Vault: Chilli of TLC Interview

Summary

The Bert Show: Vault - Chilli of TLC Interview

Episode Air Date: July 9, 2026
Guest: Chilli (Rozonda Thomas) of TLC
Main Theme: Chilli opens up about her love life, high dating standards, her time on her VH1 reality show, and reflects candidly on relationships, independence, and her encounters with fans and celebrities.

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the Bert Show welcomes Chilli from the iconic group TLC to discuss her new VH1 reality show centered around her search for love. Chilli candidly shares her dating standards, the challenges of being a single woman in Atlanta, and how fame hasn’t insulated her from universal relationship struggles. The conversation features humor, relatability, and thoughtful insights about what modern women want and deserve in romantic relationships. Chilli also recounts memorable moments from filming, including run-ins with celebrities like Taylor Swift.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Chilli's Standards and "The List"

• Chilli details her needs and wants in a partner, asserting the importance of women knowing and standing by their standards.

• She encourages all women to make a list separating non-negotiable needs from flexible wants.

  Quote:

  "You, you put your wants on one side and your needs on another. And your needs have to be met. They have to be met. And your wants are your compromising areas." — Chilli (03:07)

• Needs include: Christian faith, loving children, non-smoker, family-oriented, strong morals, and a career.

• Wants include: Not eating pork ("I can bend there"), having a six-pack ("I'll take four! We can work on two more" (04:15)), and even physical endowments ("The packing is a need also. You saw the trailer, right?" (05:10)).

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The Challenge of Finding the Right Match

• Chilli notes that while her list may seem strict, they’re reasonable criteria and reflect respecting oneself.

• Discussants joke about a mutual friend who seems to check all the boxes and try to play matchmaker in-studio.

• The difficulty of finding someone who aligns with her needs is highlighted, even when potential candidates appear to be perfect fits.

  Quote:

  "If I dumb down my standards, yeah, I could get somebody, but I wouldn’t be happy." — Chilli (01:50)
  "There's nothing crazy about that list…So there's gotta be something." — Interviewer 2 (05:38)

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Women, Standards, and Settling

• Chilli and the hosts explore the idea that many women compromise their standards and end up disappointed.

  Quote:

  "Women fall in love with the greatest potential of a man, but not the man as he is that day." — Commentator (06:55)
  "If women would just raise the bar and keep it there, it would make men just really step up to the plate." — Chilli (06:03)

• Chilli references a book that says men marry hoping for no change, while women hope for change, leading to inevitable disappointment if expectations aren’t set honestly from the beginning.

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Independence and Intimidation

• The discussion turns to whether Chilli’s independence and success are intimidating to men.

• Chilli believes some men are intimidated, misinterpreting self-sufficiency as not needing a partner, but she emphasizes the difference between “want” and “need.”

  Quote:

  "I do need a man. I want one. I need one, but it has to be right." — Chilli (11:41)

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Relationship Ideals

• Chilli reveals her ideal relationship dynamic is playful and rooted in mutual respect, akin to Martin and Gina from the "Martin" show.

• She values laughter, fun, and a sense of partnership over rigid seriousness.

  Quote:

  "To me, the best relationship ever is Martin Lawrence show. Gina. Just playful. I love that." — Chilli (12:17)

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Behind the Scenes of VH1's Reality Show & Celebrity Encounters

• The show, shot in Atlanta and Las Vegas, offers fans behind-the-scenes access to TLC performances and her journey for love.

• Chilli shares a behind-the-scenes story involving Taylor Swift:

  Quote:

  "I had the pleasure of meeting Taylor Swift…she and I were talking and she said that 'Unpretty' was her favorite song…when we were performing, I ran off to the side of the stage…she gave me her water." — Chilli (13:10-13:22)

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Social Media and Fan Interaction

• Chilli announces she's on Twitter and routinely tweets back at fans.

  Quote:

  "I tweet back to my fans." — Chilli (14:01)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Chilli on compromising:

  "You break it down…your needs have to be met. Your wants are your compromising areas." (03:07)

• Playful banter about dating standards and expectations:

  "If he had...but I'll take four [abs], 'cause you know…We can work on two more." — Chilli (04:15)

• Humor about the realities of dating in Atlanta:

  "I bet he’s got a six pack. It’s just way underneath." — Interviewer (07:30)

• Host on women's standards:

  "If women would just raise the bar and keep it there, it would make men really step up to the plate." (06:03)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:35] Chilli introduced, discussion of her reality show premise
• [02:16] Chilli explains her motivation for doing the show
• [03:07] Chilli outlines her dating list (needs vs. wants)
• [04:13] Specifics of Chilli’s requirements (no pork, family values, abs)
• [06:03] On raising standards and relationships
• [11:41] Chilli discusses independence and being intimidating to men
• [12:17] Playful relationships & ideal dynamic
• [13:10] Story about Taylor Swift at a Vegas performance
• [14:01] Chilli talks about joining Twitter and fan engagement

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Flow & Tone

The conversation is lighthearted, warm, and sprinkled with humor as Chilli engages with the hosts and studio guests. The tone is personal and relatable, balancing playful banter with earnest discussions on the complexities of dating, self-worth, and the expectations women often carry. The episode offers encouragement for listeners to maintain their standards and recognize their worth, as well as behind-the-scenes celebrity stories that add a pop culture flavor.

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Final Notes

Listeners are invited to watch Chilli’s reality show premiering April 11th on VH1 and connect with her on Twitter @officialchilli. The episode is rich in lively banter, honest insights, and memorable anecdotes from one of R&B’s biggest icons.

Transcript

[Host]

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[Chilli]

Visit borhears.com oh, I have had no luck lately.

[Jeff]

Wait.

[Chilli]

Lady luck.

[Lady Luck]

Ritzki. I got you. I've had so much luck on spinquest.com they have all of my favorite games, slot games, live blackjack craps and bubble craps. You can even get a thirty dollar coin pack for just ten bucks.

[Chilli]

Ten bucks for thirty.

[Interviewer]

I'm headed over to spinquest.com right now.

[Announcer]

Spinquest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Interviewer 2]

Get it The Bird Show Chilli. Always of tlc. There you go.

[Chilli]

That's right. There you go.

[Interviewer 2]

Has a new reality tv.

[Chilli]

Didn't want me to beat him up.

[Interviewer 2]

I got scared. I got scared of that attitude. She's got a new reality TV show on VH1.

[Commentator]

Chilli is too damn picky. Chilli.

[Chilli]

This is dope ass.

[Host]

I want you to come see my

[Interviewer 2]

gym and kind of see what I

[Chilli]

do if I dumb down my standards. Yeah, I could get somebody, but I wouldn't be happy. Nobody is gonna meet those standards. Date Jes. Gotta love Missy Elliott, right?

[Interviewer 2]

So this whole reality TV show really is. I mean you're going through the same motions that most women are going through. That if you're single in Atlanta, are going through, you're just frustrated by the scene, right?

[Chilli]

Yeah, I mean, I was, I was really excited to do this because of that reason. Just to let people see that, you know, no matter. Although I'm chilly from tlc, I. I have the same, you know, problems and worries that the next woman has. You know what I mean? So I thought that that was a really good thing to see. And I encourage every woman to have a list. You have to have a list.

[Commentator 2]

This was the best part of the trailer, was watching that because Julia's picky and she's got standards and every girl

[Interviewer]

has standards and people are recommending Jesus to her. Maybe you don't want to have that

[Commentator]

long, serious standards, but I think it's great.

[Commentator 2]

Cause you say your standards out loud and I think other women like myself will keep our standards inside because we don't think we're worth it.

[Chilli]

No, girl, you are worth it.

[Interviewer 2]

This one needs to hear that more than anybody else. Talk right to it.

[Chilli]

I'm serious. You are. And you know, a lot of people hear all my stuff and like, oh, that's just ridiculous. But you break it down, you know, you, you, you put your wants on one side and your needs on another. And your needs have to be met. They have to be met. And your wants are your compromising areas.

[Interviewer 2]

Don't you find that, like. I am sure my wife had a list at one point, but it didn't look anything like this.

[Chilli]

So at one point, her needs, her needs. You meet her needs. I bet.

[Interviewer 3]

Give an example of what would be on one side and on the other.

[Chilli]

Okay, all right, the needs. He has to be a Christian. He has to love kids. He cannot smoke. That is an absolute. No, no, no bending in that area. He has to, you know, just be a family oriented person, like things like that, and have morals and values. And as far as the wants are concerned, I really don't want him to eat pork. But I can bend there because I can switch that. Like, I can change that. We can work on that, right? Sure, yeah.

[Commentator 2]

Cause you couldn't cook.

[Interviewer 3]

Yeah.

[Chilli]

And I would want him to have a six pack, but if he had. But I'll take four. Cause you know, the two. We can work. We can work on two more.

[Commentator]

Where does a career, like in a career path land? Is that a need or a want?

[Chilli]

No, that's a need. I don't need a man to take care of me. You know, I'm very independent and I'm just that way. But I think Every woman would like to know that her man could take care of her.

[Interviewer 2]

I have a friend, a girl friend, who has her list, but she calls it the list of six.

[Interviewer 3]

All right?

[Interviewer 2]

And on her list is this. The man must meet all these requirements of six. He has to be six feet tall. He has to have a six pack.

[Chilli]

Okay?

[Interviewer 2]

He has to be at least six inches, and he has to make at least six figures. So her list is all six.

[Chilli]

Oh, the packing is a need also. You saw the trailer, right?

[Commentator]

It mattered.

[Chilli]

You know, it matters. It does. If you've gotta be honest. That motion of the ocean, who came up with that?

[Interviewer]

It's not true.

[Chilli]

It's not true.

[Interviewer 2]

A man. A man came up with that.

[Chilli]

Small man.

[Interviewer 2]

I'll beat him up.

[Interviewer]

It's getting uncomfortable in here.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, the things that you were just talking about. It doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to find a guy that meets the needs on that list right there that you just rattled off. Like, there's nothing crazy about that list. So there's gotta be something.

[Chilli]

I don't think there's anything crazy. But, you know, a lot of people in VH1 thought it was really crazy. I mean, that's why they really wanted to do this. They're like, okay, she's nuts. I'm like, I'm really not.

[Commentator]

I think it's good to have high standards like that, you know?

[Interviewer 3]

Yes.

[Chilli]

And I think that if women would just raise the bar and keep it there, it would make men just really step up to the plate. You know, when you know that you have to come correct to women, you're gonna do that. And these days, women don't. You know, it's like they don't have any standards.

[Interviewer 2]

Start getting beat down.

[Interviewer 3]

Or do you think they do have it in their mind? Their list in their mind. But they settle for a guy, and that's where they spend their life, trying to change him into the list that they wanted.

[Chilli]

Oh, it's not too that also. I mean, you have to realize people are who they are. The only time you make changes is when you recognize the change in yourself that you want to make. You know? But otherwise, people are who they are, and women spend so much time trying. I read this book, and in there it said men get married in hopes of no change, and women get married in hopes of change. And I think that's true. It's like, he's a project. He's not a project.

[Commentator]

Women fall in love with the greatest potential of a man.

[Chilli]

Right.

[Commentator]

But not the man as he is that day.

[Chilli]

High five, sister.

[Commentator]

And then you become very disappointed when they never rise to that potential.

[Interviewer 2]

See? Okay, I have my go to single friend. Okay. That I think meets everybody. Everything on your list. Oh, okay.

[Commentator]

He's a Christian.

[Interviewer 2]

He's a Christian. I know he doesn't eat pork. Damn. He's got a six pack that I hate. And I think he meets everything on your list.

[Interviewer]

Doesn't smoke, but I'm married, Bert.

[Interviewer 2]

But yeah, he's got a six pack. It's just way underneath.

[Commentator 2]

It's there.

[Interviewer 2]

And I want to bring him in right now. I want to bring him in right now.

[Jeff]

Okay.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay. Because this is a guy that should be. I think is on your list.

[Chilli]

Okay.

[Interviewer 2]

Bring him on in. Not you, Britney. This is my best friend, Dolvett.

[Interviewer]

Get over here, dude.

[Interviewer 2]

This is my best friend, Dolvett. And he was on your show so crazy. And you turned him down. This is my boy. What is it about this guy that you didn't find solid right here?

[Commentator 2]

This is hysterical.

[Interviewer 2]

This seriously is my guy. And he was telling me about your reality TV show way before anybody knew about it because. And he's like, dude, guess what? I think I just got cast for. I was all excited. Cause I had you guys married. Oh, married off. So he was on the show. And I gotta know what happened on that day that the two of y' all are not married right now.

[Chilli]

You just gotta watch.

[Interviewer 2]

This is my go to dude right here.

[Chilli]

He's a great guy. He is.

[Interviewer]

For the record, they are sitting farther apart from each other in the studio than anyone else. Like, we're not on top of each

[Jeff]

other in here, like, long distance.

[Chilli]

Hello.

[Interviewer]

Right now.

[Interviewer 2]

How are you? But let's go through the list here. We got no pork.

[Chilli]

No pork dovette.

[Interviewer 2]

You eat pork?

[Jeff]

Don't eat pork.

[Interviewer 2]

Don't eat pork. Six pack.

[Chilli]

No. Oh, six pack.

[Interviewer 2]

You know, man's got a six pack.

[Interviewer]

All right.

[Interviewer 2]

Christian, you said, right?

[Interviewer 3]

Yes.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, You Christian all day. Okay.

[Chilli]

He's like, all day.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, it's that voice.

[Chilli]

You know, I like the voice. He has that voice. Hello there.

[Interviewer]

When's the last time you went to church?

[Jeff]

Last time I was invited.

[Interviewer 2]

God's always inviting you, man.

[Chilli]

You know what? I love you, Jeff. Jeff just got him.

[Jeff]

No, it's not about getting me. It's like, you know, if I don't have a church home, I don't. But when I'm invited, I always say yes.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, what did you hear when he

[Chilli]

said that he doesn't go to church?

[Interviewer]

No, I don't.

[Jeff]

I don't have a church home. I really don't. I'm not gonna lie about it.

[Interviewer]

He's like, if you ask somebody when last time they went to church was. And you think of the last per. And they start thinking of the last person who got married or the last person that died.

[Jeff]

Exactly. I was in church in Naples. Ye. Wait, that was a beach wedding.

[Chilli]

It was gonna church on Easter.

[Interviewer 3]

So many people are gonna be in church in the aisles this Easter and won't go again until next year.

[Interviewer]

Did Grandma pass before or after Christmas? I can't remember, man.

[Interviewer 2]

We were talking about the show as he was going through it, right? And my boy is confident, and that's one thing that I think that women really find very attractive about him. And he called me up on the phone one day and he's like, I don't know what happened, man, but she wasn't buying it. I'm like, brah, it's all right.

[Interviewer]

What do you mean she's not buying it?

[Interviewer 2]

She's not buying it.

[Jeff]

I did not say she wasn't buying it. I said it was the best date I've ever been on in my life. It was not the best date. It was just not.

[Interviewer 2]

And you felt that that day also.

[Chilli]

You gotta watch.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, well, there's.

[Chilli]

I don't have to say anything. When you see all chilli's about to

[Interviewer]

move over onto Melissa's chair.

[Jeff]

Exactly. Chilli's like, I'm gonna be over here.

[Chilli]

See, that's how Tracy got Kim.

[Commentator 2]

Zolcia.

[Interviewer]

Do I just think you're turning women into lesbians?

[Interviewer 2]

Hey, hey.

[Jeff]

Whatever I can do to help out the community. Whatever I can do.

[Chilli]

See, women are a lot slyer than guys.

[Interviewer 2]

Wow. Like, even the whole premise of the show sounds strange to me because you just seem like such a catch to me. Like, obviously, you're beautiful. You got a great personality. You're successful. So when you say that you can't find a good man, I'm not even necessarily buying the whole premise of the show.

[Chilli]

Are you gonna have my back?

[Commentator]

I was gonna say, do you think that men have a hard time with women like you?

[Chilli]

Yes.

[Commentator]

That are independent, successful, beautiful. Like, they're intimidated by all of that and, like, don't feel like they're worthy for you. Like, sometimes I think men need to be needed and are intimidated by a woman like Chili, who doesn't need a man.

[Chilli]

Well, the thing about it, they look at the whole outer part and assume you don't need them. I think That a man's definition of needing and a woman's, you know, someone in my position, they're two different things. You know, I do need a man. I want one. I need one, but it has to be right.

[Interviewer 2]

Are you tough? Are you a tough girlfriend?

[Chilli]

I'm not tough. I can be tough. I'm fun. I like to laugh. I'm extremely silly. I like to just, you know, to me, the best relationship ever is Martin Lawrence show. Gina.

[Jeff]

Martin and Gina. Yes. They're playful.

[Chilli]

Just playful. I love that.

[Interviewer 2]

Good time. All the time.

[Chilli]

All the time.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, the show starts.

[Commentator]

Are the Neelys. Have you seen the Neelys on the Food Network? The couples.

[Lady Luck]

Wait.

[Commentator]

The couple that has the Food Network show. Anyway, they're just fooling around.

[Interviewer 2]

To me, it's like. It's almost like Will Smith and Jada. Like, I look at that relationship, and they always seem like they're having fun together.

[Chilli]

They do. They do a lot of fun.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

So the show starts when?

[Chilli]

April 11th.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Chilli]

VH1.

[Interviewer 2]

And it's all shot around Atlanta. Right? These are all Atlanta dudes shot here in Atlanta.

[Chilli]

Atlanta and in Vegas. One cool part is that a lot of the TLC fans will get a chance to see us perform. We performed in Vegas with Justin Timberlake. I had the pleasure of meeting Taylor Swift. And it was so funny because right before stage, she and I were talking and she said that Unpretty was her favorite song. And I was like, oh, my God, it was so sweet. And then when we were performing, I ran off on the side of the stage. Cause I was looking for my water, and I couldn't. I was like, I'm just, you know,

[Lady Luck]

like, I need water.

[Chilli]

I need water. And she was off to the side, and she gave me her water.

[Interviewer 2]

Did she?

[Chilli]

Oh, she was the sweetest, sweetest thing.

[Interviewer]

And somewhere she's telling the same story. Like, oh, my God. I was in Las Vegas and I was doing this thing, and TLC was there, and I gave Chili my water, and then she gave it back to me. But I knew that she was with that Dolvette guy. And I was like, I had heard about him.

[Jeff]

And Chili said, watch the show. Watch the show.

[Interviewer 2]

We will link on up to VH1 and we'll link on up to the show. Also from Q100Atlanta.com thanks for coming in.

[Chilli]

Wait. I want everybody to know I'm finally on Twitter.

[Interviewer]

Jeff, we set up this whole interview on Twitter.

[Chilli]

Yes, we did. Yes. Ficialchilli.

[Interviewer 3]

All right.

[Chilli]

And I tweet back to my fans.

[Interviewer 2]

You do?

[Chilli]

I do.

[Interviewer 2]

I'm gonna start following you today.

[Chilli]

Yes.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Chilli]

All right.

[Interviewer 2]

All right. Again, we will link on up from q100atlanta.com Shelley, thanks for coming in.

[Chilli]

Thank you.

[Announcer]

You're on the vert show.

[Host]

Hey, everybody.

[Lady Luck]

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