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"I'm not married, and I'm not hurting anyone. I don't have children, so I'm not embarrassing my kids. I'm liking my role the best," said Christina Kiesel of The Real Housewives of Vancouver, during her sit-down with The Vancouver Observer on Wednesday morning.
Dressed in her best friend Kevin's button-down shirt and pajama bottoms, with bandages on both her thumbs, the "modern-day Brigitte Bardot" looked as fabulous as ever. Her tall figure was almost otherworldly, as she appeared through the double doors of The Loden hotel room.
"[I'm] discombobulated to be totally honest," she said, walking in.
Though comfortable in front of cameras, having worked as a model for years, Kiesel's first reality show proved to be a brand new experience.
"This is the first time I'm really exposing myself to people's judgment," Kiesel said, her eyes wide.
"I'm kind of a private person. I never even liked my voice on a voice mail recording. So to see myself, it's alarming, but it's also fun."
"I would buy my horse a new blanket before I buy myself a new purse"
Not being a "big shopper," Kiesel said that she would rather spend her money on travel.
"It's the experiences. I'm not going to get much experience from this bowl, right?" the 30-year-old bombshell pointed to the ornamental dish with a shiny rock centred on the table.
"But a plane ticket? Imagine all the things."
The reality star was in Mexico a week ago.
"I spend a lot of time in Mexico. I try to travel to Africa as often as possible, so that's my next trip. I was in Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Morocco, all of the last year. That's my luxury. My luxury goods."
The dating scene in Vancouver
"Dating is difficult anywhere. You just have to put yourself out there, go online—apparently one in five people meet online now—or you do activites that you like," Kiesel said.
"I don't like running or jogging so I probably wouldn't hit the trail to try and find someone. I'm not going to start jogging around Stanley Park.
"You just have to be open to it, and you never know who you're going to meet. There are very good looking people in Vancouver. There are a lot of attractive people, it's just healthy living that I hear goes on that I don't really partake in. Yes, I hear there's a lot of healthy living in Vancouver" she laughed.
Kiesel boasted about her two failed marriages as her "primary source of income" in the first of the 13 episodes of the show. The former model was open about her two divorces, and said she's still friends with one of her ex-husbands—the owner of Gotham and Joe Fortes restaurants, two of Kiesel's favourite hangout spots in the city.
"He and I are great friends. I've set him up with some of his girlfriends," she added.
When it comes to love, Kiesel has doubts about there only being one "perfect match".
"I don't believe in soul mates. I find it highly unlikely that your soul mate just happens to be at a coffee shop. My soul mate is Kevin," she said.
Still, she hasn't lost hope.
"I love being in love. I love the excitement. I love the feelings, the butterflies. Because you try so hard when you're first dating someone, you try your best, you always try to be pleasant and to look nice, and you don't get lazy, you don't fall into bad habits," Kiesel explained.
"Who knows? There might be a Mr. Right or a husband three or four or five, who knows," the self-proclaimed jokester tossed her hair back dramatically, as if to give it volume.
Husband three?
"I'm actually seeing someone exclusively right now. I like him, I'm liking him more and more," Kiesel said of her man, who's from Iran.
"I met him after the show, so he's seen the first couple of episodes. I have warned him. He's being very supportive."
But don't expect to see him on the show, as he is also "kind of a private" guy.
"I think I could get him on," she quickly added.
Watching the show
Describing herself as a private person, Kiesel was anxious about seeing the reality show on screen for the first time.
"I don't remember the first two [episodes] because I had to drink a lot in order for me to watch them," she said.
"I was at my new boyfriend's place. I don't have television. I don't have a DVD player. I wanted to watch it by myself, probably rocking in the corner, drinking wine.
"Just when he was about to push play, I was like, 'Let's have a drink, let's have one more drink.' When it came on, I was chatting to him the whole time. I didn't even watch it. It was just in the background."
How it happened
Kiesel was in Palm Springs when she got a phone call from her best friend—her "gay husband Kevin", as she calls him.
"He called me and said, 'Oh, someone is calling regarding casting for Real Housewives,'" she remembered.
"I guess when they were doing the casting, they asked, 'What other women would you recommend?' And my name came up a lot."
Not owning a television and not having seen any of the episodes, she said she was "thoroughly confused."
"I thought it was an audition for Desperate Housewives. I really had no idea what I was getting into," Kiesel said, a bemused expression on her face.
"I mean I'm not married, I don't have children, so I thought I was an odd pick. But I guess in every Housewives episodes they do have the single, outgoing, kind of crazy one."
Catfights and drama
As far as the Vancouver housewives go, Kiesel makes being the "crazy one" sound like a lot of fun.
"I make a lot of jokes. I'm very sarcastic, and I'm very tongue-and-cheek about things, about my life. Let people make fun of me, let other ladies talk about my love life. It's great," she said, almost bouncing in her seat.
To deal with all the catty drama expected in a show like this, Kiesel's strategy is to take it with a grain of salt.
"I don't get bothered by it. You can't internalize it. You can't take it too seriously. I don't take myself seriously, so I can't take others seriously as well. It's not the end of the world. Life goes on."
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