Bravo’s “Millionaire Matchmaker” star Patti Stanger took up the cause of “Drinking With the Stars” with full heart this week when she brought us a few bottles of her new wine (called PS Match – get it?) to drink as we talked about her veteran Bravo show — which just celebrated its 100th episode. Of course, we weren’t going to object.
Stanger’s new pursuit in vino makes sense when you consider all the boozy mixers she throws for Southern California’s lovelorn elite. And considering “Millionaire Matchmaker” has been on the air since 2008 — an impressive run for any reality series — she has a lot to toast.
“Eight years later and I’m still here and I’m like ‘Thank you!’ to the gods, the reality gods up there,” Stanger told TheWrap. “Because who knew, right? I’m one of the original three on Bravo: It’s me, Jeff
And of course, James Lipton, she adds, longtime host of “Inside the Actor’s Studio.”
To keep “Millionaire Matchmaker” fresh, Stanger has switched up the format over the years. This season, the team focused on fixing up famous people.
“What was great is this season it’s celebrities dating regular people. Anybody can be fixed up; we have more matches than ever this season,” Stanger said.
“We sounded the alarms for the celebrities,” She added. “I thought it was going to be mostly men coming in, but a lot of women wanted to be fixed up.”
There were special considerations Stanger had to keep in mind when matching civilians with celebrities, though.
“Men date you for the wrong reasons. They want to financially get on your bandwagon, they want to get famous,” she said. “I was dealing with celebrities dating successful men or men with ambition. I wasn’t going to give them a schlub. You know, no slackers or no scrubs, as Chilli would say, here.”
Watch the video to find out what advice Stanger has for us non “Millionaires” — and her reaction to being deemed a feminist icon.
“Millionaire Matchmaker” has a new timeslot: Sundays at 10 p.m. on Bravo.
