the inside and out. And they’re soulful women who have been through a lot of experiences Who are just, you know, magnificent in every way.
TM: Ah. Okay. So were you surprised, Jodie, to be the one eliminated first? Do you feel perhaps the brief period of time you had to interact with Mark hurt you?
JF: Sure, I think so. I like to think that if he had gotten to know me he would have wanted me to stick around. But you know what? I may be wrong about that, he may just prefer brunettes. Who knows? You know?
TM: *laughs* Right.
JF: I was definitely shocked. The thing again, the producers of the show and the crew and all the women were so magnificent to be around. I can’t even tell you what a fun experience it was. It was one of the most fun experiences of my life. It was a blast from beginning to end, the whole process. So, you know, it was disappointing to not get to be part of that anymore.
TM: Right.
JF: You know, I have this feeling like “Shoot, it was over before it began, I want to do it again, I want to do it again.”
*both laugh*
But yeah, I was definitely shocked and I definitely did not think it would be me. Primarily because he didn’t know me at all.
TM: Right.
So I’m just assuming he eliminated me based on my looks, or the fact that I have a child. Who knows? I’ll probably never know.
TM: Yeah. With what you’ve been saying, you’re obviously glad you’ve had this experience. Do you feel you’ve learned anything from it?
JF: You know what? I learned so much in such a short period of time. It was one of those heightened experiences. It made such an impression on me. And one of the main things I learned was just to go for the love. Just be loving and just have fun with things. And take it lightly and enjoy life. I do that anyway, but this experience taught me that I think I’m on the right track with that.
TM: That’s all I have for you, Jodie. I’d like to thank you again for your time.
JF: Thank you, Trevor.
– Age of Love airs on NBC on Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
– Age of Love airs on the Global network in Canada on Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
