Articles - Interviews

John Stephen talks to Kevin from the Chippendales on food, girls and stuffed animals.

How did you become a Chippendale?
All the guys have different stories. For me, I went through the audition process. My mum went to see the show and came home and said that I had to do it! I went to the auditions and was lucky enough to get in.

Do you have a particular diet or gym routine to follow?
Diet is the most important thing; we eat high protein and low carbs. We aren’t allowed to eat fried foods either so it’s pretty much Grilled Chicken and steamed vegetables. When we are back at home we try to meet up and do 2 to 3 hour workouts 5 to 6 days a week. When we are on tour we will go anytime that is possible, obviously all the travelling makes it hard. We have 2 professional dance captains so they lead our workouts.

What is the recruitment process like for a wannabe Chippendale?
Really difficult! There are about 100 guys per audition, and some turn up and – like me – have never even heard of an 8 count. You have to take a years dance class as well. Interviews are also really important, as the PR and promotional side of the job is important.

Do you have a Pre Show routine?
Yeah you know all the guys do something a little different; we stretch out, some guys meditate or do yoga. I like to listen to loud music and get hyped up for the show. We usually come in early and talk through the day, see if there are any rehearsals or stage issues or whatnot. Everyone has pretty much got their own routine. Right before the show the guys are doing a little pumping up with the rubber band type things, stretching and things like that.

What is the weirdest missile that you’ve had thrown at you on stage?
The weirdest missile... well we were in St Albans last night; there were a lot of panties being thrown, a couple of room keys, and bras of course. Generally stuff like that.

Anything out of the ordinary?
We have had stuffed animals, photos and some other random stuff.

Do you ever get asked to do a private show? What is the most money you have been offered?
Yeah I’ve been offered money before. A couple wanted me to come do a private dance for them – they offered US$ 10,000 – but we are all professionals so we don’t really do that.

Aside from having 1,000’s of women screaming at you every night, what are the perks of being a Chippendale?
The travel is awesome, we were just in the UK for a month and travelled all over the UK, and Germany for two weeks before that and now we are going to Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macao. We are pretty tight, and all good tight and all good friends and it’s a lot of fun to just go hang out with the guys. We are working with our best friends on stage every night, so it’s a lot of fun and we actually have a good time.

This is going to be my first time to Asia so I can’t wait to see what it’s like. A lot of people have a pre conceived notion about what the show is, because of things they’ve seen on movies or on TV, but the show is really professional and classy, and it’s a really good time. We call it the Ultimate Girls Night Out because that is really what it is.