TUF 20 cast member Felice Herrig is an expert in being a fighter with sex appeal. She could teach GSP a thing or two.
“I play up the sexy side, but I’m not playing, I’m being me,” explained Herrig in a recent interview with MMAMania’s Brian Hemminger. “I’m not doing anything I’m uncomfortable with. A lot of people think that’s what I’m all about and that I don’t care about my fighting, that I spend more time promoting myself than training. There’s only so much time in the day. I’m more dedicated than any other woman I’ve met and most of the guys. At the same time, fighting is a business. I’m promoting my brand. With women athletes, you get a lot more opportunities. It’s more intriguing to the general public if the see a woman that wouldn’t strike you as a fighter.”
Herrig appeared Thursday on MMAJunkie Radio, and related that the cast members were told that although they were filmed in various states of undress, they were given assurances that some semblance of modesty would be maintained.
They told us that they weren’t allowed to show any of that stuff, that they’re not allowed to show you changing or anything, said Herrig as transcribed by MMAJunkie. You’re around cameras 24/7, and sometimes, you’re like like, ‘F it. Whatever.’
To the three biggest lies, add “I will not broadcast your butt in underwear on a reality tv series.” If you can appreciate the female form, it probably makes you pretty happy that they did.
Gratuitous gifs of “that stuff”:
Herrig, a veteran of the Fight Girls Oxygen original reality television series, said the ubiquity of the cameras on TUF made it tougher.
On ‘Fight Girls,’ the crew left after a certain time of night, so unless you were in certain areas with cameras, you weren’t going to be on camera, said Herrig. ‘Fight Girls’ was a little more laid back.
They were just completely different experiences. For me, I wish I was a little more laid back on ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ But at that time, everything was so new (on ‘Fight Girls’). It was a new experience, and I was happy to be there. I wasn’t really stressed out, and on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ I was stressed because I was worried about things like them putting me taking my panties off on camera.
I was covered, but I wasn’t like, ‘Don’t look at me. I’m not a shy person. I’m not like, ‘I want to take my panties off in front of you,’ but you can’t really help what they choose to air. You’re on 24/7, and that’s what they chose to air, for ratings I guess.
I was trying to be on good behavior; apparently, that didn’t work out too well. But I was constantly in my mind thinking, ‘I hope that doesn’t look bad, or I hope I didn’t say that wrong.’ In ‘Fight Girls,’ I was just like whatever. I was me. On ‘TUF,’ I was me, but I thought about it more.
