Tabatha Coffey Had No Idea She Was Getting a Spinoff After Shear Genius

Few people ever have the opportunity to be a contestant on a reality show and even fewer get the chance to create an entire television career from successful spinoff shows. Tabatha Coffey knows this first-hand. She auditioned for the reality competition show Shear Genius on a whim and was sure her 15 minutes of television fame was over after she was voted off in a double elimination. As history shows, fans weren't done with Tabatha. The star of the new Bravo show Relative Success talked with The Daily Dish podcast about the unexpected invitation to meet with producers and executives after her departure from the hairstyling competition. 

After being cut from the show, Tabatha flew home and went back to work the next day before being called back to Los Angeles to film the reunion, which was shot on her birthday. "It was actually my 40th birthday and I won fan favorite; so that was amazing," she told The Daily Dish. Shortly after, she got a call to head to Bravo.

"I still remember when I was called into the Bravo offices after Shear Genius," Tabatha recalled. "I thought I was going to get like a T-shirt, and, you know, 'thanks for playing along with us. And here's your contract, we're going to rip it up, buh-bye!'" One of those executives meeting with Tabatha was Andy Cohen. "Andy was 'Andy the executive' then," she noted, referring to the many other impressive titles Andy has added to his résumé since. 

The meeting went a little differently than she imagined. The idea hadn't been completely fleshed out yet at that point, but if Tabatha was interested, Bravo was ready to create a show around her. "I have to say Bravo was really great," Tabatha said. "I was very specific. I didn't want to be followed. It wasn't about my house. I didn't want you in my home. I didn't want you up my ass at my business. I didn't want my staff bothered. I didn't want clients bothered. That's not me." Tabatha knew though that she wanted her spinoff to be about the hair industry. "Then, through speaking, we developed, all of us actually, just talking about what I loved and what I was into and what I thought, developed Tabatha's Salon Takeover and then Tabatha Takes Over."

Tabatha shared some secrets about her new show Relative Success.To hear all the behind-the-scenes details, listen to the full podcast episode, above.

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