Make It a Date: 'Tough Love's Steve Ward

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AS THE HOST of VH1 dating show "Tough Love," Steven Ward often reduces women to tears. His brutally honest, tell-it-like-it-is advice to six singles at "dating boot camp" made the show's debut season a hit (a second batch of episodes is due this fall). Ward and his mother/business partner, JoAnn, will counsel D.C. daters July 8 and 9 when they host a "Crash Course in Love" seminar at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Foggy Bottom (for tickets, see Crashcourse.vh1.com).

» EXPRESS: How'd you get involved in matchmaking in the first place?
» WARD: After college, I was prepared to take an entry-level position in investment banking in New York City. But I had a little hiatus before the job started, so I decided to help my mom get more organized with her matchmaking business. And that's all she wrote.

» EXPRESS: And that's how you got tapped to counsel women on "Tough Love"?
» WARD: I'm on a very short list of men in this country who are qualified to give dating advice to women. Not a lot of men have the chutzpah to go into matchmaking.

» EXPRESS: In the age of Match.com, why do clients pick a matchmaking service?
» WARD: The biggest problem with online dating is nine times out of 10, people aren't who they say they are. They're five years older, or five inches shorter, or not actually divorced yet. We eliminate those concerns for clients by doing background checks on everybody.

» EXPRESS: Have you had a lot of success?
» WARD: Countless relationships and marriages. But I don't take credit for it. I'm not the one in the bedroom or at the dinner table. All I did was introduce them.

» EXPRESS: Why do the women on your show have so much trouble dating?
» WARD: Because none of them look at themselves. It's always about what the men are doing wrong or society's problem. They point the blame at everyone else. Women need to take a good, hard look at themselves and ask, "What could I be doing differently to get what I would like?'

» EXPRESS: Do men have that same pitfall?
» WARD: The problem men have is that they're insecure. They blame themselves too much.

» EXPRESS: So, how do you fix that?
» WARD: You break them down and build them up by telling them everything they're doing wrong, and why they're in the position they're in. And then you tell them what their strengths are and how they can overcome their weaknesses.

» EXPRESS: That must be tough to hear.
» WARD: It's brutal. Every single girl on the show cried multiple times. But when it was all said and done, all except for one thanked me for it.

» EXPRESS: I have to ask: Are you dating?
» WARD: Are you kidding me? I don't have time for a relationship right now.

» EXPRESS: Well, you work with your mom. That seems like its own relationship test.
» WARD: It's taken me seven years, a hit television show, book and seminar deals, public speaking appearances and endorsements for her to finally believe that we're successful enough to not have to micromanage each other.

Photo courtesy VH1