I wonder how they decide which woman is assigned to their
Life Coach. In most cases in works out perfect. However I think last year Sommer might have succeeded if she had been working with Iyanla instead. Rhonda let her off the hook too many times.
This year,I think Iyanla should have taken Lisa and Rhonda Christina.

• RE: Life Coach,lovemydogdude, 09:46 PM, 01-07-06
  • RE: Life Coach,quiller, 00:56 AM, 01-08-06
    • RE: Life Coach,lovemydogdude, 06:37 AM, 01-08-06
  • RE: Life Coach,SOfan0221, 09:54 AM, 01-08-06
    • RE: Life Coach,celisabeth, 02:50 PM, 01-08-06
  • RE: Life Coach,Lisalou, 05:35 PM, 01-08-06
    • RE: Life Coach,celisabeth, 06:55 PM, 01-08-06
      • RE: Life Coach,OklaBlue, 07:02 PM, 01-08-06
• RE: Life Coach,ohmaheck, 08:33 PM, 01-08-06
  • RE: Life Coach,skylarladyblue, 06:20 AM, 01-09-06
    • RE: Life Coach,SOfan0221, 07:56 AM, 01-09-06
    • RE: Life Coach,OklaBlue, 09:33 AM, 01-09-06
• RE: Life Coach,OklaBlue, 09:34 AM, 01-09-06
  • RE: Life Coach,celisabeth, 11:14 AM, 01-09-06
• RE: Life Coach,SOfan0221, 07:51 AM, 01-10-06

LAST EDITED ON 01-07-06 AT 09:49 PM (EST)

I think the LC's discuss the HG's cases and base their decision upon their own personal areas of expertise and/or successes, their prejudices, own personal strenths and weaknesses, and of course depending on in what order the HG's graduate they may just have to pick up the next arrival in the house.

I believe any African American HG will automatically be assigned to IY so that she can deal with any culturally related needs appropriately.

Uhmmm let's see looking back to the beginning of this season. IY and Rhonda study and prepare for:

Jill: As previously mentioned..automatic
Allison: Everyone knows Iy will get her
Jessica: Rhonda could deal with her issues w/o any problems..
after all they're pretty cut and dry..would be an
easy case too cuz the issues too sensitive..no need
to deal with any of her personality issues/flaws
TJ: IY would strangled her..she would have required her
to actually duct tape her mouth shut, to carry a
huge 40 pound book of pages around that she had to
flip through before she could speak, she would
have given her 3 real babies to care for (poor
babies) Instead of a box for TJ to sit in IY would
have locked her in a jailcell with a notebook and a
#2 pencil.
Christina: Rhonda is so disgusted by her past that she admits
right off the bat "IY you take her..I hate ho's"
Lisa: IY doesn't want her, Rhonda doesn't want her but she
wouldn't take Christina and IY has 3, Rhonda has
2 so..."Oh hell I'm stuck with this one," Rhonda
moans.
New Kim: Jessica graduates first which leaves Rhonda with
her..and the rest of the season the LC's are more
flukishly assigned....

Just my theory...

>
>I believe any African American HG
>will automatically be assigned to
>IY so that she can
>deal with any culturally related
>needs appropriately.
>
I don't agree that African American women are automatically assigned to Iyanla. Last season, both Deborah (who never really got to work with her, cause she left) and Tess had Rhonda as their life coach.

I am not sure how the assignments are made. I do think that it would be better if Lisa and Christina had their life coaches switched. I can't see Iyanla tolerating Lisa's behavior and Rhonda is more likely to call Christina on her behavior, IMHO.

TJ is a challenge as they both seem to dislike her. Personally, I would have her coached by Dr. Stan, who probably has a better idea about her condition.

cause this is what I do when I am NOT watching SO or posting on this board.

LAST EDITED ON 01-08-06 AT 06:39 AM (EST)

Hello Quiller...I so respect your opinion...just came in on this show mid last season (when Allison first arrived in her hat) PLEASE TELL ME HOWEVER,...did these assignments you're referring to..occur as each graduate left (i.e. oops IY's HG graduated so I (Rhonda) have to take them cuz I'm one less)??..

If this was not the case would love to know...Just going off what I've seen..and I believe the inititial new HG assignment is a whole different trip then when each LC's assignment graduates..then the next HG is up for grabs...I realize that after the initial season's assignments each LC has to go with fresh meat if there recent sirloin just graduated...

I don't think that any African Americans are automatically assigned to Iyanla, after all Rhonda had both Deborah and Tess.

In some cases, I agree that the wrong LC has been assigned. I think that Sommer would have had a different outcome with Iyanla instead of Rhonda. I think that Cassie would have done better with Iyanla also. Rhonda tends to be a pal to her HG's while Iyanla is more a nuturing mother type.

I would love to have an Iyanla hug.

>I don't think that any African Americans are automatically
>assigned to Iyanla, after all Rhonda had both Deborah and Tess.
>
>In some cases, I agree that the wrong LC has been assigned. I
>think that Sommer would have had a different outcome with
>Iyanla instead of Rhonda. I think that Cassie would have done
>better with Iyanla also. Rhonda tends to be a pal to her HG's
>while Iyanla is more a nuturing mother type.

I'm just guessing here, but I got the impression that Sommer's early dismissal from the show was mandated by behind-the-scenes people -- by high-level B-M Productions people, so I think she'd've been bounced from the show regardless of who had been her primary life coach.

I do think that during her time in the house, though, she'd've been better served by Iyanla than she was by Rhonda. I just got the impression, almost from the moment Sommer appeared in the house that Rhonda personally disliked her.

With Rhonda, I see a lot of her assignments as being inappropriately punitive and I see her as getting into a lotta unnecessary and petty battles for control with the women she coaches.

I think Rhonda's been most effective with women she's genuinely liked. I've also thought that Rhonda has more than a touch of the snotty high-school girl in her. I think she's had trouble with relating to women whose goals, personalities or values didn't mesh with Rhonda's.

I remember her having had difficulty with grasping that Lori, from Season 1, didn't seem to have any interest in starting her own business and becoming an entrepreneur. (Rhonda had suggested that Lori might want to own an art gallery because Lori seemed to be drawn to art.) In general, though, I thought that Rhonda and Lori worked fairly well together.

I never got the sense that Rhonda related to Karen, also from Season 1. I had the impression that Rhonda looked down on Karen, and felt that Karen would've been better off with Rana (Iyanla's predecessor) as her primary life coach.

I remember having wondered why Rhonda sent Season 1's Susan out to meet men at a local gym when it seemed to have nothing to do with Susan's central goal of finding the biological father she'd never known. Here again, I didn't think that Rhonda did any real harm -- it just seemed like Rhonda's own priorities were in conflict with her client's.

In general, I think Rhonda works reasonably well with houseguests whose goals are fairly light or -- as with Jessica -- who don't have lifelong emotional or psychological issues. I find her really insensitive, bordering on unnecessarily mean when she's dealing with somebody who's got any kind of emotional trauma. I realize that Rhonda is all about overcoming "fear," but sometimes it seems to me that Rhonda doesn't want to help the women overcome their fears -- she just wants them to come to her without any fears to be overcome.

I was also thinking that IY automatically coached the African American houseguests, but forgot about DebORah. I didn't watch when Tess was on, so didn't know about her.

LAST EDITED ON 01-08-06 AT 07:08 PM (EST)

LAST EDITED ON 01-08-06 AT 06:59 PM (EST)

>I was also thinking that IY automatically coached the African American houseguests, but forgot about DebORah. I didn't watch when Tess was on, so didn't know about her.

The African-American houseguests I recall have been

Nyanza, coached by Rana (Nyanza was graduated)
Kimberlyn, coached by Rhonda (Kimberlyn was 'asked to leave')
Audrey, (who is biracial), coached by Rhonda (Audrey was
graduated)
Rain, coached by Rana (Rain was graduated)
Deborah, coached by Rhonda (Deborah left -- perhaps would've been kicked out)
Towanda, coached by Iyanla (Towanda was graduated)
Rachel, (who is biracial), coached by Iyanla (Rachel was
graduated)
Tess, coached by Rhonda (Tess was asked to leave)
Jill, coached by Iyanla

Of the four African-American women who have been coached by Rhonda, three -- Kimberlyn, Deborah and Tess -- have left the house without having been graduated.

It also occurs to me that the only women -- of any ethnicity -- who have been asked to leave, or who have left under duress prior to having been graduated, have had Rhonda as their primary coach. In addition to Kimberlyn, Deborah and Tess, I'm thinking of Christine H. and of Sommer.

I wonder whether Rhonda's track record with African-American houseguests makes it increasingly unlikely that she'll serve as the primary coach for future African-American houseguests.

Your statistics do not reflect so well on Rhonda's abilities to get a graduate out of SO.

It would make sense to have a life coach of the same ethnicity. How can Rhonda really relate to Jill's life? Even Jill questioned that...when talking to her friend Blu about weight and size, the differences between black and white conception of size.

Rhonda may have empathy regarding a tough childhood and teen years, and life struggles, but being a different race is another whole ballgame.

I heard Rhonda once answer this question. The only ones they actally have a say in are the first 6, after that they just have a group of women lined up and when a housemate graduates the next person in line comes in.

Instead of dwelling on the race and the life coach of the women who ended up leaving.... shouldn't we focus on the person? I can almost bet that most of us who are board members weren't surprised when Deborah left, and it had nothing to do with her race! It was her damn attitude! (Not to mention that my name is Deborah, and I hated the way she pronounced My name... lol)

And as for Tess, Rhonda did try to work with her and Iyanla even sat down and tried to talk to her but Tess had such a superiority and entitlement attitude that I don't think TNT could get through her thick head.

The original thread post question is: "how they decide which woman is assigned to their Life Coach".
This discussion is exploring just one possibilities. Of course, there are plenty of other possibilities. If you post a reply under the original question, the thread will move back to the left border of the thread.

LAST EDITED ON 01-09-06 AT 11:39 AM (EST)

Like here. I think they get together with Dr. Stan and others including the producers and work with the program storyline and fill in the "need" with selected applicants as need arises.

There's a quote from Rhonda out there somewhere in netland where she explains how they are selected. Maybe someone can find that.

>Like here. I think they get together with Dr. Stan and others
>including the producers and work with the program storyline and
>fill in the "need" with selected applicants as need arises.

If the earlier post, stating that Rhonda has said that the first six houseguests are carefully assigned the life coach believed to be best equipped to coach her toward a particular goal, or to understand her challenges, and the later houseguests are assigned to whichever life coach has an available slot for a client, then I think drama is taking a backseat to the coaching after the season's original six begin moving on.

I'm not unaware that this show is a mix of "Supporting women in meeting their goals" and "Maximizing drama." I guess I'd like to think, however, that the women who are slated to come in after the original six come into the house when the life coach best suited to help them has a slot available, not when it seems that "It's time to bring in a woman who's really going to have a personality conflict with another houseguest." Or whatever the reasons are for determining in which order the new houseguests enter the house.

Perhaps and this is just my humble opinion, that once the initial 6 HG's are chosen for the season start then the next two potential HG's are put on notice so that if one of Rhonda's HG graduates then the new HG that will be assigned to Rhonda comes on board, or vice versa if it is one of Iyanla's HG gradutating. I'm sure that this is too simple a concept and is one coming from a woman's point of view.

The show is supposed to be about women helping women, but the editing, directing, producing and all the behind the camera scenes definately have a male flavor. Hopefully the LC choices are not manipulated by B-M but by the LC's themselves with possibly input from Dr. Stan.