JACKIE WARNER, the lesbian fitness trainer whose seesaw love life is chronicled in the Bravo reality series %26#8220;Work Out,” is maneuvering though a dark, half-built gym in Hollywood. Already a minor celebrity thanks to her show, Ms. Warner has plans to renovate this equipment-strewn space and offer affordable group fitness classes.The studios are silent now, but one could imagine them filled with %26#8220;Work Out%26#8221; fans, a number of whom, it turns out, are not necessarily fitness buffs.%26#8220;I think my top demographic are not the gay and lesbian community, but housewives,%26#8221; said Ms. Warner, 39.Andy Cohen, senior vice president of programming and production for Bravo, said: %26#8220;Straight women across the country are not only obsessed with the show, they are obsessed with Jackie.%26#8221;Obsessed?%26#8220;I cannot tell you how many of the e-mails that we got from last year%26#8217;s %26#8216;Work Out%26#8217; reunion that were women saying, %26#8216;I am married. I have never looked at another woman. I have a huge crush on Jackie,%26#8217; %26#8221; Mr. Cohen said.The audience for %26#8220;Work Out,%26#8221; which returns to Bravo on Tuesday for a third season, grew by 25 percent last season, according to Nielsen Media Research, to 659,000 viewers, the median age of which is about 36.%26#8220;I%26#8217;m from St. Louis,%26#8221; Mr. Cohen said. %26#8220;When I go home a lot of times I%26#8217;m amazed by the suburban married women that are coming up to me and saying, %26#8216;I%26#8217;m in love with Jackie Warner.%26#8217; %26#8221;This, women of St. Louis, is not news to Ms. Warner. %26#8220;They get crushes,%26#8221; she said in her office at Sky Sport %26#38; Spa, her penthouse gym in Beverly Hills with sweeping views of the city and the Hollywood sign. %26#8220;I have hard-core women that get major crushes. I have women that send me %26#151; this is the weird thing %26#151; I have women that send me photos of themselves with their husbands and three teenage boys or whatever %26#151; I%26#8217;m just giving you an example %26#151; with a love letter attached.%26#8221; Other women, said Ms. Warner, who has trained the likes of Paul McCartney and Anne Hathaway, hit on her during training sessions. Those who can%26#8217;t afford the $400 an hour fee have joined social networking groups such as %26#8220;If Jackie from %26#8216;Workout%26#8217; hit on me, I%26#8217;d definitely reconsider my sexuality.%26#8221; As a woman with the moniker LibbytheCute put it in the interactive magazine Zimbio.com. %26#8220;I%26#8217;m straight. Very straight, and even I would seriously consider batting for her team.%26#8221;What in Sappho%26#8217;s name is going on? MR. COHEN and others suggest it%26#8217;s a combination of things: Ms. Warner%26#8217;s sex appeal, business savvy and knack for connecting with different kinds of people. More important, perhaps, is the portrayal of Ms. Warner%26#8217;s life %26#151; waking up with another women in her bed %26#151; which is done without judgment, in a matter-of-fact way. %26#8220;I think its very safe for women across the United States to watch this in their living room in St. Louis and think, %26#8216;What if?%26#8217; or %26#8216;Wow,%26#8217; %26#8221; he said. And they can have those thoughts with their husbands sitting next to them. As Mr. Cohen put it: %26#8220;Show me a straight guy that doesn%26#8217;t love to watch women kiss.%26#8221; Graciela Meltzer, a mother of two %26#151; Marley, 5, and Sam, 2 %26#151; got into %26#8220;Work Out%26#8221; last season. %26#8220;There%26#8217;s a lot of good trainer drama,%26#8221; said Ms. Meltzer, an acquaintance of Mr. Cohen. %26#8220;There%26#8217;s some really nice tear-jerker moments. And, of course, did I mention there%26#8217;s Jackie Warner? Mind you I%26#8217;m not willing to leave my fabulous, glorious husband for Jackie.%26#8221;But of course. %26#8220;My girl crush isn%26#8217;t so much as I want to date Jackie as much as I want to get closer to that look,%26#8221; Ms. Meltzer said. %26#8220;She%26#8217;s got fierce abs, a sexy voice and the most amazing lip gloss I have ever seen.%26#8221; Ms. Meltzer%26#8217;s TiVo is already programmed for the upcoming season. In some ways, %26#8220;Work Out%26#8221; is a misnomer. Sure, Ms. Warner works with obese clients and whisks her trainers off on fitness retreats. But the show%26#8217;s most compelling and entertaining moments tend to emerge from Ms. Warner%26#8217;s struggles, triumphs and pleasures: her therapy sessions, in which she tries to understand why she is drawn to women who are not necessarily good for her (i.e. Mimi, the ex-girlfriend who tends to bite when she%26#8217;s angry); her deliberations about whether to freeze her eggs because she has not yet found a life partner; her swift seduction of women, both gay and straight; her relentless efforts to expand her business (a protein shake and energy bars are forthcoming); the revelation of her father%26#8217;s suicide; and her attempts to make her religious mother accept her sexual orientation. All the while she plays the mother hen to a band of mischievous trainers. 1 2 Next Page %26#x00bb;
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