Love is a battlefield. And no one knows that better than Steve Ward, the aggressively brutal host of VH1's Tough Love, as he coaches ladies on how to win the guy of their dreams. Terron R. Moore chats up Steve about all of his favorite moments, as well as what viewers can expect from the New Orleans season.
OLOGY: Why New Orleans?
STEVE WARD: Well, because New Orleans is a very unique city. It’s unlike any other city in the country, and we wanted to go somewhere that was challenging for people to find and form relationships. And the men, predominantly, are from the south, and all the challenges and all the dates they go on are pretty indigenous to the area, so it was a way to get the women out of their comfort zone and to also indicate to our audience how dating there is really a lot different than dating in other places around the country.
We see you give some real tough love this season. At one point, there’s veins bursting in your neck…
Yep! I mean, I take it seriously. It’s something that we put our passion into and it’s not fake, man. Those scenes when I’m in front of those women usually take about two hours to film, and I work with each one of them. You’re looking at no more than 12-14 minutes tops of what was an uninterrupted two hours for me. Nobody walks out there, nobody stops us, and nobody gets involved. And when I’m sitting there and these women are avoiding the issue or blaming me for things that weren’t my fault or accusing these guys of things that they didn’t do, and it’s completely obvious that [they’re] at fault and don’t want to own responsibility for their shallowness or, I’m gonna call them out on it.
Out of all the seasons of Tough Love, which woman has been the toughest to deal with? Is she in this season?
I definitely think it’s this season, and it’s Tiffany. If you’ve noticed, Tiffany’s not even in any of the publicity photos. You don’t see Tiffany up on the website. But Tiffany is in the first four episodes of the show, and that’s the fastest that I’ve got rid of somebody in all five seasons. Every season I kick somebody off, if you recall. But I got rid of Tiffany quicker than I had ever got rid of anybody before, because she is absolutely beyond reproach.
What was the reasoning behind that?
When she gets there, I call her out for being ‘Miss Phony’. And the reason why I labeled her ‘Miss Phony’ is because she would fabricate stories. She would embellish things to make herself out to sound more exceptional or more accomplished or all these other things. But I just thought she was just bullshitting. I just thought, there’s no need for you to bullshit. You’re an attractive person, you have a lot to offer, just be yourself. That was kind of the angle that I was going with, but then when it came to light that it was more than bullshit, she was perpetuating these compulsive lies that made it impossible for me work with her. I can leave it at that. As a matchmaker, I couldn’t work with her when I began to realize some of these things that she withheld from me.
So who have been your favorites?
Well, there’s several. In the very first season it was Natasha, because she’s had very healthy relationships ever since the show. Season two, I would say Sally and Liz. Liz is married, Sally is engaged. I’d say for Couples, it was very challenging for us all in all, but I think that Courtney as an individual really blossomed from the experience moreso than anybody else. I’ve officiated the weddings of two couples that were on Tough Love: Couples. One of them, regrettably, has already been divorced, but the other couple (last I checked) was still together, and so I’d like to think that was successful.
Last year, I think that Michelle was really a bright spot and she really benefitted from being there. Even Claudia, although she didn’t make it through the entire experience, she’s much better off from being there as well. And in this season I really think that Elizabeth grew the most. So you’ll see at the end what kind of transformation that she goes through from all in all. I have success stories from each season that will stay with me, but this season, the work I did is really going to benefit the at home audience more than anybody else.
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Tough Love: New Orleans airs Sundays at 9pm on VH1.
Follow Terron R. Moore on Twitter: @cityfitch
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