NEW SG Interview: Millionaire Matchmaker’s Rachel Federoff1

by Andrea Larrabee

“I’m old fashioned and modern at the same time,” Rachel Federoff tells me at one point during our phone interview. As a key player in the hit Bravo TV show Millionaire Matchmaker – which is now in its fourth and most successful season to date – Federoff must reconcile her intrinsically alternative self with the always outspoken and often very traditional beliefs of her mentor Patti Stanger, who founded the Millionaire’s Club, the elite matchmaking service upon which the show is based.

The show makes for compelling viewing as it follows The Club’s well-heeled (and often well-quirky) clients as they are schooled in the art of courtship and get set up on dates. The Club is not for everyone however. Aside from a healthy bank balance, the other prerequisite is that the millionaires and millionairesses must be looking for a committed relationship, and not just to hook up.

To this end, Stanger has very strict rules that her clients must follow, and that Federoff and her fiancé Destin Pfaff (who, as COO of the Millionaire’s Club, also appears on the show) must therefore help instill and enforce. Drinking should be kept to a minimum on a date, the Stanger-mandated maximum being two, and all parties are also asked to refrain from sleeping with their partners until they’re in a committed relationship.

This no-sex rule is not a judgment on promiscuity, but a reflection of the underlying relationship goals. But while waiting until well beyond the third date can be seen as pragmatic given the aspirations of The Club, some of Stanger’s other dating practices are tougher for those involved – particularly the women – to swallow. She insists that her clients and their dates stick to very traditional gender roles; men plan the dates, and the women are coached to suppress their “male energy” and allow their prospective partners to take the lead. In an era of supposed gender equality, it’s hard for liberated women to appreciate Stanger’s logic. However, as Federoff explains during our interview, our subconscious instincts are often at odds with our feminist ideals, and relationship success often hinges on finding your personal equilibrium between the two.

Read our exclusive interview with Millionaire Matchmaker’s Rachel Federoff on SuicideGirls.com.

Millionaire Matchmaker’s Destin Pfaff and Rachel Federoff visited the SG Radio studio last month. Listen to the podcast of the show HERE.