Season 3 of "Work Out" Brings More Drama, Romance

After a controversial and moving second season, Season 3 of Bravo's Work Out premieres on April 15, and Jackie Warner and her Sky Sport training staff are back to their usual romantic escapades and gym drama.

Photos courtesy of Bravo

Warner is a unique personality on the television landscape — a lesbian, an athlete and a businesswoman. In a medium where elite female athletes are not given much coverage and the emphasis is on those who are traditionally feminine, Warner stands out for her assertiveness and power.

In a recent interview with AfterEllen.com, Warner said that to counteract this sexism, it's important for "men, in particular, to see women come from a place of strength, and that we can push ourselves physically and mentally."

With Warner front and center, the show reverses the common stereotypes of male athletes as more competent and talented than female athletes. For example, while WNBA stars earn a fraction of the salary and respect of their male counterparts, Work Out highlights a woman who is better than the male trainers, higher paid and more effective.

Whatever her shortcomings as a boss, Warner's charismatic and authoritative character is a far cry from the more passive women who pop up in both scripted and reality television shows.

As in the first two seasons, in Season 3 Warner never falls back on feminine stereotypes to make people feel less threatened. Her powerful business persona is inseparable from her physical strength. "That's why I got into athletics," she said, "because I wanted more respect. I wanted to carry myself differently."

While not every viewer may identify with Warner's strength and athleticism, it's easier to relate to her as a professionally successful woman who still struggles to master her emotions and relationships.

Warner's presence as a strong woman and lesbian on television was mostly serendipitous. Bravo, often described as "the other gay cable network," might better be characterized as bisexual (as in falling for the person, not the gender): Bravo picks subjects regardless of sexual orientation.

Andy Cohen, Bravo's senior vice president of programming and production, was part of the team that created and developed Work Out. He said: "At Bravo we follow the person. Jackie happens to be gay. … We didn't have a mandate saying we need a lesbian show. We just found Jackie."

Cohen went on to credit the gym setting with bringing out the drama in the personal lives of central and supporting characters alike: "You go into a gym and you start talking to your trainer, and suddenly you're kind of spilling your soul. [The drama on Work Out] is kind of the natural course of what happens."

Rebecca Cardon, Sky Sport's best-known trainer in the lesbian community since her relationship with Warner in Season 2, agreed: "Initially, [the relationship with a client] is sort of superficial. And then after you're with somebody and they trust you, they open up about the craziest things, like affairs, and different things that if it ever got out it would just ruin their lives."

Rebecca Cardon