Any guy who has not, at one time or another, had Cindy Margolis on their radar probably traded away their Y chromosome long ago for some magic beans. Cindy at one point was the most downloaded woman in the world and she was also one of the first celebrities to embrace the mainstream appeal of poker. She has also written a rather good book about her struggles having children called “Having a Baby...When the Old-Fashioned Way Isn't Working.” Cindy is now single, and despite having the sort of looks that would send Marilyn Monroe sprinting for the comfort foods, she was having problems getting dates. So she is talking to us about her new reality show “Seducing Cindy”, where the lovely Ms. Margolis tries to find a love connection from a very diverse pool of 25 guys.
br> Launchpoker: You have been a model, you have been a poker player, and now you are entering the reality television genre with your new show “Seducing Cindy”. What can we expect from this program?Cindy Margolis: You can expect it to be wild and crazy and amazing and wonderful and scary and an emotional rollercoaster. It will have highs and lows, and of course, the love stories. Its fantasy meets reality, and I have 25 guys ranging from 18 to 71 vying for my love, if you can believe that or not.
Launchpoker: For some reason I have no problem understanding that.Cindy Margolis: Good! You’re the first! ~laughs~
Launchpoker: So what is it like to have 25 guys competing to be your one and only?Cindy Margolis: It was just an amazing, amazing experience. There’s nothing that could ever prepare you for something like that. I think everyone, you, everyone in the world should have that feeling for a moment, to walk out and have 25 men or women who are there for you. That feeling is so exhilarating; it’s just an amazing feeling to have. I think everyone needs to experience it.
Launchpoker: Dating shows in reality television are nothing new. What is going to separate yours from the competition?Cindy Margolis: Well, I think me. I think that there hasn’t been a show where it’s been someone like me, at my age, and including guys of such an age range. Someone at this stage in my life; newly divorced, and a single mom with three precious kids. It’s definitely different from “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” or any of the “Rock of Love” or Tila Tequila type shows, or anything like that. Even though there is the fun and craziness and the train wrecks and all that stuff too, I think because it has so much variety, it can appeal to everybody.
Launchpoker: Is the fact that you are doing this a hint that you were having problems finding quality men before the show? I am sure there were an abundance of guys out there who would trade a redundant organ to be with you, but were you having problems finding quality dates?Cindy Margolis: That’s the whole thing! I could not get a date. I know that people thought there was a line outside my door but if you go to my door right now, there is nobody there. And it was hard. I love the internet, the internet’s my baby, that’s what I pioneered, and it will always be near and dear to my heart, but I tried internet dating. That has been successful for a lot of people, but it wasn’t for me, surprisingly. So I kind of just put myself out there and I haven’t been single my whole entire life, since I was in high school. So I didn’t know how to get back out there and meet people, and it’s hard. It was just really difficult. I’d ask everyone to fix me up, and people would just laugh at me. They would say “Oh sure, you’re not going to have any problems.” And I would just respond with, “No, really , seriously, set me up with someone.” And then no one could think of anybody to set me up with. When they offered me this opportunity I thought, why not, a new chapter in my life. Why not have this experience? And it was an experience that you could never, ever prepare yourself for, or ever even imagine. Being in this fantasy bubble for six weeks; it was amazing and romantic and everything was just so over the top that it was really a fairytale.
Launchpoker: How did you manage to separate the guys who are there legitimately from those who are just there for their 15 minutes of fame?Cindy Margolis: That was hard, because I have huge trust issues and it was difficult. It’s almost like speed dating. There, it’s like six weeks is really more like six months. You get to know people so intimately so quickly that you really do get to find out who is there for you and who is there just to be there. I will tell you that I walked in on the first day and saw the 25 men, and in my head I am like “oh, I know…you, you, and you are definitely going to be in the finals.” When it got down to it, nobody I thought on the first day was even near the finals. It’s really about chemistry and getting to know somebody. Sometimes people look good on paper but you can’t judge a book by its cover. I learned so much about myself.
Launchpoker: You mention not judging a book by its cover. Did you find yourself eventually attracted to book covers that you might have looked over in real life?Cindy Margolis: No, I think that it was just to be able to meet the book covers. As I said, I have never been single before. I had a long relationship. After that the first blind date I went on, I married him. So I didn’t really know what to say when people asked, “What are you looking for? What’s your type?” I didn’t have really a type or I just said that a variety of men was the best thing for me to get to know what I actually am looking for. To have them all there, in one place where they can’t get away! ~laughs~ They have to live there. In the house full of men, there was a variety of all ages, backgrounds, and personalities, everything you can imagine; to be able meet that variety of people is an experience you just wouldn’t get to have any other way.
Launchpoker: Are you a reality television fan yourself?Cindy Margolis: I am, but I’m not addicted to it. Even when I watch dating shows that I do love, there was nothing that you see that you could actually picture yourself doing. Even Brett Michaels, who isn’t the best person to get dating advice from, told me before the show “I have my show, and it is what it is, but even for me it’s hard when you have to do eliminations.” I mean, even the word “elimination” is just so brutal. He didn’t think that I would be able to handle that. I didn’t really think about it, but when I got there it was the eliminations were the worst thing that I could possibly imagine. I didn’t want any of them to leave, let alone break up with them in five minutes. To me, it would take me five months to break up with someone, and then I would want to be best friends with them. And then there, it was like you only have five minutes to say goodbye, and they are gone forever. I just wanted to run out the door and say “no, I’m sorry!” So, to me the elimination part was the most heartbreaking. When they say there is nothing real about reality TV, well, it’s really real, because your emotions are so on the line. There’s nothing I have ever done in my career where it’s been about me and my heart and my emotions and falling in love.
Launchpoker: How many of these guys came into the house with misconceptions about you?Cindy Margolis: Probably all of them. That was really hard. It was really important to me that they knew the real me. Of course how could they. They had my pictures everywhere and I said “Do you see that girl? That’s not me. That’s a fantasy and she’s great, and she’s awesome. I wish I was her. Who wouldn’t want to be her?”, but I’m not her, and that’s not the real me. I think that I really broke it down with them, really, really quick; almost immediately, because I wanted them to understand that I’m a real person and that I have three beautiful children that are so important to me. I went through fertility procedures to have my children for five years. I wrote a book, I’d like them to know that I’m an author. Actually the first competition was that they had to give me their sperm sample.
Launchpoker: Your kidding.Cindy Margolis: Did you ever think you would be asked for your sperm on national television. If you want to see guys faces drop to the ground in pure shock that will do it. That was their first challenge. They had to give me their sperm sample. This would give them taste, a little taste of what I went through. Of course being a woman I was poked and prodded and had shots everyday to have my children. The men, they had to give a sperm sample. I had my fertility specialist there, and I know how to do it. I could almost be a doctor myself with everything I went through. So I examined their sperm. I did, I handed them my Playboy and a cup, and examined their sperm afterwards.
Launchpoker: At the end, if it turns out that who you wind up with is not a match made in heaven, and you go your separate ways, considering the intensity of the experience, would you do this again?Cindy Margolis: I would defiantly do it again. I think that I would feel that I learned a lot and I would learn from my mistakes the first time, and go in a different person. This first time I went in, I came out a different person. I would go back in as that different person. It completely changed everything I thought about everything.
We thank Cindy Margolis for her time. She was charming, as always. Those who want to catch her show “Seducing Cindy”, it premieres on the Fox Reality channel at 9p/8c on Saturday, January 30th. Check your local listings for other times.
