If you watched the first season of "Shear Genius," you may remember Tabatha Coffey, the sharp-tongued blonde Australian who looked like she moonlighted as a dominatrix. She was voted the Fan Favorite that season. Anyway, she's getting her own reality show on Bravo. It sounds like a hair salon version of Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares."

If anyone is a client of the salons listed below, please let us know anything that might relate to "Tabatha's Salon Takeover."

Here are excerpts from Bravo's press release:

TABATHA COFFEY MAKES OVER AMERICA ONE SALON AT A TIME IN THE NEW BRAVO SERIES "TABATHA'S SALON TAKEOVER," PREMIERING THURSDAY, AUGUST 21 AT 10 PM ET/PT

The straight-talking, perfectly coifed Tabatha Coffey lends her sound advice and styling expertise to help desperate salon owners turn their struggling businesses around in the new Bravo series, "Tabatha's Salon Takeover," premiering Thursday, August 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

"Tabatha's Takeover" will follow Coffey, the charismatic former "Shear Genius" contestant and Australian native, as she visits struggling salons in the Los Angeles and New York areas and literally takes over the establishments to whip them into shape. Coffey brings her no-nonsense approach to the salon owners and stylists, all teetering on the verge of collapse and in dire need of her skilled business direction. With just a week to work her magic, can she put these salons back on their feet or is it time for the shops to put up the closed sign for good?

At first meeting, Coffey's distinct personality and wicked comments are jarring, but soon the owners and stylists figure out that in order to be a success in the competitive high-end beauty business, they need to take the savvy and fearless approach that has helped Coffey's own career flourish. Since her start as a salon assistant at the age of 14 in her homeland of Surfer's Paradise, Australia, she instantly fell in love with the field. At 15, she started a four-year apprenticeship program in Australia, and her love for hairdressing grew. Next she moved to London for eight years to continue her training, and has since been working in the beauty field in the U.S. for 19 years.

Coffey takes her training and the training of other hairdressers very seriously, and this passion drives her sincere quest to turn these salons around. Coffey's intensity for the business is clear in her unswerving dealings with the salon owners and stylists, sometimes driving them to tears as her critical eye probes the salons' customer service, cleanliness, professionalism, and overall styling techniques. She will also make her recommendations for which stylists should raise their rates, and which ones should be let go in order for the businesses to get to the next level as high-end establishments. The end results are often dramatic and inspire all those who have come in contact with Coffey to strive for only the best.

The salons Coffey will makeover in the Los Angeles and New York areas include:

Ten Salon – Long Beach, CA
De Cielo Salon – Burbank, CA
Martino-Giovanni & Pileggi – Sewell, NJ
Images Hair Salon – Oyster Bay, NY
Tika Salon – Rockville Centre, NY

"Tabatha's Salon Takeover" is produced by Reveille for Bravo. Mark Koops and Jonas Larsen are the executive producers.

After reading online reviews for those places they don't seem to be in any kind of mis-management or in danger of closing. My guess is that they just wanted free airtime.

Sounds like Peter Perfect on Style. He does small business makeovers including the staff. I thought I'd hate him but the makeovers make sense, look good and all have a warm and fuzzy ending. He has his own salon too.

Over in the Shear Genius forum, someone posted a link to a blog post accusing Tabatha of identity theft.

Word to all of this. I can't believe they are giving her a say in who should be fired from a salon. Is Tabitha actually "high-end" herself? I never thought so - her behavior alone screams "low-end". Is Bravo automatically giving shows to anyone who generates forum controversy? Jo/Slade? Tabitha? Talk about scraping bottom....

Why would Bravo put all this money into these shows, without checking the backgrounds of these people?

I don't see how Bravo can be held liable, but they sure are spending a lot of money taping and promoting this show.

ETA---- I like Peter Perfect, too. Found it by accident.

I never found Tabitha at all witty, nor did I think she was that much of a stylist to warrant her own show. She seemed mean spirited, and very much her own fan. That said, many salons I have worked in, in over 25 years of styling, were run by people with these same attributes. Especially in So Cal, where snottiness is considered an admirable trait in the salon biz.

Apparently, some people seem to think that the more abusive, the more talented the stylist, and the better their hair looks. I stopped a long time ago putting up with condescending people in any service industry -- and that includes doctors, lawyers, contractors and anybody else I hire to do a job.

I don't see where Tabatha brings the goods the way someone like Gordon Ramsay does. She has a salon, and has been on a reality show. Ramsay has tons of experience starting up restaurants that haven't depend on his own hands-on cooking to be successful. What are her credentials to be a business consultant? That she can cut and style hair, has a sharp tongue and a good TV presence?

Me neither. The only thing I remember about her is that her long black clothes and short haircut made her head look reeeeally tiny, and she hated a blonde headed kid on the show. So.... even her bitchiness wasn't clever enough for me to remember. Hope this show folds quickly, her head is most likely big enough without her having her own show.

Martino Cartier at giovanni and pileggi....We love Tabatha she is women with flair and talent and after our show airs we will post pictures of her making over the salon be sure to watch Bravo aug 21 @ 10 pm then watch us Sep. 4th... Taby Cat you ROCK

As much as I love hair shows, I -- for one -- will NOT be tuning in to see more Tabatha. Couldn't bear her mean, cold, tiny little eyes on SG1 and don't recall having much respect for her as a stylist. She won Fans' Favorite? Ewwwww...!

Not sure if I will watch this show, but IMO Tabatha looks an awful lot like Lord Voldemort.

Hello all, I can tell you that my salon was chosen to be the pilot episode of this show and while we cannot reveal much until it airs....I can tell you that the designer that makes the salon over really likes sweedish furniture stores. Thats all...Richie

I should have said the salon that i rent from, it is defenetely not my salon!

Add me to the list of those with no intention of watching this show. I saw enough of Tabatha on SG to last a lifetime. And it's not as if we don't already know each episode will feature Tabatha looking all severe while insulting the salon staffs and decor. It's past time for her to take her tired ass back Down Under.

Okay, I can't believe I'm saying this but I really enjoyed this show--it was infinitely better than I'd thought it would be, and Tabitha is so very much better that I'd thought. She was funny and biting, like Gordon Ramsay with wit and self-awareness. I was suspicious because I'd really hated her on Shear Genius, and because SG really left me with the impression that it was impossible for hairdressing to be interesting--I'm still not sure I'm wrong on that, but there was more business-building and makeover stuff than hair-cutting. Not an amazing show, of course, but definitely entertaining.

I was impressed by the alien impersonating a human and behaving in a way that was humane. But from the previews for the next episode, looks like she returns to the ways of her planet.

I really liked the first episode. The producers used the formula from the British Kitchen Nightmares more than the US version, which included a lot of interviews with Tabatha explaining things. That is a successful way of humanizing her and downplaying her abrasiveness. I have to say that I liked her changes for the salon, and she really demonstrated that she knew what she was talking about.

I'll be interested in seeing what happens when the owner is very antagonistic. In Ramsey's US shows, the arguments dominate and the episodes seem to focus on the obnoxious owners. In his UK show, that is a role and he argues with the owners, but there is more emphasis on what he is trying to accomplish. As a result, the arguments are less of a focal point and the shows more interesting.

I was prepared to turn the channel like other post-ers if this series were nothing but Tabatha-snark. I'm glad we saw more of what appears to be the real Tabatha in the actual show. She made good points, she allowed the others to express their opinions, she truly made a difference. I'm in. Especially after previews for the next show. That guy is truly delusional. I hope she tears him apart! :o)

I totally agree. It's a terrible night for a premier, almost everyone is watching the Olympics. I started to watch with remote in hand ready to switch the channel - but I didn't. It can't be denied that she's abrasive, but the show was interesting.

My favorite line: 'My God, I thought he was going to hug me.'

ETA: Also, 'You don't manage people, you manage systems.' Seriously, WTF? Nothing like corporate gobbledegook.

I liked the pilot. I only watched the occasional episode of 'Shear Genius' so I don't really know about Tabatha particularly well. I did vaguely find her amusing on the show, but then I'm not an expert.

I was hoping this would be like the UK 'Kitchen Nightmares.' Whenever I see that on BBC America I am amazed at how the US version f-ed it all up. And Tabatha was the only person on Shear Genius with the personality to carry off the Ramsay role. You have to be someone that people don't want to mess with, but also someone who honestly wants to help. I was afraid she would just be mean to everyone but she wasn't. Glad she seized on the potential of the front desk worker-guy. He seemed like a lot of fun.

I liked the new layout better but wasn't fond of the decor. What was with the tacky Buddha statue? (I mean, if they were going for an Asian and/or New Age them... okay, but it didn't seem that way to me). Maybe they need Ty Pennington AND Tabatha.

... No wait. I take that back.

I thought it was interesting and informative. I've worked in a LOT of restaurants/bars since high school, and seeing salons as service-oriented businesses I could definitely see where the same advice works in both settings. Of course, it helped that I LIKED Tabatha on Shear Genius (anyone that doesn't buy into the 'reality show' staple of the friends and family sobfest each season gets kudos from me), and didn't find her at all grating until she let her rivalry with Tyson overwhelm all reason and she lost focus on the larger competition. If any salon owner pushes those same buttons, I assume we'll see an entirely different episode.

I actually do like her and I did like the show. I, too, was happy to see that they stuck really close to the Ramsey UK format.

I admit that I did laugh at the owner's sobbing exits. Could she have been any more dramatic? And also when we saw Tabatha saying to the sobbing owner, "I know this is all really overwhelming" and then ABRUPT CUT TO: owner, still teary, saying, "It was overwhelming". Ha!

I also thought it was funny when Tab said, "Oh thank god! I thought he was going to try to hug me!" As someone who is not overly fond of gratuitous hugging myself, I was right with her on that.

What I thought was so ironic, though, is that Tabatha didn't really tell these people anything that wasn't mostly just plain old common sense and could have applied to any kind of business.

I am not a touchy-feely kind of person so when she said that I laughed my ass off. I also agreed with what Tabatha said about those who have a tendancy to cry a lot.

I liked Tabatha on SG so I was sort of looking forward to this but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the actual series is decent. The show runners made a smart decision in modeling it after Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (UK). I hope that each episode ends with a revisit to the salons a few months down the line. This was certainly more interesting than the increasingly tedious SG.

I think that was the point. Kwanna (huh?) was so strict about following the rules she forgot that she had people working for her, not robots. Once those rulebooks were gone, the staff was able to relax and Kwanna could relinquish some of her control to David (?).

Loved the line about hugs. I have a friend who has to hug when she comes in the door and leaves and that just is not me.

Didn't care for the red pebbly things around the front, but the before was so boring. Loved the little rooms that were created for each stylist.

Next week just looks disgusting.

My major concern about the makeover is that color has a huge impact on what streaks and color look like. Sure, it looked more colorful, but how does it impact how the customer sees their hair?

(My colorist comes to my apt. and warns me each time that after blowing my hair in my bathroom, I need to look at myself in a different mirror. There are purple hues in my bathroom and it hugely influences how my color looks.)

Maybe because it's such a big issue for me, I was surprised that Tabatha didn't address the colors that now surround the stations. Red can be horrific for people with red undertones in their skin. I wouldn't want to sit at that station.

Wondering if there will come a time that Tabatha will recommend the firing of a stylist. Wouldn't surprise me.

And God knows, salons in SoCal could use a clean-up. I used to go to an Aveeda salon in Encinitas until I realized the stylist was using a used brush to blow dry my hair. Just yuck! Tabitha may be snarky but at least she favors sanitary practices. Too many hair and nail salons are getting way to skanky. And then the nerve of charging $200 for a h/c and a 1/2 weave.

This part also caused me to snort.

I didn't watch the first season fo SG, so I really don't know a great deal about Tabitha, but I liked the show. I think I will watch again. Next week looks particularly interesting.

I liked Tabatha last year on SG but wasn't sure that I'd actually watch her own show. But I figured, what the heck, I'd give it a try. I really enjoyed it. I found it fun and interesting.



It's so sad that common sense has gone by the wayside. People get so caught up in their "vision" and "dream" that they can't step back, take a look, and realize that they're strangling it to death. All the advice was common sense. That fact that it took someone coming in from outside to show that to them is sad, but kind of typical.

Oh, and while the new interior may not be perfect, it's miles better than the hamster wheel that was in there to begin with. Who was the designer that looked at the huge space and said,"Let's put a giant plexi donut in the center and make everyone walk round and round to get anywhere." ? That person needs to go back to design school. Yuck.

So. I'm reading the comments and observations here, and I see that Tabatha is well-liked and her show is being received well.

I need somebody (anybody) to grab my shoulders, give me a little shake, and tell me to "snap out of it" or some such. I don't get it. I mean, I don't get this show, I don't get Tabatha. God help me, I really don't get Bravo some times (but we'll put that one on hold).

Can someone tell me what Tabatha's background, experience, knowledge-base are all about, please? Why is she uniquely qualified to critique and dismantle and reorganize a salon or a zoo or a Burger King?

I'm lost. Tabatha was an amusing and interesting character on the first season of Shear Genius. She was/is a hairstylist, working from a Ridgewood, New Jersey, salon. Am I right? Maybe I'm confused. Anyway, yes, I remember that she won the Viewers' Fave award, but she lost the overall competition. She's a hairstylist, I think, yes? Where does this superior kind of managerial, organizational skill come from? Her ability to say what works or doesn't work? Why am I so confused about Tabatha's bona fides?

Is Tabatha really an independent agent, surveying and critiquing and trying to help the down and out? Or is she simply a mouthpiece for Bravo types, hired to pretend to assess and to manage and to emote?

Bottom line question: Why is Tabatha qualified to observe and to reassess a business's practices and employees? What are her qualifications and experience and just plain know-how? I'm not talking about her abilities as a hairdresser. What are her abilities as a business woman with a knack for finding weaknesses and strengthening them; or finding strengths and buttressing them?

I want to be fair; so help me out. I just don't get this show.

Whoa, having been a victim of ID theft myself I know how devastating it can be. Now I hope Tabatha gets cancelled.

lol, from viewing the pilot episode I see what you mean. :-)

No one's mentioned Chris, the salon owner's husband. Glad he's started working on a career.

OK, I'm no Tabatha-defender, but she owns and operates her own salon, which says she knows whereof she speaks.

She was a breakout personality on Shear Genius. She was, quite possibly, the best sylist that season, but her personal issues with whatshisname took over and she gave up.

Bravo put two and two together and came up with a show. No shocker.

Here's info about Tabatha and her salon.

I TOTALLY love Tabatha! I loved her on SG and I love her on her own show.

She's got 25 years experience in the business. She is owner/operator of a high-end successful American salon. Her waiting list IS months long (and that's what posters in the SG forum who have tried to book with her have said). THATS what qualifies her to have this show.

Whoever upthread said 'vision' has replaced 'common sense' is right on the money. Salon owners want to get to the 'pinnacle' of the biz but they forget that the road TO the pinnacle is built one brick at a time. If you don't have that foundation of talented personable stylists, respectful customer service, a marketing plan, and continuing education about the biz...then you're going to be in a lot of trouble (and on this show!)

It looked to me like the red was only up in front and the back was less overall red and had white dividers between the stations muting the sound and color from the rest of the salon. I thought it was a little bright overall.

Kwana and her husband apparently designed the doughnut or whatever they wanted to call it, which is why Tabs wanted them to dismantle at least the first part of it.

Here's Tabatha's bio. She's been working in salons since she was 14 (she's now 40) and while she didn't win Shear Genius (which I blame mostly on Tyson although it was their sniping at each other in front of the client that got them cut) she won several challenges in addition to winning Viewer's Favorite.

I was disappointed that we didn't get to see/hear more of the scripts and instructions in that monstrous policy book. I was dying to know what Kwanna had written out for stylists to say in every situation. For all that control, we still heard one stylist tell a client that her definition of an inch was about 3 times what the client showed her. And then the other stylist correcting the client's use of an outdated term.

I have to say I'm surprised that Tabatha did insist that clients be treated with respect and that they get what they want (with advice from the professional.) Tabatha's dominatrix-like and abrasive personality had me assuming she was one of those hair stylists who give her clients exactly what she thinks they need, and be snotty about it, too.

I think a lot of her posturing is a television persona.

sleekandchic, I have the same questions you listed. My guess is that she's getting a great deal of help from professional consultants that we don't see. I seriously doubt that she redesigned the salon and supervised the work, for instance. I'm sure the show sent an interior designer there well in advance to create the design, order materials and furnishings and see to the job. I couldn't redecorate my guest room in one week while working 10 or more hours a day on something else. (But that's just me.) I'll bet the show also provided a professional to deal with their debt situation, too. Tabatha's experience doesn't give her the creds to go through someone's books and tell them how to stave off bankruptcy when they are 1 million in debt.

I did enjoy the show. The formula they've chosen is pretty good, that of the British version of Kitchen Nightmares. Add to that the dramatic potential of an artistic profession that is loaded with people who are arrogant and snobbish, and it should be fun.

I really enjoyed this show! I am currently watching S2 of Shear Genius and saw Tabatha's guest appearance and was curious about her. I really liked how she sent in undercover people to get haircuts. It is ridiculous for 5 people to be at a desk and no one be able to book a walk in. That is just shitty customer service and by the looks of that place, it was not cheap.

I really admired the owner's husband giving up his job and helping her out but he needed to go. You could tell the man was bored and didn't care about hair. And firefighters are sexy, who wouldn't want to be one? Good for him.

I can't wait for the next episode.

I've also been a victim of identity theft, and as much as I hate people who do it, she is innocent until proven guilty. A random blog post won't make me believe she deserves her show to be cancelled. Has this woman put her police reports online?


She own's a successful business. And people liked her on Shear Genius (despite what a lot of people in this thread think, she was voted "fan favorite"). I mean, what makes Gordon Ramsay qualified to do it on Kitchen Nightmares?

I didn't think the show gave the impression that Tabatha personally designed the new space herself. It seemed to me that she just said we need to open this up and make it more exciting and then someone else figured out how to do it. I also didn't get the impression that she was providing tons of financial advice beyond how to improve their business. Gordon Ramsay discusses finances with the struggling restaurant owners but does not really give them financial advice other than how to make their business more profitable. I was surprised that I liked this show as much as I did - it had more substance than I expected and Tabatha seemed to actually care about helping out.

Favorite line: "You manage systems, you don't manage people." My eyeballs rolled across the room on that one.

I never watched the first season of Shear Genius, and don't know Tabatha but I like her alot. Then again, I like Charlie alot too. I thought all the stuff she was saying was really helpful and right on the money. Why have five people at the desk, and no one available for a walkin. How FU is that? That rule book looked major heavy and I wouldn't work anyplace that had that many rules, so that you might as well be a robot to work there. Telling people what to say in a hair salon. I could understand if they were being rude, surely they can think of stuff to say to a client. Look at that girl who was lost without the script. That is sad.

I'm not a touchy feely person, so when Danny came over to Tabatha, I thought "ugh, back off, we don't have to bond that much". Plus, why did we have to see so much of Danny, when there were obviously other people working to look at. I'd like to know why that guy who had 15 years of salon work, was not being allowed to work the floor?

Thank the gods that the husband left because he looked bored out of his mind, and appeared to be a living statue for the salon. There was nothing for him to do, and boy did it show. Plus, they needed his income to stop themselves from going bankrupt.

I can't wait until next week because that guy is seriously delusional.

He was really nice and deserved to be in a job that he loved as well. He had a Christopher Reeve quality about him (same name, I guess, too!).

Yeah, I'm sure it's a longer process than what they show, and I don't understand why the producers don't know that we know that. Like Queer Eye, they make it seem like just days rather than at least a week or two.

Peter Perfect and Kitchen Nightmares (the UK version) are the same way with people at the top of their careers. It's just that Tabs wasn't as well known until Shear Genius. Obviously Peter Ishkahns and Ramsay don't do all the work, but they have enough knowledge of what does work. GRrrrrrr is only 41 and Tabs is 40 so it's not like they're new to their respective fields. I don't know how old PI is.

Don't forget that GRrrrr used to be a footballer as well.

I liked the show too. Of course, I also tended to like Tabatha until her last episode on SG, when I cringed at her inability to get over her dislike of Tyson.

My favorite segment had to be when she went around and watched the various stylists do their consultations. If I sat in a chair and the stylist seemed as lost as Jennifer (the blonde) or even vaguely insulted me like Danny, I would have gotten up and left. Tab's critiques were dead-on.

The best answer is that Tabatha doesn't put up with B.S. Period. All through season 1 of Shear Genius, she was the one who spoke her mind in a straight forward, truthful manner. She doesn't dance around issues or feelings -- instead she is straight to the point and (usually) completely honest in her rhetoric. This is why she won Fan Favorite, I believe. She was a bitch, but not a snake in the grass, coy, behind-your-back bitch. The other, more optimal, kind ... in your face, emotionless, and well spoken.

What qualifies her to observe/reassess businesses is that the owners are not running a successful salon (which Tabs does) and that they have a million excuses why the aren't. Tabs knows that salon's serve the client and must please them. So, she may not be the one to look through their books or pick a wall color, but she is perfect for dismantling the bubble the salon owners have built around them in a bitingly truthful way.

I think British accents usually go a long way in making folks seem more refined than they make actually be.



Word. The walk-in's treatment was terrible but the one that bugged me even more was the stylist who argued with her client over the amount of hair being cut. I have a huge problem with this becuase I've been to stylists who say, "I'm only trimming off the split ends" but continue to trim and trim AND trim until you're unhappy with the result. Glad to see that stylist crying because she knew she was dead wrong.

Tabatha is Australian.

Is she? My fault...thought from her season of Shear Genius that she and Anthony were both originally from London. Well then, British & Aussie accents make people seem more refined than they may actually be. ;-)

Something I haven't seen anyone comment on yet is that Tab was actually incredibly sensitive to the owner's reaction to the massive changes she had implemented. She was sympathetic and kind to the woman without being saccharin and pandering. She also addressed the issue with the staff, who were clearly concerned, in a professional and matter-of-fact way that was in no way dismissive or critical of the owner's highly emotional response. AND Tab openly praised the crying owner (even though personally I had laughed at the woman), who was indeed able to pull herself together quickly and serve her clients.

ETA: I agree that Tabatha was very sensitive to Chris and his lack of "passion" for the business as well. Even his own wife couldn't see that. Tab addressed this without accusation or blame, really doing little more than planting a seed in his mind that could germinate into permission for him to make his own career choice. He seemed to just need assurance that, by doing so, he wasn't a bad person or unsupportive. Tabatha gave him that.

Well, I thought she had every right to be annoyed since he couldn't do updos for nothing and he specifically picked her to partner with because of her dislike for him. It was petty for both of them, but she doesn't seem to bring that to this show. She's very straightforward and direct and that's hard. Why is OK for someone like GR to be the same way, but not her?

I think that same quality serves her well for this type of program. She seemed pretty aware of Chris's discomfort at being in the salon and was able to bring that to kwana's attention without being bitchy about it. He felt too big to be there, almost like he was an animal in the cage hardly containing himself until he could get out of there.

Here is a link to her own salon in NJ, Industrie Hair Gurus. It needs some work, too, but is mid-priced.

I was really struck by that too; after the comment about crying at the beginning of the show I was prepared to see her dismiss Kwanna being upset as well, but she completely understood that Kwanna just needed a moment to really absorb all of the changes. I'm pretty much the exact same way, so it was really nice to see Tabatha be so understanding of the owner's feelings. I also really liked how supportive she was with all of the staff. I wasn't really expecting much out of this show, but I think I might stick around.

Also, next week's owner seems horrendous and I'm looking forward to seeing him get skewered.

I really didn't want to like this show, but ALAS! Now, I'm hooked on another one.

Tabatha was charming, engaging. Yet very persuasive and direct. I was surprised at the way she made suggestions in a way that allowed for the Salon people to think they were part of the changes.

There are nicotine patches (I don't smoke). Are there patches for reality TV addiction?

Apparently, he hadn't completed "Ten University," whatever that means. It was so important to Kwanna to have the image of what she thought a high-end salon should be, she didn't realize she was stifling some really good people. When I heard that they had scripts for every possible situation, I was mortified. Way to squelch every bit of personality they had.

When the blonde stylist (the one who cried) was arguing with her client about what an inch was, I wanted to jump through my TV and strangle her. I have long thought that the rulers in beauty school must be different from those in the rest of the world.

I really liked Tabatha on the first season of SG, and I love her on this show. I think she is very direct while still being sympathetic to those she is dealing with. I will definitely watch this show.