The star of ‘Relative Success’ opens up about taking a break from ‘taking over’ and why she’s back on Bravo for the first time in five years.
Tabatha Coffey needed a break from taking over.
“It was hard,” the sharp-tongued Aussie tells ET of walking away from her Bravo series, Tabatha’s Take Over, back in 2013. “It’s a great show to make, but it’s a hard slog to make it, because I’m really in it with people.”
For five seasons, Tabatha “took over” hair salons and, later, other small businesses for a week, whipping the owners into shape by taking control of their shops. The series was a hit, but took a toll on the hairstylist, who first rocketed to reality TV fame on the first season of Bravo’s hair-cutting competition series, Shear Genius.
“It’s pretty emotional,” she adds. “So, it was good to take a break … but I missed doing what I did. I think other people missed it, as well. Everyone kept saying, ‘Can you come and help us? Can you come and help us?’ And it just felt like the time was right.”
“I really, I missed my show,” Tabatha says. “I loved it. I love helping businesses. It’s what I’m really passionate about.”
Now, the 48-year-old is back with a new series, Relative Success With Tabatha. She describes it as the “2.0 version” of her old show -- but this time, it isn’t about taking over. It’s about giving family businesses tools to succeed with minimal hands-on intervention from Tabatha herself. Now, she’s more of a coach. In fact, she’s actually certified to coach people in life and in business.
“To be a really effective coach, I have to help people, support them, give them the tools, give them the ideas … but let them follow through by themselves,” Tabatha explains. “Rise to the occasion or not, but really take accountability and responsibility for themselves, so that it sticks.”
The first episode chronicles the D’amore family, an Italian clan from Los Angeles, struggling to figure out the next step for their growing pizza empire. As you can see from ET’s exclusive first look below, Tabatha is more mediator than dictator this time around.
“This is also more, putting the responsibility on them,” she says. “In Tabatha Takes Over and Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, I was there all the time. When I went in for that week, I was there and I never really left. So, if someone didn’t follow through or didn’t pick up what I talked about, I was there and I would pick it up.”
Tabatha’s full-time work now is consulting, helping people and businesses achieve success -- though she says she will “always be a hairdresser first, last and always.”
“Being a hairdresser is just what I do and it’s my happy place,” she confesses. “I do a lot of hair and I do a lot of seminars and work with hairdressers and help them in their businesses, do photo shoots, things like that. That will always be a constant.”
“I still feel like I’m very entrenched in the hair industry and that won’t go,” she continues. “I just don’t do hair on a daily basis anymore. I help people with their businesses and getting their s**t together.”
Tabatha says helping people get “their s**t together” can be “intense,” and viewers will see that on the new show. She hopes fans also walk away with tools they can use in their own lives, regardless if they’re involved in a family business.
“It’ll resonate with people a lot, because a lot of people are struggling,” she shares. “It’s hard … dealing with family members. They will be able watch this show and learn things from a lot of the stuff that comes up with the people I’m working with.”
“The people who know how to push our buttons the most are the people who love us the most, and that is typically our family,” Tabatha notes. “So, they’re the ones that know how to zing us and get us, and sometimes they’re the ones [with whom] we haven’t gotten rid of the baggage we have.”
Relative Success With Tabatha airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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