What better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than with the ladies of MILF Manor? These sexy, single women of a certain age are looking for love on reality TV against the backdrop of a gorgeous lakefront mansion at Lake Simcoe in Canada. Because a show like MILF Manor requires a jaw-dropping twist, it was revealed at the end of Episode One that the fathers of the attractive younger men brought in to date the women would also be joining in on the fun. That was a surprise that stars Lannette West and Barby Garcia Gutierrez could get behind, for sure, because a larger pool of men means a better chance of finding romance!
West admitted that she and the other ladies had “exhausted every other avenue” before signing up for the show. “The bar is set in hell for traditional dating nowadays,” added Garcia Gutierrez. “No one has any attention span with dating apps.” With the stress of finding potential partners taken out of the equation, surely the women can just relax and enjoy their many, many dating options, right? Wrong!
“Anytime you bring such a diverse group of women together in such an extraordinary environment, things are going to happen,” noted West. Thus is the case between Garcia Gutierrez and co-star Crystal Jennings, who clashed from the very beginning and just intensified when when Jennings got upset with Garcia Gutierrez for flirting with a man she had “dibs” on. Viewers know there are no “dibs” on a reality TV dating show! When asked why Crystal was being so territorial, Garcia Gutierrez attributed it to Jennings’ “insecurity.” “When you’re secure about yourself and the situation, you don’t talk about being threatened by other people,” Garcia Gutierrez concluded.
Both West and Garcia Gutierrez stopped by the Page Six studio to talk about Season 2 and their professional resumes and to see if they could identify some of the men of MILF Manor just by looking at their abs [see video above].
DECIDER: You are incredibly attractive and accomplished women. Why try to find love on reality TV?
LANNETTE WEST: Because we’ve exhausted every other avenue known to man or woman.
BARBY GARCIA GUTIERREZ: The bar is set in hell for traditional dating nowadays. It’s pretty low. No one has any attention span with dating apps. If something doesn’t work out, they move on very quickly. It’s not how it used to be when I was in my twenties and thirties.
We’re getting to know the fun and spicy sides of you on MILF Manor, but I know you both are career women. Can you give me a brief rundown of your professional resumes?
BGG: I was a young mom at the age of 19. To provide for my child, I worked at Hooters. I worked at Hooters before I had hooters [laughs]. I obviously am very open about my stripper past on the show. I made great money and had no regrets. It was a great career there for a while. After that, I had jobs in startup companies doing marketing, and I found I was good at it. I grew from that and decided to be a marketing consultant. I started my own website, and now, I own my own marketing company.
LW: I joined the corporate grind right out of college. I dove right into telecommunications and worked in that field for about 15 years. After that, I made the jump to another industry where I’ve been for the past 12 years. I’ve been extraordinarily blessed with a great team of folks, a great company, great environment, great benefits, and—
BGG: Yeah, I never had any of those.
I hope the sons know that benefits are important.
LW: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Barby, your bio says your “toxic trait is drama.” Do you agree or disagree and why?
BGG: I agree in the sense that I am very feisty and I speak my mind. However, I do feel Latinas get called “dramatic” all the time when we are just naturally that way. It’s in our blood. I have Tabasco running through my veins.
Lannette, you were married at a young age, so I imagine it was hard to start fresh after the divorce. What was your first step towards finding happiness again?
LW: The first step was leaving my ex-husband. The next step was exploring other opportunities for dating and sexuality; getting to know who I was. I had totally lost myself in my marriage. I did a lot of experimentation. I had a great time.
Barby, I completely agree with you when you said no one is off limits at this point in the show. Why do you think Crystal was so territorial around the men (Darren and Stacy) she was interested in?
BGG: Insecurity. I don’t know what else to say. If you notice, I didn’t say anything about any of the women in Episode One about maybe being loud or hogging the spotlight because I wanted every woman to have a chance to be the center of attention if they wanted to, but insecure people don’t. When you’re secure about yourself and the situation, you don’t talk about being threatened by other people.
Lannette, you were seated at the other table when Barby and Crystal came back in from their “talk” and continued inside. What was going through your mind when they started up?
LW: I’ll be honest, it scared me. I got really uncomfortable. I’m not good with confrontation—
BGG: Oh, I am.
LW: [Laughs] It’s probably something I should work on. I’m learning, but I didn’t really know these people at this point. The unpredictability factor of it all, I’ll be honest, it scared me. I’m not used to that as an adult. I run, I hide, I don’t confront. For me, it was like a whole new experience.
BGG: But you can also admit that that tension …
LW: It was building.
BGG: You could cut it with a knife at that point. It had reached its max.
LW: I think anytime you bring such a diverse group of women together in such an extraordinary environment, things are going to happen. There’s going to be tension, conflict, disagreements. What we all could have done a better job of was just sitting down and talking and keeping it conversational.
BGG: I tried that. LW: I know you did, but it has to be reciprocated. I think that’s something that, in retrospect, we could do better next time.
There’s seems like there’s some new blood in the house this week. What can you tease about the latest arrival to the MILF Manor?
LW: She turns things upside down. Everything changes.
BGG: You want to talk about different dynamics and handling things better? Just wait for that.
LW: It was the tip of the dramatic iceberg for sure.
