WWE Tough Enough: Exclusive Interview with Producer and Host John “Big” Gaburick

John “Big” Gaburick is perhaps the most public face of Tough Enough. In this interview, exclusive to RealityNewsOnline, Big talks to Mike DeGeorge about past winners, the trainers, the upcoming season, and much more.

Note from Mike: I’ve obviously taken my share of shots at Big over the last couple years. After conducting this interview, I have to respect how much he loves his job. It’s also clear that his goal, no matter what any of us might think, is to help create the next generation of WWE Superstars and give us an entertaining show to watch. Not that it means I’ll be cutting him any slack this season, but I was impressed by his dedication to his show. I hope this interview conveys the fun we had talking and kidding with each other.

RNO: You know I have to start with the end of Tough Enough 2. What was the reason for choosing two women? Some have theorized that it was a mandate from Vince McMahon in order to beef up the women’s division. What was the reasoning?

John “Big” Gaburick: There was no mandate whatsoever. Our reasoning has always been the same, we wanted the best two people. The first season we established early that it would be one man and one woman, last season we wanted to open it up and give it to the two best performers.

RNO: Have you ever questioned your decision for the TE2 winners?

Big: I still firmly believe that they were the best two people at the time. I’m proud of them, proud of what they’ve done. The internet loves to bash people for whatever reason, but remember they’ve been doing this less than a year. It’s easy to take a shot at a blown spot or mistake. They’re hard-working, dedicated athletes, and I’m very proud of them. If two women are the best this year, we’ll take two women. If two men are best, we’ll take two men. If one man and one woman are the best, we’ll take one man and one woman.

RNO: Do you keep in touch with past contestants?

Big: I still talk to many of the past contestants on a regular basis. I just talked to your favorite, Danny, the other day. I spoke to Kenny recently, and I think they all have a bright future in this business. I’ve been so busy with the current season I haven’t seen the prior seasons’ kids wrestle in a long time. They all have something special. I hope they stick with it.

I don’t want to dwell on certain guys or girls, but Danny is a perfect example of a person who had a dream and came on our show to try and achieve that dream. He definitely has a future, but that time just wasn’t his time. If they continue to work at it, to refine those certain skills, it will come.

RNO: In TE2 they specifically asked for submissions from Indy wrestlers, yet it didn't seem like there were any on that cast. Was that an issue in TE3?

Big: Let me tell you, one thing that disappoints me is that not every single Indy wrestler in the world sends a tape in. It doesn’t make sense to me. If you’re an Indy wrestler and your dream is to make it to the big leagues, you want to work in WWE, I don’t see a better way to do that than Tough Enough. We’re about fulfilling people’s dream of becoming a wrestler. We’ve done a pretty good job of that in the past, and you’ll be seeing more of that this season.

RNO: I had a problem with the thought of Indy wrestlers coming into the show. In my mind, one of the biggest draws of the show was taking these people with no wrestling experience and molding them into Superstars.

Big: One of the challenges is to continually make the show new. We strive to do that. Sometimes you hit a home run, sometimes you single. And in some people’s eyes, sometimes you strike out, although I don’t agree with that.

RNO: How do you feel about the use of the winners (and semi-finalists like Josh and Chris) so far in the WWE? How do you feel they are progressing?

Big: I really don’t want to get into storylines and angles, that’s not my area. But look at someone like Nidia. She’s brought a character that we’ve really never seen before and she’s helping Jamie Noble become the great Superstar that he is, and she’s a Superstar in her own right.

Whenever I talk to one of the earlier season kids, they’re all thrilled at where they are and what they do. Every time have a conversation, they are so grateful for getting the chance that they have, and I’m proud of them for what they’ve achieved.

RNO: Would you say that, considering how well Maven, Chris, and Nidia have blended into the locker room (at least from everything we've heard), the critics who think the TE kids are taking the easy way out and won't be accepted have been silenced?

Big: I hope so. I can see why people say it s easy way out. These kids are being trained under ideal circumstance, best trainers, best ring, best surroundings. It’s different from people training all over the country. That’s what Tough Enough is about, taking the best of the best and training them in ideal circumstances.

RNO: Like in the first season, you had to be sitting there thinking: Maven, how did we find this guy?

Big: I feel that way about all of them. Even Jackie. I know you don’t like Jackie, but I feel that all of these guys are the sports entertainers of the future.

RNO: On a final note on past seasons, Dale has mentioned many times that he has seen Matt Morgan work in OVW and is happy to see him progress. What do you think about Matt getting a deal before the series was even over?

Big: Well, they gave him a developmental deal, which as you know is quite a bit different than what the winners got. We saw a lot of potential in Matt, and we’re glad to see that he’s utilizing that potential. He has a real desire to achieve his dream, and if he works hard, that dream will come true. It’s like I said earlier, he got exposure from the show, and that exposure led directly to him getting a deal. That’s what it’s all about. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I’m very proud of him.

RNO: I know you came here to talk about the new show, so let’s do that. What can you tell us about the cast?

Big: You probably saw the press release we sent out. But I can tell you we have an exciting season. The cast is tremendous, there’s no other way to say it. We’re very pleased with the way things turned out this season. It will be very exciting.

RNO: How would you compare this cast to the last two?

Big: I don’t want to… before I compare, I will say we take the show in a different direction. This season epitomizes the “Tough” aspect of “Tough Enough.”

RNO: I’ve noticed that the promos I’ve seen have seemed to emphasize the pain and roughness of wrestling.

Big: Well, wrestling is a brutally tough business to be in, and we emphasize it this season. It is an MTV show, so we show interpersonal relationships, but the trainers really emphasize the toughness. The casting was even done differently, not the big extravaganzas of the past, but much more intimate.

RNO: I’ve read that you invited a lot fewer people to the tryouts this year. What will we be seeing on the Casting Special?

Big: We’re not even calling it the Casting Show, it’s simply the season premiere. People sent thousands of tapes and we invited seventy-five people to try out, twenty-five in each regional city of Denver, Chicago, and New Orleans.

We were able to do much more in-depth casting. We did training drills, talked to them each for over a half hour. After we finished, we invited twenty-one people out for three days of final casting in California.

RNO: Three DAYS?

Big: Yes, three days of casting, including some ring time. And that’s what you’re going to see on Thursday the 17th. It allowed us to see them work before we picked them, which lends itself to a much stronger cast.

RNO: What surprises do you have in store for us this year?

Big: I really can’t go into details. Every season we have new surprises, every year new things are brought to the show. We have no shortage of surprises this year.

One thing I will mention, we feel that the audience is the most important part of Tough Enough, so we wanted to make the audience part of the decision making process. Toward the end, you, your readers, everyone will be able to participate in the decision making process and make their voices heard, which is very exciting.

RNO: One of my problems with last season is that it seemed to be more Real World, less wrestling. Will this year be more balanced?

Big: We always try to find a healthy balance. But WWE had final editorial approval over everything. I think that’s a fair criticism in some episodes. In some episodes there was a lot of wrestling. It’s tough to find that balance so that everyone will enjoy it. One of the things Tough Enough gives WWE is capturing a new audience. Maybe there’s someone out there who hasn’t watched WWE for a while, TE allows these people to see what goes into becoming a wrestler. We think, this year we have a good mix of interpersonal relationships and learning how to wrestle.

RNO: What about the critics who said that watching people fall on their backs all day was boring?

Big: Through the casting process this year, we got a week’s head start. The thirteen already knew how to get in and out of the ring, they had some knowledge. Because of that, they picked things up very quickly this season. Our cast this year are all athletes, all intelligent, and all able to put 2+2 together very quickly.

RNO: Is there a hot-tub this year?

Big: Yes there is. You’ll be excited to hear that, I’m sure.

RNO: Why the switch in trainers from Bob Holly and Chavo Guererro to Bill DeMott?

Big: A combination of a lot of reasons. What happens at the end of each season, JR, Kevin Dunn and myself go into a room and talk about who we would want as a trainer for next season. We talk about everyone on the roster, taking into account whose character would fit the show, who would be comfortable in the role, who has experience training, who has the time in their schedule. When we find the character we want to highlight, we approach people and ask. We try to mix it up. We would have loved to have Bob Holly back, or Chavo, but we wanted to have someone new.

RNO: So what do you think of the job Bill did on the show?

Big: Bill hit a home run. He’s knowledgeable, epitomizes the word tough, he’s not afraid to speak his mind. We also feel this is a good fresh start for him. He’s pretty much reached the end of what he could do with the Hugh Morrus character. Bill definitely hit a home run.

RNO: What about special guests for this season?

Big: Oh, wait, let me check my notes from your report: “Confirming a theory of mine from past years, Lance Storm says that he was really given no direction or script for his session, and thus resorted to making fun of Al Snow most of the time.” Is this how it looks to you?

RNO: You brought crib notes into our interview? I’m impressed!

Big: {laughing} You bet your ass I did! You’ve been slamming me for a while now, you didn’t think I’d bring some ammunition to get you back?

RNO: Well, now that you’ve mentioned it, what do you think about Lance’s comments?

Big: I ask the stars to come in and talk about certain aspects of their careers. With Lance, I asked him to talk about growing up and training in Calgary. Rey Misterio highlights the high-flying lucha libre style, which we’ve never really gone into before. Tommy Dreamer brings in his own comments. This is a reality show, I want it to be as real as possible. I don’t want them to come in and sound scripted like a promo, I want it to be real.

RNO: So Rey and Tommy Dreamer are two of the other guests this season?

Big: Yeah, there you go, there’s a scoop for you.

RNO: So what made you decide to go to Iceland?

Big: Iceland? Oh, wait, wait… you mean “Yup, Iceland. Just when you thought they hit the bottom of the ridiculous trips barrel with South Africa.” Iceland is the bottom of the ridiculous trip barrel?

RNO: Well, Iceland doesn’t exactly have a rich wrestling tradition.

Big: Iceland is part of my heritage, my Viking heritage. When you think about tough, you think about Iceland and the Vikings. And we participate in the Icelandic wrestling, which is called glima. Besides, Iceland is looking to build up their tourist trade and we were able to take the trip for basically nothing. They were willing to pay for it, they approached us. It wasn’t like the Bahamas, they weren’t laying around all day on the beach. It’s rugged, it’s tough.

RNO: I’d like to talk a little about you, if you wouldn’t mind.

Big: No, not a problem at all, go for it.

RNO: What exactly is your function on Tough Enough? Are you the host?

Big: I’m the Producer. I’ll say I’m the host, if someone asks me if I’m the host of Tough Enough, I’ll say yes. But my main duties are what you see on the screen. I also put the show together at the end, working with MTV. I make sure the final product has my involvement

RNO: Did the Kelsey Grammar incident (where Grammar fought to forbid the crew from filming at a house near his) cause a major problem in production?

Big: Everyone was disappointed with his outlook on not letting us use the house. I have a motto that good things happen to good people, and I extend it to “good things happen to good shows,” so it turned out to be a good thing. We ended up using an absolutely beautiful house up in the Topenga mountains, appropriately enough looking down at Kelsey’s house.

RNO: So you had daily spitting contests, to see who could hit his house the most times?

Big: {laughs} No, no, nothing like that. Everyone was disappointed, but in the end it turned out for the best. You might think I’m exaggerating, but I honestly think this is the nicest house MTV has ever used for any project. It’s that nice.

RNO: Can you confirm the rumor posted recently that a TE3 contestant had a psychotic episode?

Big: I can’t comment on that other than to say that there was a very scary situation that did occur and it – I don’t know how to put it into words, but none of us saw it happening. It was very sad. I don’t want to comment any more than that.

RNO: At this point you’ve finished filming. Obviously without giving it away, do you know right now who the winners will be?

Big: Honestly, this is going to be the toughest decision we’ve had yet. I think you’ll see what I mean and agree with me when you see these kids compete. They’re all superior athletes, and really close in terms of talent.

RNO: Any closing words?

Big: I’m excited about this season. I hope you’ll enjoy it. We’ve got a really great group of kids, and I can’t wait for the audience to see it.

RNO: I’m looking forward to it too. Thank you for your time tonight, I’ve really enjoyed this interview.

Big: Thank you.

Remember to watch the Season Premiere of Tough Enough 3, Thursday October 17, on MTV at 10 PM Eastern.

You can e-mail Mike DeGeorge at: mikmaria@earthlink.net.

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