Lacey Conner is great at playing the villain. On the first season of Rock of Love, she raised plenty of hell as the resident villainess, and now she’s back on Rock of Love Charm School for another adventure. However, Lacey is also very smart, and she’s tweaked her game so that she doesn’t risk everything. Watching her on TV, you might think Lacey is just another empty-headed chick willing to do anything to be amous, but the real woman is far too shrewd for that.
BuddyTV spoke to Lacey Conner about her experience on Rock of Love Charm School and her upcoming projects. She discussed her strategy, the differences between her villainy on the show and that of Megan Hauserman, and her work with her band Nocturne and her dog adoption charity. Continue reading for the full transcript and to listen to the interview.
What was it that made you decide to join Rock of Love Charm School?
Honestly, Sharon is the whole reason I decided to join. When the producers came to me about doing the show, they told me what the show was going to be about and all of that, I was just like, “Oh, I don’t know.” I wasn’t really feeling it. But then they told me that Sharon Osbourne was going to be the head dean, and I’m a huge Ozzy fan and Sharon fan, so I was like, “Yeah, absolutely, count me in.” So that was pretty much the reason I did it, because of her.
There were a lot of the Rock of Love girls who were on the previous show, I Love Money. Were you approached to be on that as well?
They did talk to me about it, and we were kind of going back and forth on whether they wanted me to do I Love Money or Charm School, and finally they decided they preferred to use me for Charm School. So that was kind of what the deciding factor was, it was pretty much more them than me that made the decision.
When you were on Rock of Love you sort of played up the whole role of the villain, and in the first couple episodes of Charm School it looks like you were falling back into that.
It was kind of funny because I found that being the villain and kind of messing with people is a really good strategy as far as looking at it from the point of view that it’s a competition. So from that perspective, it’s competition and you’re trying to knock these girls out, so using that strategy of kind of messing with their heads and pissing them off, it works really well, it’s very effective. It kind of throws them off track and it takes away their focus, and they start focusing on me rather than what their goal is, and so it is a very good strategy.
The problem is with Charm School I couldn’t do that too extreme because then I risk getting eliminated. Bret in Rock of Love would not have eliminated me for messing with girl’s heads, but Sharon could because she’s trying to basically reform the girls. So if I didn’t show that I was reforming myself, then I could get sent home. Even though I did want to mess with them and distract them to make it easier for me to win, I couldn’t do it to such an extreme level as I would have on Rock of Love because I would risk getting eliminated, basically.
In the last episode Megan was eliminated, and in the second season of Rock of Love she sort of filled that same role of the villain.
Well the difference between Megan and I, a lot of the girls really, is that some of the girls really let themselves get too emotionally involved. Megan would get really genuinely pissed off at some of the girls. I just remembered to keep a clear head and not get too emotionally invested in it. In other words, if a girl does something that pisses me off, I just remind myself, “Don’t get mad.” Because when you get mad is when you lose control.
If you notice through all this I very rarely actually got very angry, you don’t really see that often in me. Yes I’ll piss people off and they’ll get mad at me, but I usually don’t get mad back at them. But Megan lets her emotions get away from her sometimes, and when she ultimately ended up getting violent with Brandi M., that’s what got her expelled. I would never take it to that level, I would never kick someone or hurt them physically. So that’s kind of the difference between me and people like Megan.
It seems like your background in music and touring with your band has really helped a lot. Did you feel that you were better prepared or more prepared to go into this?
Definitely, definitely. I know some of the girls bitched at me because I got bossy with them and took over, but I only got bossy and took over when it was something I was a hundred percent confident that I could win. There were two music related challenges, and I just basically told the girls, “Look, I’ve done this a million times, if you just trust me, have faith in me, you should know that I want us all to win.” Because it’s in my best interest as well to win, so of course I’m not going to screw them in that regard. If I screw them, I screw myself.
I’m like, “Look, you have to let me take charge because if I do I can guarantee we’ll win, because I know this.” Whereas like on the fashion competition, I didn’t have that attitude, I wasn’t like, “Okay, I’m taking over.” I only do that when it’s something that I’m one hundred percent confident that I know what I’m doing. So the fashion show one, I’m not really a fashion person, I took a back seat and I was fine with it. But the two music competitions I did kind of take over, some of the girls were not happy about it, Destiney was one that was definitely not happy that I took over. But ultimately we won them, so it proves that I was right.
Last time we talked we talked about your band and also the charity you started for dogs, and I’m wondering how are those two? Are you still doing both of those? How are those doing?
Yeah, actually, as far as the music goes, I took a very long hiatus. I just got so busy between Rock of Love and then I did a cameo for Rock of Love 2, I’ve done a cameo for another show on VH1 recently that I can’t mention what just yet, and then doing Charm School and doing personal appearances. Just so much has been going on that I had to put music on the back burner. But I am going to be getting into music again soon, I am actually talking with a new producer about writing some new material. So definitely in early 2009 we’re going to get something going again. I get a lot of Nocturne fans, even before Rock of Love, Nocturne fans like, “When are you going to put out another album?” I definitely am going to get back into that, it’s just not something I’ve been able to focus on in 2008.
As far as the dog rescue, yeah, I am still very active with that. My rescue was called New Dawn Pet Rescue, and unfortunately I have to change the name because I found out there’s a New Dawn Dog Rescue that’s been around a lot longer than I have, so I’m kind of infringing on their name. I’m changing the name to Heroes Canine Rescue and Adoption. I’ve been very, very busy, as you know I get dogs out of the pounds that are sick or hurt or are going to be euthanized, and I foster them in my home. I rehabilitate them and then I find them new homes. As of today’s date, I’ve rescued over and re-homed over 40 animals. So it’s been keeping me really busy, but it’s been going good though.
Also Check Out:
Interview with Heather Chadwell from Rock of Love Charm School
Interview with Lacey Conner #1
Interview with Lacey Conner #2
-Interview conducted by John Kubicek
(Image courtesy of VH1)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
