NASHVILLE, TN — “Pickler & Ben,” daytime television’s newest “go-to” destination for the best in lifestyle and entertainment, airs Monday thru Friday on News Channel 5 WTVF at 9 a.m. and also on the CMT Network.
The nationally syndicated show is hosted by country music star Kellie Pickler and Emmy-winning television personality Ben Aaron, this highly anticipated talk show is a breath of fresh air for morning show viewers. The show features Kellie and Ben hosting segments with top celebrities, tastemakers and experts on everything from entertaining and home design to cooking, DIY and more.
The show premiered this past September and features the first-ever “Shop the Show” Format with Pieces from the show available for purchase as art of an exclusive Distributed Commerce Collaboration with HSN. Through a partnership with leading entertainment and lifestyle retailer, HSN, “Pickler & Ben” will feature a unique interactive format inviting viewers to “shop the show” by purchasing items featured on air from the comfort of their homes. Fans can shop items directly on www.PicklerandBen.com and HSN.com
Pickler & Ben co-host Ben Aaron, has earned four Emmy Awards as a features reporter for “New York Live” on WNBC and has numerous TV credits as a contributor for “Extra,” “Meredith” and “Today.” His posted stories on YouTube have earned millions of views. He recently teamed up with his wife, Ginger Zee, chief meteorologist for “Good Morning America,” on a new home renovation show on the DIY Network called “Renovation Realities: Ben and Ginger.”
Ben does a lot of commuting each week, between Nashville and his home in New York. Before Ben was ready to jet away to the Big Apple area, we had to ask him 5 Questions, while he took a break between shows.
TRIBUNE: Most viewers are accustomed to seeing you on the show New York Live. You won four Emmys as a reporter, and you’ve done segments on The Today Show, Extra Meredith. For your current show, you’re rolling up up your sleeves and doing cooking segments for the first time. What is that like for you? B. Aaron: I’ve watched cooking segments a billion times, so it’s something I’ve never actually done before, which I love it because at home I’m the chef. Ginger (Zee) my wife, she often works well into the night, so I want her to have dinner when she gets home. I always prepare dinner. I love cooking and the DIY stuff, so everything we’re doing on the show fascinates me. And Kelly, I don’t know if you knew this, is a world-class chef. I’m joking. She’s never been in the kitchen before. Who knew? So, she is learning what a spatula is and learning that you can’t put tinfoil in the microwave, that water takes a minute to boil. We ask questions – I’m very big on the show about being approachable by people. Ginger and I are everyday people. We do everyday things, we’re not these untouchable people at all. We don’t want to spend a lot on groceries, we want to make dinner quick and healthy, with a lot of it for leftovers. On Pickler & Ben, we try to make stuff and do things on the show that viewers at home are not intimidated with.
TRIBUNE: As you mentioned before, your wife is the beautiful, the talented Miss Ginger Zee, meteorologist on Good Morning America. Ginger is also one hell of a dancer too, as we all saw on Dancing With The Stars. As fans and viewers, we had no idea she could dance like that. B. Aaron: I didn’t know she could dance like that either! I cried like three times a day when I would be there in the Dancing With the Stars audience. It’s funny because I was in the stands – we’d all moved out to LA for a couple months to be there to support her – and I’m in the stands yelling at the top of my lungs, and screaming so happy because I knew how hard she’d worked. Watching your wife transform into this incredible dancer as she was rehearsing was just overwhelming. I couldn’t hold my emotions inside. Dancing is just one of those many things that Ginger is good at doing.
TRIBUNE: Faith Hill is one of the executive producers of the Pickler & Ben Show. Have you ever met Faith or Kelly Pickler before? B. Aaron: Never met Faith, never met Kelly. In fact, I’ve never watched American Idol. I’m the one person on this entire planet who’s never watched Idol or Dancing With the Stars until Ginger was on it (he laughs). I’m like in the crazy minority of people that don’t watch extremely popular television. So, I met Kelly at the chemistry test for the show for the first time. They basically threw us on set together. It was like an arranged blind date or something. I’d never met Faith before, so I met her on set too. Faith is great to work with. She runs around doing all kinds of adjustments to the set, making sure everything is perfect. A real professional, with incredible taste. And then sometimes we’ll talk to Faith behind the scenes, just kind of goofing off. She loves to laugh a lot. Faith has this great personality behind the scenes.
TRIBUNE: Ben, you and Ginger are definitely the ‘power couple’ personified here. How do you guys balance this? She’s in New York, you’re in Nashville – do you guys pre-tape so many of the Pickler and Ben shows in advance? How do you balance all of this? B. Aaron: Basically, I fly out Monday mornings to Nashville. We do a pre-production meeting on Monday, and then we tape two shows a day–Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, so we do six shows a week, and on Thursday, after our second show, I run to my trailer, wipe off my makeup, take off all my nice clothes, put on my jeans, and I get back on a plane to New York. I’m home for three or four days, then I go back. Hopefully, we’ll start doing three shows a day, which will mean even more time at home with my family. Ginger’s a super-mom. She’s an incredibly talented woman.
TRIBUNE: Are you two still doing the ‘Renovation Realities Ben and Ginger Show?’ (DIY Network) B. Aaron: We finished a complete season. But we are currently selling our house from the show. But now, the producers want to do a season two. So, I guess we’ll have to find another house and flip it too. for the house, where we’ve got to sell this house, and then find another house and flip it. We have a lot of work to do, and with all this crazy stuff going on. How are we going to fit it all in, you ask? I don’t know what’s going to happen. And then Ginger has two books coming out soon plus, we have a second baby on the way. There’s like eight thousand things, but in some weird capacity, we manage to spend a lot of time together, which is great. In marriage, you find time to do what you want and you make it work.
