Interview: Strong Contestant Jill May Talks About Making Changes and Getting Strong

Jill May

I’ve been a fan of the reality competition show Strong since it premiered on NBC last month. Created by Dave Broome, who also created The Biggest Loser, Strong focuses on getting healthy and fit rather than worrying about the numbers on a scale.

What makes Strong unique is each contestant is paired with a trainer but instead of cheering from the sidelines, the trainers compete alongside their trainees.

Jill May is one of the contestants who stood out in my review of the Strong pilot. Jill and her trainer Bennie Wylie quickly became a force to be reckoned with after winning several challenges. It wasn’t until later that I learned she’s from my home state of Minnesota.

Your Entertainment Corner reached out to the people behind Strong and Jill was gracious enough to agree to a phone interview with me. Below are my questions and Jill’s responses.

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Greg Staffa: What was the process from when you first heard about the show to filming the first episode?

Jill May: I first heard about the show when I came across an ad on the NBC casting website probably in the spring of last year — so about a year ago, give or take a month, around this time. And then I went ahead and filmed a video and I sent it in. Kind of about the first part of June, I got a call and they were interested in having me send some more material to them,— current pictures, just more about my life. So I did that and then they called me for callbacks, which were in July. So I flew to Los Angeles and did some more interviewing, some testing, all sorts of things out there. And then I think a month or two went by and I got a call, and they were like, “We’re almost 90 some percent sure we’re going to pick you but we don’t know.” And so I was kinda hanging on. This was, I think, the beginning of September and then I got a call probably about two weeks before I flew out there and they said, “Yes, we want you.” That was the middle of September and then I was on a plane around September 22. We were in a hotel for about a week or so and then they moved us to the set right around the end of September, the beginning of October, where we started filming.

Greg Staffa: For the premiere, who did you watch it with and what was it like watching yourself on TV?

Jill May: Aww, that’s such a great question. I actually did a viewing party here in Willmar (Minnesota) at the YMCA and so I opened it up to the community and we had about 300 people there. We had a blow up big screen TV and we all watched it together, so it was me and 300 of my friends, family, and community members watching it at my local YMCA.

It was kind of surreal to see myself on TV for the first time. I was like, wait, I was just done that and now I’m watching it, and all these people are watching it with me. I was like, is this really happening? It was quite a surreal experience.

Greg Staffa: In the premiere, it appeared like trainers and trainees were thrown into the mix. Were you given a chance to get to know the other trainers? And what was it about Bennie that caused you to pick him?

Jill May: We were not given a chance to get to know them very well before we picked them. They each gave about a 30-second spiel about themselves. What caused me to pick Bennie is I knew going in what kind of trainer I needed. I needed a very direct person that wouldn’t, that would be very upfront and direct with me because I respond to that kind of person. So there was probably three guys, that when they came out, I just sensed a certain, I don’t know if you want to say, energy or just presence about them and Bennie was one of those. I just felt like his presence and how he was, his personality, in the 30 seconds that I got to see him would be a good fit for my personality.

And, he also won the first challenge, so I had a two-part thing there. I thought he would be good for me and my transformation, and also this is a competition and he’s strong and so it was kind of like a strategic pick in that way also.

Greg Staffa: The show features various challenges; were there any you enjoyed? What kind of challenges did you find to be the most difficult?

Jill May: Ya, definitely the tower is the most difficult by far. It had so many components to it. You would just get so exhausted after doing every sequence of the tower, you would get more and more exhausted so by the top, you were spent. So I guess the tower was the hardest challenge, so to speak. Also, for me, anything bench press was really tough. Like we did the liquid bench press, Nickelodeon-looking thing and that was really hard for me at that point, especially because my upper body strength was not developed.

Greg Staffa: What surprised you the most about your participation in Strong?

Jill May: That I could actually get thrown into this four-story monolith of a tower and make it to the top. Let’s get real here, I’m a mom of four kids. I’m like a soccer mom; we do car pools, you know what I mean? So to actually see this four-story tower, first of all week one, and to be thrown into it, I’m like “I don’t know if I can do this.” And then to actually make it to the top, I kind of surprised myself.

Greg Staffa: You’re active on social media, so what has it been like to see the immediate reaction that social media allows during an episode?

Jill May: It’s encouraging to see activity on social media from the show because the show has such a positive message of strength, and being your best self and going for things. I get encouraged to see anybody interacting about the show. To me, it’s an encouragement saying, you know what, this is a good message and people are engaging.

Greg Staffa: You’re back home in Minnesota and you don’t have the facilities or Bennie., What are some of the things you are incorporating into your daily life to stay strong?

Jill May: I knew when I went there I wouldn’t have facilities or Bennie forever so my mentality going in was, I need to take as much of it as I can, put it in my notes, in my brain, so when I do go home, I can incorporate it. So a lot of the exercises and strength training methods that Bennie taught me, I‘m able to do at my local Y. Every morning, I do 45 minutes to an hour of cardio. That’s just like drinking a glass of water to me: it’s just good for my body and for my health. Usually, I’ll do a second workout and I’ll rotate from day to day. Like one day, I’ll do an upper body workout that usually involves seven to eight different exercises, 10-12 reps each, going through the cycle three times. Then the next day, I do the same thing but for the lower body. I also like to incorporate sprints every other day. Those are some of the things I’ve brought back for my everyday routine.

Greg Staffa: Dave Broome, who created The Biggest Loser, said that with Strong, he wanted to feature people that more realistically reflected average people. What advice would you give someone looking to take that first step to getting strong without appearing on a reality show?

Jill May: I love that question. That’s what’s so exciting to me. First of all, a big huge thing is accountability. We’re not meant to journey this life alone; we’re not meant to journey fitness alone. You need to find somebody—not everyone can have a trainer—but you can find a friend. Or, you can find a group; you can find a class, I would say that. And another thing I’ve really been thinking about that I would challenge other moms with is, if you’re not happy where you are now, you need to change what you’re doing in some way. Like if you’re not doing anything, then you need to start doing something. If you’re doing something and you’re not seeing change, and you want to see change, then you need to make a change. Maybe that’s an extra 15 minutes of cardio a day, or maybe you need to add some strength training to your exercise. Or maybe, you need to look at your nutrition and change that up. But if you’re not happy where you’re at and you’re not seeing any change and you want to see change, you need to change. So I would say accountability and taking the first step to change something in your routine.

Be sure to tune in to new episodes of Strong, Thursdays at 8/7c, only on NBC.

For more information on Strong, visit the official website.

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.