The Secrets Of Jersey Shore With Roger Mathews #73

foreign dragon slayer media presents rich gaspari and John Romano in Fitness Fame and Fortune [Music] welcome to another episode of Fitness Fame and Fortune I'm here with my co-host rich caspari and our special guest Richie I want you as a as a jersey as a Jersey Shore guy to introduce our Jersey Shore guest this is uh Roger Matthews he's uh he's an original from the Jersey Shore you know I I moved into I wasn't always a Jersey Shore guy because I lived in Central Jersey in Edison but I've been down Toms River area for the past I think what is it seven years I've been living in this area and I didn't even know you know Rogers still lived in this area when I used to watch the show so I mean you know knowing him as actually have we met Roger we have yeah we have we've uh I see you around town quite a bit actually pretty much right on the other side of Fisher Boulevard for me man yeah yeah so I I we've met but I've just like we've always talked through you know through text and um you know well I saw you at the attila's gym event that's right that's right yeah I've seen you around a lot obviously Frankie and I are close you and Frankie used to work together a lot so yeah so Frankie's Frankie was one of uh guess Barry's athletes so uh Roger has a podcast which I'm going to go on on his show with Frankie Edgars so I said let's get Roger on our show you know so we you know our different uh fan bases we can you know uh share just so our fans know exactly who Roger is Roger was on the show Jersey Shore and you are Jay Wow's boyfriend right because at the time we uh we have two kids together uh unfortunately we are now uh divorced however we still remain friends uh I was actually just talking to her we got uh two kids playing sports now so it keeps us we're quite busy with that we have a son in soccer we have a daughter doing cheer now uh she's eight my son is six um so yeah we're uh you know you're you're sometimes relationships don't work out but you're forever parents and you're forever gotta go co-parent you know so and I and I see your really good father Roger because I I look you know I follow you on Instagram and you're always posting your your kids and activities that you're doing from fishing to boating to all the stuff that you do so you know you're you're a good father so um kid right my my mom had a photo album right I'm old school I'm I'm you and I aren't that far apart rich I was born in 75 but my mom you know took the Polaroids or whatever took the took the rolls of film that you used to have to go get developed and put them in you know a photo album you know and that's years later and now I feel like I build my own on Instagram that's kind of my photo album so when I'm not here anymore my kids can can go through my Instagram and be like holy crap we had a lot of fun with Dad you know we did that did this we did this so so cool now what about what about the episodes of Jersey Shore are you gonna let your kids I don't know about that man I mean listen I don't know how long I can stop them for I mean the internet's a powerful thing and they're already on it so um would it be you know would it am I trying to hide it from them no it was you know they wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that Joe so um you know I'm not trying to hide it from them but certainly there's is a lot of embarrassing things that happen on it I was a lot younger I gotta ask you because you know Richie was married to a to a girl from Jersey I've dated a couple of them you were married to one I got other friends in Jersey who are with Jersey Girls what is wrong with them yeah no man I'm I'm you got I'm a main boy I grew up in a little tiny town in Maine and I moved to Jersey my mom's originally from Jersey so from from up North uh she's from originally um but she her and my dad were married for 25 years so I grew up in Maine and I didn't even move to Jersey until I was 22 and a big part of the reason that I moved here was because of how the Jersey girls look the problem is they look really good but they're really mean most of them you know yeah they're mean they're a breed all of them to them all into themselves don't you think they're different from any other girls I've you know if you want to you know geographically plot them I mean they're just different they're just totally different means it's not that I'm making excuses for my ex you can she's pretty good at fighting her own battles but she would say she's not a Jersey girl she's actually from like Albany New York so okay it takes a little offense if she gets called The Jersey girl she is now she lives here yeah what's she once you live here you get stuck a bit but you're right they're really the really hot ones are the the most meanest I remember the the the day I saw her it was before the show was even bought before it was even sold they were kind of like filming a pilot it was it was what is now known as season one but at the time didn't even have a name you know they hadn't even named the show they were just you know filming a conceptual idea and I you know I was a local guy by that point I moved here I moved here in 98. um and this is around 2000 maybe nine and she walked into Karma which is gone now but she walked in and I swear she was just wearing handkerchief you know on her top and I was like who's that girl and before I knew it there was cameras on her and I was like you know as a local guy you see it all the time you see MTV always filmed a ton of shows here and you kind of steer clear of it you know like locals don't really get too wrapped up and that's usually people from New York or whatever but uh my buddy who I was with was dating a young girl and of course she was all about it so before I knew it she had gone out and dragged this girl back over to the bar where we were my my friend was bartending and uh it was lo and behold it was it was JWoww so uh the rest is kind of History you know that was uh that was 10 years of my life so did you ever think that this show would become such a big hit because when you look at it I go you know I travel the world and they found out I'm from Jersey and they go oh Jersey Shore you know every everywhere because of my brand I you know I go to Italy or I go to Japan and they always mentioned the jersey shirt I'm like wow that show had such a reach you know that you know as soon as I say from Jersey you had you know a Jersey Shore guy you know so it's just funny how that popularized you know the silly stuff that you guys did but it popularized you know Jersey so much but did you think this would be so big no no not at all and I got you got to remember I I was never a cast member I didn't try out for the show I wasn't trying to be on the show um but a pretty girl drew me in and um you know it was a always you know wrapped up with it for Chicago we were together almost about nine years I guess so it was about nine years of my life and believe it or not rich I mean we haven't been together in three years they are still filming that show still no money anyway shape or form I still get along with everybody just fine and my kids are going to have a really bright future mom does well with that show and they're gonna go to a really good college because of that show so I'm not hating them you know what I mean but uh did I think it would have the impact that it did that I think kind of because I was early on and you know I was before it was even on on it was even sold you know so like uh we met that first season one if you want to call it when they were you know what turned into be season one and then she came back season three and that was like at the height of it that was the Pinnacle of it you know now I feel like there's so many shows out there it's hard to get those ratings down you know they were getting like 10 million viewers you know per episode and um that's insane um but now it's it's really hard to get those numbers now because you know it's so oversaturated the reality Market the TV is just it's just so oversaturated so um hard to get those numbers but yeah so at that time it was it was very overwhelming extremely overwhelming especially not you know every day I left that house I went to a normal job those guys that was there that was their job that was no like you said it it was at the rights it was at the right time when these type of shows came about it it's I guess one of the first and once it became so popular now you have so many trying to duplicate it but they can't duplicate it and then it saturated the market it's almost like my industry and supplements I got into this over 20 some years ago you know getting into selling Sports Nutrition and now every time Dick and Harry sells you know every Pro I was one of the I was one of the first it was me and Labrada and it now how many Pros sell their own brand it's just they all sell Brands so whenever there's whenever there's a place where there's money or popularity people are going to gravitate to it it's and it's and it's similar to the situation with Jersey Shore it was a perfect storm perfect timing perfect everything I mean everybody loves a car crash right it was a little bit but you know there was a couple things that kind of pushed it too um there was the I think was the Italian-American organization was really upset about the use of the Italian flag on the house and that really like any publicity at that time was good publicity so that kind of skyrocketed that really helped it promote the show and then uh early on some scumbag uh you know uh punched Nicole on the side of her head in a bar yeah I remember that like you know that that kind of just rocketed the show and to infamy at that point and took off you know what what do you think about that Jersey Shore Mystique that that I mean there's there's a few places in the country where you can say they got their own Aura you know Miami South Beach is one you know you know Venice Beach out in L.A probably Fort Lauderdale um but Jersey Shore man it's like there's a thing there's a thing about it people know the names of clubs they know the the who's fighting who I mean it's like why is that what do you think uh is it about the Jersey Shore that makes it such a magnet enough to have a freaking successful reality show I would explain it you'd have to be from here to explain it you know and you know when you're talking to somebody from here because they'll tell you how to get somewhere by the exit you get off on the Parkway right yeah it's true well you're like all right that's the local I'm talking to a local but I don't know I mean it's It's You Know Rich can tell you like I I grew up in Maine and I was 20 I think I was 21 22 when I moved here and a small town living there was no gyms where I grew up I mean my high school didn't even have weights in it you know the YMCA was the closest gym to me and it was probably an hour ride away and you got to remember Maine winters are brutal so sometimes you'd be driving in a foot of snow to get there and it was it was kind of a crap whole gym at that and then I come to Jersey you know this this flannel shirt wearing hillbilly and I look around and everybody's going to clubs you know that that if you're into going out you know if you're not if you're not a homebody which I was I was 22 I was you know but I was a skinny kid skinny tall kid lanky kid from Maine and I'm looking around at everybody from the Jersey's yours [ __ ] jacked you know what I mean so I gotta get in shape you know so like one of the first things I did when I when I moved here was join a gym and I had no idea how to lift or what I was doing I had no clue but I kind of just figured it out because if you wanna if you're attracted to those Jersey girls that you're talking about they want they want they want to you know a guy with muscles you know so but but that whole era I mean it drew everybody into work I mean there was a workout party scene you know like it was definitely big in Miami um definitely in New York in the city um and Jersey Sherman you hear what people say are you from Belmar or you know what they mean they know names you know so but all the guys definitely the difference there are more jacked guys in on the Jersey Shore out partying with their shirts off in the club then where else in in the freaking world you have to go to probably Europe you know to to find another scene to rival that you don't think fails for guinea teas and cut off sharers have to be the highest you know in the Jersey tour area than any other place in the world has to be per capita but nobody Bears nobody wears a long sleeve shirt or or even a shirt I mean this this is a long sleeve shirt for Jersey you know foreign do you know Greg Valentino I know who he is yep yeah yeah well he was he was supposed to be good friends with Snooki I don't know I don't know about that but he did film something I believe it was for MTV yeah everybody watched that you know I mean I watched that documentary the guy the man with the largest arms in the world arms yeah his exploding arms man yeah but they don't tell you because I can remember watching that back when I was not a big guy at all and uh thinking Jesus Christ this guy's [ __ ] huge and then you know my buddy told me yeah you meet him and he's he's about five feet tall you know The Rage of the short bodybuilders but it's it's funny since that show I I it changed like you go to like you said Seaside the clubs are all gone I I heard they wanted to do another I guess another show and they wouldn't the town wouldn't allow them to do it because it just cost so much havoc in the in the town so there The Nightlife there is gone like it was back when you know when that show was big yeah and I don't know where the nightlife is now like around well I'm too old to go out tonight I don't go to clubs anymore anyways but you know Belmar has a little bit of it and um but I remember the same thing like Karma what was the other place in uh bamboo Hemingways yeah yeah all those clubs and I went away at the dinosaur but again you got to remember there was a number of things that happened there was there was um Hurricane Sandy happened which I mean it took it took Surf Club and put it right out the ocean that's complete Club was legendary spot um and then Jersey Shore leaving obviously them you know being done for a bunch of years before they brought it back they left that brought a lot of people in and then the boardwalk fire so it was like a trifecta of things that happened that really kind of killed killed the The Nightlife as we know it and seaside you know I'm sorry how how reality how real is the reality on that show I mean is that really is it what's scripted what's not I mean is it how do you because it it flows so there's got to be something behind it that's the number one question I'm asked by far that's the number one question I get and and I always give the same answer and again I'm not [ __ ] on the show in any way it uh it was good to me in that it provided me with you know a happy 10 years of my life and two beautiful children I would do it all over again to have that so I'm not going to [ __ ] on it in any way but I'll give you an honest I'll give you the honest answer which is that it's not scripted they don't tell you what to say they don't tell you what to do nobody rushes in it's like say this start if I do this but it's put together in a way where it's really hard for a drama not to happen I mean you're you're putting a house with 10 other people they take away cell phones they take there's no TVs there's no computers they take away pen and paper so you can't even write a [ __ ] note right the only way you can interact is to conversate with each other and there's like 46 [ __ ] cameras around you know between mounted in the ceiling and got so they're capturing every moment that happens and then you add a whole bunch of alcohol you cast a whole bunch of people with these very eccentric personalities and you got [ __ ] fireworks it was a perfect storm you know what I mean so um everybody I hear it all is on anybody can do that Joe all you got to do is get drunk it's not really true you know everybody thinks they're interesting until you put a camera on them you know and then uh you're not that interesting but uh it's it's you have to have the dynamic in the personalities that definitely helps and the other thing is you can't just do whatever you want you know like they're not your question was how much of a descriptive how much of it is are you told what to do I wouldn't say any of that but you can't do whatever you want for example if you want to go eat you can't just say hey I'm leaving I'm jumping in the Stars car and going to ShopRite you know ShopRite is a franchise they don't allow cameras it has to be like a mom and pop place or or a privately owned bar or something like that you can't franchises you can't go in and you can't just jump in a car and go it's a [ __ ] process like everybody has to go you got to get in the car so you know there's there's that you know what I mean is it is it 20 is it 24 7. so it's like they're just everything about you is your life is just you know so so I mean if you were if you were sleeping you know there's nothing going on there's a lot of camera guys standing over your head but if you wake up and you know for something other than just to take a leak and there's any kind of action there there's they come they come running out of the woodwork from somewhere in the back plus because all the mounted ones in the ceiling you know constantly the eye in the sky is always always recording you know so and it's funny I went went to that house it's a very it's just a very small little not what you think it is no it's very small even even me when I watch it on camera I'm like [ __ ] this place looks clean this place looks nice yeah it's a real [ __ ] what about like the uh the the on the location stuff like for example I'll give you one I'll give you one scenario and you tell me how it worked okay you're in the bar with uh with your girl some dude is you know harassing her he pulls her dress and you [ __ ] punch the guy so now the ramifications from that are the cameras are there watching did they instigate that did the family of the guy that you waxed sue them for you know stirring it up I mean how do you get how do you get how do you get a fight on camera like that and and get away with it that that I can tell you a hundred percent with complete not most honesty happened completely organically it really truly did never seen that guy before in my life neither did they he wasn't put up to it he probably could have pressed charges I think it helps a lot that I'm a local and I know all the bouncers and [ __ ] like that they're probably like yeah yeah okay buddy yeah yeah I don't know who that guy was but you know hell because I wasn't you know I I'm I'm from the area and I knew all those guys I bounced in Seaside for a couple years you know it's not probably helped a little bit the other thing was you know like like he would he could have probably caught charges for groping a girl so I'm sure he didn't he didn't he probably just wanted to be over with as a matter of fact he got locked up that night but um yeah no um after that happened it never made camera but his buddy who was in the military I think he maybe was in the military too um came up to me afterward and apologized said I'm sorry my friend was a real [ __ ] you know me me and his buddy ended up having a bunch of drinks after that so yeah that's kind of cool well there's things about the show you look back on to this day you know I I I'm a dad now obviously we had two beautiful children and uh you know I'm I'm they're my life you know and people will comment that remember the show because it has like a cult falling and say do you remember the comment you made to Jenny when you guys first met that you said you can't stand kids and you [ __ ] hate Christmas and all this and I'm like I was it was a joke like I was cool like if people thought I was serious I was trying to make her laugh and I don't think she got it so it kind of fell flat but I'm like no I of course I like kids you know yeah that's right I mean I I heard that there was a there was another um Jersey Shore that was coming about with a new cast actually no because I'm you know I go to um LA Fitness and one of the fathers to one of these kids um that was supposed to be in the show he's actually one he's an affiliate I don't know much more than that but then they said they were going to do the show but somehow the show now is being held back because of the the cast of the Jersey Shore much about it obviously I'm not really involved in anymore but I heard the same thing rich I was out I don't go out a lot but I was out one one night this summer I was at Jenks and you want to talk you want to feel like an old man go to James oh like a pedophile I was literally there for a half hour and we left me and the girl were there but uh some kid random kid came up to me and said he's in the new season and started asking all these questions and I was I was like bro I mean good luck to you that's all I can tell you so I don't know but I met some kid that said he was part of it and as far as I know nothing's ever come of it so I guess it was shut down or it's on hold or whatever like you said I don't really know yeah it's on hold for the what from what I'm hearing is that the original cast wants to get a piece of that show yeah I don't want to go further than that but that's what I'm hearing I'm sure there are a lot of them feel like they're married to this show like it's their baby they have put a you know to [ __ ] I what 2009 what are we doing almost 2023 I mean that's a long time for a reality show it's a long time for reality show to be going on you know definitely so what about now are you guys are you still friends with those people you hang out together or do you yeah no I wouldn't say I mean I wouldn't say enemies I would say that you know we don't talk a lot um I used to talk to Ronnie a lot every time he came back to Jersey we'd always hang out grab some lunch or whatever haven't seen him in a little bit I know he's a dad now too um I believe he's still on the west coast haven't talked to him in a bit but we used to talk quite a bit um once in a blue moon I'm going to uh Dina's son's uh party coming up here soon so I'll see a few of them there um you know it's all good it's all you know everything's everything's copesthetic now everything's cool wish everybody well but uh and my friends no because I'm you know I'm not really in that Circle anymore obviously we're divorced now um but friendly yeah we're friendly you know yeah you you said you worked your job you did you always work your job through the whole show you worked the same job now what do you do yeah yeah I work uh I'm a Teamster I'm uh I I drive uh Hazmat tankers for 11. I've been there for 24 years so I was there way before that show ever uh started as a matter of fact I had to call out a couple times on the duck phone yeah I got a little too banged up and had to pick up the duck phone and call my boss he got quite a kick out of it that he was on he was on uh TV you know he thought it was funny but you're saying I just had too much to drink I can't make it to work I'm banged up I'm not gonna make it yeah so so what would you still train a little bit that's harder now I mean listen I [ __ ] hate excuses that's the bottom line you can always find a reason so the bottom line is I'm a little lazier than I used to be but yeah I still train I'm actually uh got a haircut here and a half hour and then I'm going to the gym after that so so we're gonna Roger you know I told you I said we're gonna get a workout together I'm I'm I there's not really any great gyms here I hate to say but you know LA Fitness you know these franchise gyms the real good hardcore gyms like you got to go to like attilis like you went to to really get a good workout and that's a Hardcore gym otherwise it's you got it you got crunch LA Fitness I've been to them all man I go to a small family-owned one KS Fitness not a very big gym but I've been there forever it's got what I need I don't need a olympic sized pool I don't need a basketball tour I just need weights and uh not even as heavy as as they used to be I used to need the 150s I don't even need those anymore you know but uh yeah I'm not I'm not using the 150s anymore either how much of my training do you do was that how much fight training do you do fight fight yeah like training fight training nope none I've never I've never trained you got I didn't move here again until I was 20 two had no wrestling background because my high school didn't offer it I wish I wish um you know I'm good friends with Frankie Edgar obviously have a podcast together I've been a huge fight fan since the beginning of UFC very into it but never a train I trained with Frankie a little bit back in the day there's a picture of him arm barring me back in the day but uh you know Steve Rivera great guy I'm sure you know who he is Rich um big into wrestling he had behind his house he had what they called The Barn back in the day and uh it was very old school it was a horse barn that they they transferred into like a wrestling MMA kind of mat area to train and Rich uh excuse me Steve and uh Frankie used to teach some MMA classes in there back in the days and I did that I did that a little bit but uh you know you need a base you need a wrestling base you need you need some sort of base if you're gonna be a fighter on on a professional level you need to start really young that's that's key and I never even hit a mat until I was [ __ ] 30 something you know yeah and you got to be a born puncher you can't you can't you can't teach somebody how to punch hard it's either I kind of disagree with you you can't in my opinion you can you can teach but you what you can teach somebody is to have heart you can't give somebody heart definitely no I mean Frank Frankie's a good I'm sorry but if somebody can rob your will especially early in the fight they take your will out of you and a lot of guys have the ability to do that now you can't train that that's something you can't train you can teach somebody how to fight you can teach somebody you can teach somebody how to obviously there's levels to that game but uh you can't teach hard and that's what I think Frankie brings to the table better than anybody else Frankie's like the rocky of the hard thing oh man I really think that is a jersey thing that's a that's a yeah you know how did he end up asking you to do a podcast that was funny so so I used to be uh used to be begging to motorcycles I still am but I used to ride for a pro team doing like a freestyle stunt stuff used to travel these I was never really really good at it but I used to get hurt a lot and think I was good at but anyway um he had a motorcycle and I was always a Frankie fan I met him a few times we had a bunch of mutual friends and he started teaching this MMA class like I was talking about at the barn this is probably around God maybe uh before I before I did the MTV maybe maybe late maybe 2007 8 something like that and somebody told me about it they was teaching these classes I was like man I gotta I gotta get over there you know so I started going a couple days a week rolling with him and stuff just because I was a Frankie fan man you know it was just cool to hang out with him and a couple times he showed up on his motorcycle you know he had a like a CBR 600 crotch rocket you know and I had one too but I could I could throw down pretty good so we rode home together one time and um I was like just beating on this bike doing crazy wheelies and just you know riding wheelies for like five miles and stuff and uh showing off I was trying to show off but he's looking for Frankie and I ended up I ended up crashing right in front of him he almost ran over and after that we just became really really close friends and uh one day he passed me I was working and he was on his way training he passed me I was in the work truck and he called me and Frankie is he doesn't like if you know him at all he doesn't like asking for anything he doesn't like bothering anybody he does he's just very too very humble guy like he doesn't like like Rich you you guys have known each other forever and I'm the one that had to reach out to you to get you on the show you know I'm like Frankie would just call Rich you know he's like I don't know man I don't like doing that [ __ ] you know so anyway he passed me and he called me and he's like hey man what's up what are you doing I just saw you he's like hey have you that's not exactly how he worded it have you ever thought about doing a podcast like just out of the blue and I was like I thought he just meant me you know I'm like nah man never never really thought about it you know at the time I only knew of like Joe Rogan that was probably the only podcast I'd ever heard of and I was like no man I never thought of it he's like all right okay cool have a good day I'll talk to you later was hey man we should we should totally do a podcast together that's what he meant yeah it took like a year went by and his training partner has another UFC fighter Chris ligori um I don't know if you guys if you know I'm rich or not um he's another local guy but anyway uh fought in the UFC um hit me up DM me on Instagram it's like hey man you and Frankie should totally get together and do a podcast together you guys come from completely different backgrounds completely different worlds what he brings to the table you bring something else you know and then the light bulb went off I was like holy [ __ ] that's what that's what Frankie met a year ago and he called me you know so yeah it took him a year yeah yeah at least it sunk in eventually when did you start the podcast like two years ago yeah I think we're uh on episode 150 now we got about 150 episodes under a belt wow where are we John 75 fives yeah you know we we started this because of the pandemic we're like What do we do we're stuck in the house let's start a podcast located John I'm in South Carolina okay right on yeah I don't know if you know John we've been friends for a long time since I was you know competing [ __ ] in my early 20s and yeah it was one of the guys that I met in Venice you know California when I when I was living in California and he helped me actually prepare for a show giving me deep tissue massage you know for the Olympia so we've we've been friends for years and uh you know he's been with uh muscle and fitness muscular development with you know Dave Palumbo and he's now working you know for me as a as a copywriter for gaspari nutrition so he decided to do this you know this podcast together you know it doesn't uh does Palumbo and Lee Priest have a podcast together we we have Dave Dave and I founded the rxmuscle.com when we left muscular development okay and and under under that umbrella there's several podcasts and one of them is is called iron rage and that's uh Lee Priest and Dave I've done that podcast yep yep good dudes yeah Lee Priest is a legend yeah he's still kicking the amount that size on that guy and that guy is a genetic freak he's it's not like you know he took a ton of you know steroids to look like that that guy is just he didn't he's a genetic freak and um Bill looked like it today it's crazy he's 50 years old and he still looks the way he did when he competed and all he did was pick up the I mean John you know him better I mean he just started trading he didn't train for a while well what happened was he was he was injured he had that yeah right and then he got it was a couple of years before he got that sorted out and was able to actually train again and so the thing about Lee is Lee you know Liam like Dexter is the same ways that they never trained so much and put so much wear and tear on their on their bodies like some of these guys training six seven hours a day you know three hours of cardio and I mean those guys hammered their body I mean look at Ronnie Coleman I mean he's you know 17 surgeries in a wheelchair later you know um the the guys who didn't put that didn't beat their bodies all that bad Richie's kind of like on the cost Pete beat himself up and beat myself up he's playing for it now but um you know guys that you know they did nurse Shawn Ray you know he never he never trained that you know crazy and and and hard and he's still you know never got injured there's there's guys who just you know didn't put that many miles on and were able to you know pick it back up Lee of course add that to the fact that he's a genetic freak he's probably myostat negative like like Richie and and um he's just ridiculously huge I mean he's got his you know it was meant to be a bodybuilder and he said and he's really uh real you know like he's a guy that you get to know him you just like him but I mean he gets it's just he's funny on his social media how he's just like blasts people for Stu it's what you want to say to people but he just says it you know it's like like Donald Trump yeah he was still banned when I did his uh his uh podcast he was trying to get back on somehow he didn't give that much of a crap about it though he's like ah [ __ ] it they'll just ban me again he actually he and I were banned at the same time in like 2012 10 or 12. and he and I did a podcast together Under the Umbrella of VPX Sports Jack you know that's bang energy now this bang you know the drink now yeah yeah yeah so we had the it was the VPX shotgun Big Show and it was Lee and I together we were just ragging on everybody if we had enemies then we had made better enemies out of them so like you're you're you like I mean you're a jersey now you become a jersey guy just like I've been in Jersey and I've seen the world I always end up in Jersey you know like and I've Been Everywhere Roger I've been you know so many different countries and you know from you know I've been very fortunate to really travel with being who I am is it not only a bodybuilder but through my brand but I always end up here and I've always wanted to live on the on the water in Jersey and you know fortunately now I have a house like right on on the you know the Barnegat Bay which I love you know living here um you feel the same way is this something like you're here or would you go out to you know I don't know Florida or somewhere else I mean John left New York because he was tired of the Northeast you said it you mean you really said it in a nutshell Rich there's just something about Jersey I love it I can name a million things about it I hate I can't stand the politics I can't stand the corruption I can't see a bunch of [ __ ] about it but something about it man I call it home I love it you know it's the exact opposite of where I grew up which I also love very much love Maine and and and sort of the integrity and and the people up there I love but I just love Jersey Shore and it's funny you said that because uh we don't live far apart but your little neighborhood over there you're in me and the girl on the bikes we always use a crossover Fisher and ride through that neighborhood we're always like we're going to end up on this side one day we're going to buy ours over here you're not far from gorgo over there yeah I love that area she lives right down the street yeah or go and uh uh who else lives there the the guy who makes um somebody told me Heather Locklear's parents are over there near you too really I know I know that the um what is it the uh premium sausage yeah it's his wife but Jimmy uh Jimmy's the husband you know I've been over there he's a good dude he's a good is he still alive no no that I believe the story is I might have this wrong that's the wife of Primo sashes they got divorced and that's that's the wife that that lived there no that because it's uh John it's a house and a guest house it is yeah and they only live there in the summertime that's it really yeah I mean a lot of cool people live in Jersey you know Thomas Edison was from New Jersey you know you can't Billy Joel uh Bruce Springsteen I mean you can't you know you can't you can only not I'm a New Yorker so it's kind of like we're taught to hate hate on jerseys sexual Liberty as her back turned to him you know you know when I was well when I was winning shows and everything as a as a pro you know it's Jersey but the New Yorkers embraced me because there was not there was nobody else in New York at that time that was a big bodybuilder was in the Olympia so I was you know I'm Italian too so I was loved by all the guidos you know in Staten Island Manhattan Long Island you know so oh you're from the East Coast Northeast uh you're Jersey but we'll accept you because it's amazing you didn't get to do like a fight scene on the Jersey Shore you know they didn't ask me I guess you could have had an honorary spot on the Jersey Shore you could have you could have been welcome on the show I would have yeah I didn't you know while that show was going on you know that was like the height of my company as well we were I was like you were all over the place you know yeah yeah yeah yeah so Roger did you have any designs on being an actor through your experience with that or did you think it was going to lead to because you did do a spin-off right the Snooki show yeah yeah there was a we did Four Seasons I think of the spin-off show which was uh you know much toned down family version I guess of didn't have all the drama all the drink it was really about starting a family after the show was really what it was about and bringing our daughter was born on the show um but no there's there's nothing I mean I don't want to insult anybody so I'm just saying this about myself there's no talent in reality TV per se acting requires a talent and I'm not I'm not that talented although we got a movie coming out soon it's called uh we got a uh me and Frankie actually we're both in it Frankie's got a pretty significant role in it it's called Uh bastard son is is what it's called and it was all filmed right around Jersey here did a bunch of scenes on the beach in Asbury Park and stuff but uh we have uh the premiere for that just a private screening Premiere coming up a couple weeks so it'll be out soon but it's called the bastard son so yeah no I never thought I would be an actor I never really aspired to be one or tried to be one but this kind of just organically we were approached and we both said [ __ ] it why wouldn't we do it let's give it a shot you know so yeah well I keep going back to the fact that you you kept your job and I think that's I I don't want to gloss over that I think that's a really huge important thing to talk about because a lot of guys get into and I know Richie knows them we could list all we could probably list off names like for half an hour of guys who got some Fame got some success through their bodybuilding or through you know act or an acting gig or a combination of the two whatever modeling and they they made that everything and and forgot about everything else and then of course like everything eventually comes to an end and now they're left with zero um you went it wasn't it wasn't a couple of season deal you weren't like 10 years what kept you from thinking oh this is going to be forever and I'm going to quit my job and just be in you know do TV and make make that kind of money well I I think you gotta be a little humble you know that was never my gig that was my girlfriend's gig when I met her and then my wife's gig after that got to be a little humble you gotta take I was never trying to rob her you know her um her job or her uh what what she aspired to be I was never trying to take that from her I had my career I had my job and um you know it worked out so that the world was interested in us dating and us getting married and us having a child and and seeing that but I never saw it as okay this is my you know I wasn't smart enough to realize for the most part most people do this for 15 minutes and that's it it's a wrap and um so I just always I kept my house I kept my job and in the end you know I had we ended up getting divorced so it was a good thing that I did that I didn't have to go back out and reinvent my thing but you know I wasn't trying to step on her toes anyway that was her thing um you know I dabbled in it a little bit but I was kind of a weekend warrior most of the time so um yeah I mean I I took the state brew and a lot of people say that that is not you know you're never gonna really truly be successful if you take that route but I sleep well at night you know I sleep good at night knowing that you know I've got a really good benefit package for my kids and you know got a good job and I know what I'm doing never have to worry about where my next meal was coming from and I think sometimes you get illusions of grandeur and you think you're the next Tom Cruise which a lot of people do you end up living in Mom and Dad's basement the rest of your life and I never wanted to do that so unless you're a reality show like uh Kim Kardashian who that's something oh that's one in a billion and I'm not I'm Not tooting their horn or giving her accolades because certainly I could give her a lot of criticism like we all could but that's one in a million nobody makes it to that success level yeah like from reality she made it so big and and she's just well that whole family is just making tons of money you know and it all stemmed from her doing that reality show you know hi Kylie Jenner is the most followed human on Instagram is she yeah I thought it was The Rock The Rock is the the rock is the most followed actor oh wow she's the most followed human of all the people she's the most no I think that back she's not the um football player uh soccer player Cristiano somebody he's number one I think she's number three but um but of all women I think she's the number of all women she's the number one most and I don't even get how she is the most followed number three you know in all's Instagram she's the number three we're talking 470 plus million people that's crazy 330 in the whole United States I mean you're talking about you know a global reach that's just insane and and for what you know and and there's two aspects of that in my opinion there's the fame which a lot of people you know they they spend their life casing that a lot of people think being famous is the most amazing thing ever and the other aspect of it is they're billionaires but would you gentlemen would you would you trade your position in life now to be one of them I never would ever yeah I wouldn't want that they can never be normal ever I I'll I could totally be normal at any time I want you know yeah yeah what is you you know so Raja I mean you you have a you have a good following you have a high following um that's all from you know Jersey Shore and so you know with that of course that still gives you I mean you know because I have a decent following and it gives you this kind of like you know Fame through you know your social media Fame because people will come up to me and say oh you're rich casparia you know I follow you on Instagram and it's and it's a guy that or if he I normally have like older you know uh people that follow me that are into bodybuilding but then you have actually young kids that follow me because of my career as a bodybuilder and they follow my old pictures and stuff were there part of the brand but it's just interesting how you become famous through social media it's just a different you know fade it's something all all on its own you know I don't even know how to describe it it's like its own animal and it's not always all good either um you know certainly there's some some no time no no notoriety of it but also you know there's there's no place like the internet for people being brutally cruel you know what I mean it's like people think that they just have uh the right to say and do whatever they want on social media so uh you know I chose to stay on board I had a choice to make you know after I left that that that world I guess if you will um stay on board and stay you know stay on the internet and uh keep keep my face out there in the public or get the [ __ ] up you know off the tracks and I chose to stay on so you know it comes with a certain amount of scrutiny obviously you know after you get divorced too there's a lot of people that want to make two sides and that sort of thing and I mean we're well beyond that at this point but certainly it happened and um I think that you got to have tough skin and you know you're you're dad rich I don't know if you are John but you know there comes there comes a point where your kids get on the internet and you have to determine you know as a parent what their personality type is like and if they're not they don't have a lot of uh mental toughness in them which some kids just don't I mean you know yeah then the internet is not a great place for them and you have to decide with your kids you know ready for it or not you know and I'm not starting to experience that now you definitely have to have a thick skin I I got to tell you I I developed this thick skin because you got to remember I was competing on stage in in underwear with people criticizing how I looked so and you know you didn't you know they would criticize you so I was like I definitely needed a thick skin so when you go on social media you got these idiots making comments on your on your posts and you just have to you know you have to laugh at it but you're right as a young kid they can look at it and there's you know you're seeing you know young kids committing suicide from you know bullying from you know social media so it's it's something that I never thought of you know I didn't grow up in that you know with being on social media as a kid yeah it's not something I deal with because I'm not a professional at anything but you know my podcast partner Frankie I see it with him and you know uh I feel like I'm interviewing here you here rich but uh um you know you were at the the height of bodybuilding the very Pinnacle of of of it you know and to get critiqued by Average Joe's that with big beer bellies and stuff has you gotta have thick skin to be able to you know deal with that I see Frankie deal with it all the time with you know these armchair [ __ ] Fighters that this quarter armchair quarterbacks after he has a maybe a rough fight or you know critiquing him and you should have done this you should have done this and sometimes in person and I'm like bro you have no business telling that man what he shoulders but you got to watch yourself because these are your fans too you know you gotta you gotta have to take it with a grain of salt because they are the people at the end of the day that that that that made you famous you know so it's a tough it's a tough line to walk I'm sure no it's it's like you said it's funny you have people that critique you but then a lot of times instead of myself saying something you have the fans that are your fancy said how could you say this about a guy who's like one of the best in the world and blah blah blah you know you'll you'll see them defend me so I laugh at I laugh at that but you're right it's you know you have to have a thick skin and these guys just it's a different world what's even worse I don't know if you're on Roger are you on tick tock I I am I don't post a lot um but I'm on it that's that's horrible worse than Instagram because they're all you do is have haters on there it's like like I'll do a really good post and I'll post it then on on uh Tick Tock and it'll be you know I think wow this one really did well on Instagram totally the opposite on Tick Tock you know I think like they say they say if you're like average on Instagram you just got like average following you're immediately a superstar on Tick Tock because yeah I guess it's way easier to get clout or followers over there but you can but you you have to be really consistent you know doing three four posts a day it's almost like it's got to be a job and and like yourself I'm you know I'm taking some on Instagram and putting them on Tick Tock I was doing like you know personal ones for tick tock I go I gotta work and stuff I can't just be doing four tick tocks a day you know to try to make myself popular and then is it really making me money I mean these these some of these guys that have millions of followers actually get money from it but I'm like I don't think I'm gonna make money doing this well it helps you because you promote your brand you know well it's all about it's all about promoting the brand it's all about promoting what I do you're right so that's the reason I mean I'm my age group is not on social media you know but I do it because I have to because of my brain otherwise you know I talk to people that are my age group they're like I don't even have an Instagram or you know they all have they all have Facebook yeah yeah yeah yeah older people have Facebook that's the truth yeah older people Facebook Instagram Tick Tock yeah and then the young kid you know what was going on just a couple years you know two years ago I was like seeing Tick Tock with my daughter and I go what's this silly Tick Tock with with um you know people watching people dance you know on Tick Tock and I'm like it's stupid but now in looking at it it's become a very powerful tool in marketing you know your brain brand or whatever you're doing it's it's it's not a joke anymore with Tick Tock has become much more important to use as a social media tool for any business now you go on there's a many many ads on there um so it's it's different than it was a couple years ago where people just doing these silly dances certainly world than when I grew up we had uh Channel 257 and PBS is what I had and then it was it was a big day in my house when my parents got us an Atari it was a big day yeah yeah yeah that's everything that I dealt with so you know I thought I thought I was living in the future playing Frogger you know yeah yeah remember when cable first came out we went from the antenna to Cable do you remember that yeah yeah I talked to my son about those pivotal changes in in human history like the invention of you know he doesn't know what it like a an a track is ask anybody you know people what an eight track is how about the how about the phone mounted the wall with the 20-foot cords up and half choke you out when you're on it and like the first cell phone was like a car battery attached to it you know it would handle anyway so you grew up in Maine did you grow up in a city in the country what was your childhood what what was that teeny tiny little town called cherryfield Maine is about 800 people in my town and that was you know I was born in 75 and there's still 800 people in that the same 800. not one bit I grew up Hunting Fishing you know very much Outdoors riding quads dirt bikes all that sort of stuff there was was uh you know my town was called cherryfield but there were seven different towns that went to my high school so seven towns of high school and there was only about 350 kids in the entire High School so so you grew up then with the classic work ethic that you know Richie and I were slaved into at a young age right so from working for my dad pumping gas from the time I was old enough to walk so yeah all through high school and then when I graduated high school I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to college so my dad said you're going to Alaska working on a fishing boat so at 18 I was in the Bering Sea working on a fishing boat oh wow that was kind of cool huh yeah yep did you get seasick a lot one day uh one day we had massive swells and you literally could stand on the wall for a second I got a little sick but then you're working they don't care they don't give you off I worked on a was it what's very glorious you know that that show the the crabbing shows yeah yeah deadliest stats Deadliest Catch everybody fell in love with fishing in the Bering Sea from that show my job wasn't glorious like that I worked on a big processor so we we did haul backs of big sandbags of pollock and we'd pull them up on our processor boat and we would process them and we made a product called surimi which we sold to the Japanese but uh very labor intensive and it was it was 47 days out on the Bering Sea never saw land you know so so you make the fake crab right there on the boat and oh freezing wow that's incredible you don't go in like the crabbers going the crabbers fish for maybe a week or 10 days or two weeks and they go in and offload we stayed out 600 miles off of Russia the middle of the Bering Sea we were out there for 47 days my first trip that I did we would offload right at Sea on the Japanese Trapper boats and go right back to fishing so you didn't see land for a month and a half isn't it funny that fake crab and real crab comes from the same place one's a fish and one's an actual pet what kind of what kind of fish is it it was pollen but I'm not sure if that's the only fish they use because uh the second season and I believe we made the same product the second season I went but we went off the uh like the Oregon river off like California um and we caught hake the second season it wasn't as much money in it because they weren't um they weren't uh they didn't have the row they didn't have the fish eggs the Pollock in Alaska they harvested the the row the fish eggs and that was a big money maker so we made you know I was like 18 years old this is like February of 93 or 94. and I came home with like almost 20 grand I think like 18 Grand in a month and a half so 18 year old kid in a little town of Maine that was pretty damn good money back then you know that's going all the way to the West Coast so you went from Maine all the way to the West Coast into Alaska yeah I flew to Seattle Washington and the boat was kept right in Seattle Harbor and then you go up it's like a three-day cruise through what they call the Inside passage up to Alaska and then you get to Dutch Harbor and then you wait till they fire the gun or blow the [ __ ] horn or whatever they do the fishing season starts and then you just go until the fishing season's over wow wow how do you go about getting that job I mean what you you're living in a small town in Maine and you get a job on a fishing boat in Oregon how do you do that so that was uh there was a there was uh well Maine's a big fishing you know it's the main Shoreline is huge for fishing too lobster fishing being probably the biggest but uh when I was a kid they started harvesting um sea urchins to to the you know the row like you'll see it on top of sushi bro that became a big thing when I was a kid a lot of my friends got their driver's license and we're making like three grand in a weekend going diving on sea urchins you know he ended up moving to the West Coast and he bought a line of fishing boats from Japan and he started a business called Supreme Alaskan seafood and he went crabbing I mean sorry he went uh not crabbing he went uh fishing for Pollock and that's that was my dad linked me up with him and I did two seasons wow cool you won't find uh how old were you 21 no 18. 18 you won't find 18 year old kids doing that today no definitely not I mean we we're on the same page that's three on the what happened to the younger generation with work ethic and it's just a different world because you're in what we're in business and you got to deal with these people you know and and it's and it's dealing with with people who believe that subpar work is acceptable that you know they're satisfied with doing the minimum it's okay not to care just punch the clock and get paid you know these are just terrible terrible tenets of of work ethic and and it it harms business because you guys like Richie and me who are in you who are you know raised that way to understand what it means to work and then you you can't even you can't even translate that word work because work to them means something totally different that it means to you work to them is a little bit of effort 15 minutes on the phone use the bathroom come back do it a little bit more for five minutes use the phone whereas you know we're like head down barreling out for you know four hours and then you know lunch and then four hours you know what I mean it's I'm a little I'm a little worried and here's why because I I you know I remember my childhood very vividly my mom ruled with an iron fist my mom was a disciplinarian my dad was working his ass off to build the business he was he came home long enough to eat dinner with us and when we went right back to work but my mom was a disciplinarian we had chores from an early age we were working you know I was I had to go you know after soon as I got home to school I was in the garden had to go get chicken eggs I had to had to do all this [ __ ] and I was grinding we were we were always kept busy and always like you always had the I always had the fear of my mother like if I did something wrong she was gonna I'm I'm I'm a [ __ ] of a dad I'm scared that I'm raising I'm gonna raise Little Women I'm not as hard as all my kids as my parents were on me and I'm like am I doing my kids a disservice I don't know you know I'm confused if I'm conflicted if I'm doing the wrong thing you know and if you try to push yourself too much I mean you my my daughter is 15 so it's a little harder in that age is very difficult if you're sitting there being that hard ass it just doesn't work well it depends on where you started I mean you know if the only memory they have of you is a hard ass it's it's yeah it's it's hard to be anything else but no it's challenging today I was just I mean every time we get a guest or you know run into somebody who's like close to our age and has been you know raised in the same or has the same we tend to end up having the same beliefs the same values we're on the same page with a lot of things politically so and socially and it just I think it all just goes back to that I mean we were raised like Americans you know the hardcore that's a that's another thing I tell John you know John's from South Carolina very conservative and I say you know you got Jersey which is a liberal state but then where we live Roger is very conservative I know this is this is like baby it's like we're our own state within us but it's I love it it's like you know some people that come here to visit me they're like oh this is really conservative like and this is Jersey oh yeah this is just something cool this is a part of Jersey that's from all the tests yes the best kept secret and I want to keep it that way yeah what do you say here in Lexington don't tell anybody we don't want any more people moving here yep exactly yeah be really cool to have you on the show appreciate you guys man thank you for having me on I'm excited to get on your show I think it's we're going on in when is it um another couple weeks right I'll look on the calendar but I don't think you're no not next Tuesday or the two not uh yeah not next Tuesday the following Tuesday I believe yeah because I I got to go to India so it's right before I go to India yeah but uh very cool thank you so much for being on the show and like I said we're gonna get a workout together that'll be awesome and I'm excited to get on the show with you and uh Frankie yep so good to have you on I appreciate you guys thank you for having me thank you all right guys with the end of this show it was great having Roger on Rich it's it's uh we don't usually get people from your neck of the woods so no I I you know I just thought it was I thought it was interesting you know to get Roger because you know we we communicate you know through like you know Instagram um I've gotten his number then we started talking in not if you know John where I'm I'm doing it I have a documentary that's just that's getting released um so actually Roger he Roger was actually spoken to because he's a fan of bodybuilding and he's you know one of my fans so he's actually on my documentary interviewed you know so this might surprise you but I am too yeah yeah very cool but I don't I don't think that our our fans know about you know our no you know and this guy is no joke man he's done so he's done some some big you know some decent sized you know films before so um yeah I'm very excited about it um it gets released um in December if any of you guys want to know is being released it's uh it's a documentary on myself John was interviewed well you were interviewed so I didn't even know that exactly you said he said my description of you was the best of of anybody's that really any interview so Roger was also one of the one of the people who was interviewed Morris so from outside because we really we've never hung out but I guess from what he portrays me at he's from Jersey I'm from Jersey so so then we got to talking and that's why I said you know let's you know we'd love to get you on the podcast I know you're not you know in bodybuilding but it it is you know he does have a he has a really big following from the Jersey Shore and he's a really and he has a really really nice guy as you can see yeah he is and you know just that affiliation with Jersey sure I think oh this guy's gonna be an [ __ ] he's a regular guy he was 100 the opposite of what I thought he was going to be I was very very happy that that worked out that way maybe one of the other guys would have been different but he was well you because you don't know I mean you know that's why I asked the reality question you know it's it's like I don't is that is that an act is is the situation really like that in real life is that now you realize that it is them it's yeah it is but you know but like that com like the comment I made about the Jersey Girls man it's it's the truth that you know I mean and and that show punctuates it you know it really does anyway sorry Jersey Girl guys another I think this was an interesting show and it yes it was a good one from what we do and and but it's like I said I love to bring in different guests and I have a couple other different guests that we're going to have you know John that I told you about um so it's going to be really cool to um go outside the box and start bodybuilding you know uh friends that we normally have on the show well you know it's I think it's good that we do that and it broaden the scope because we should be able to talk about anything like what like Joe Rogan for example has you know 10 million over 10 million people watch that show um that's more than that's more than cable news put together you know all of them CNN NBC MSNBC Fox all together don't equal what the reach that he's got and he doesn't have a niche he talks to everybody about everything right he does yeah and I'd love to get on that show I I'm actually getting on a podcast and we would probably make this show a little longer you know value entertainment value entertainment uh I've heard the name it's the guy he I mean he's he's interviewed Mike Tyson Shaquille O'Neal the BET Davis is his last name the guy yeah he interviews like everybody everybody so through the guy who filmed uh you know my documentary he knows um the value entertainment so they're interested in having me on the show oh cool that's going to be a really that's a really well followed um yeah you know podcasts yeah he said do he interview Dorian he interviewed I watched a few of his glorian Ronnie Coleman but other people like out of big celebrities outside I just listened to an interview he did with um the guy who played that played the the guy who was Donnie Brasco the real guy who who the real guy who was Donnie braskin the undercover FBI yeah the undercover right that was it just listening that was an amazing Story the guy the guy went up to cover for six years yeah yeah that's crazy that was a great story and and the yeah that's a cool story yeah so anyways Eddie guys I know we made this show much longer than we normally we normally go again you know we want to come up with some really cool content remember subscribe subscribe give us con comments give us ideas and guests give us some thumbs up you know tell your friends yeah and we've been John we've been consistent we're keeping this show weekly yeah you know so we want to make sure we do it and we and we I have a like I said we're going to continue doing this and having fun growing this show yeah it was it was a great show today I had a lot of fun so thanks for getting him all right guys that's it we'll see you next week see you next week

Channel: Dragon Slayer Media

Views: 13,693

Keywords: #Jersey shore, #reality TV, #Roger Mathews, #jwoww, #Rich gaspari, #john romano, #fitness fame & fortune

Id: CTnKphldbMQ

Length: 66min 0sec (3960 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 28 2022