EXCLUSIVE: Carmen Electra Talks Aerobic Striptease

The multi-talented star talks about her new aerobics DVDs, her Super Bowl commercial and Billy Blanks

Carmen Electra is one of the sexiest women on the planet, bar none. You look at any of those FHM, Stuff or Maxim polls "sexiest women alive" articles, and she's up there every year, and that's if you need more validation aside from just, you know, looking at her. Her latest project is the continuation of her Aerobic Striptease workout videos with two new installments Aerobic Striptease: Vegas Strip and Aerobic Striptease: In the Bedroom, and I had the privelege of speaking with Ms. Electra over the phone about these new DVD's.

For our readers who might not be familiar with the Aerobic Striptease series, can you give us a little breakdown?

Carmen Electra: Yes. It's a DVD series where you can learn how to give a lap dance, do a striptease, get a great aerobic workout, burn calories, learn how to take it off if you want, it's your choice. You can do it all in the privacy of your own home, which is great. I've had a lot of girls who've said that they bought the workout series, worked on it for awhile and then surprised their boyfriends for a sexy night where they gave them a striptease or a lap dance. It's fun. It should be fun, working out should be fun.

So how did you become involved in this series

Carmen Electra: I was performing with the Pussycat Dolls when I was approached by a company who wanted to do a workout series like this. I hired the creator of the Dolls, and as a team we went in and rehearsed and put together this series.

These new ones, Vegas Strip and In the Bedroom, are the first new discs in a couple of years. What was the reason for the delay? The new concepts or were you just working on different things?

Carmen Electra: Well, when we shot the first series of Aerobic Striptease, we shot five DVD's, so we slowly put out each DVD and timed it out that they were all done and shot and ready to go. We just started shooting the next series once we felt it was time to work on the next one.

For the Vegas Strip disc, did you work with some actual Las Vegas dancers?

Carmen Electra: I actually hired Carla, a friend of mine who's a choreographer and who's literally worked with everyone. We hired two dancers from L.A. and we spent some time in Vegas and shot the series there. It was fun to actually have a bed routine. That was kind of fun.

For the In the Bedroom one, are you expecting this to be a nice little stocking stuffer for young couples?

Carmen Electra: I definitely think it's the perfect stocking stuffer, yes.

This is quite a unique series, combining dance, fitness and a bit of erotica all in one disc. Would you say that the focus is divided equally between those three, or does one aspect bear more weight than the others?

Carmen Electra: I like what you said, they're all combined together, in a sense. I think the fact that you don't have to go to a class and embarrass yourself if you're not comfortable with your body. You don't have to do that. You can do it at home, and you can take it as far as you want to take it. You can do the workout in sweats and a t-shirt and you can pretend like you're taking off your top, or pretend like you're doing some of these things, if you only want to do the workout for fitness reasons. But, you can also feel free to go ahead and take it off while you're doing the workout as well, if you want. It's up to the person that's doing the workout, they can do whatever they want.

So do you get a lot of people that come up to you on the street and compliment you on the videos or ask about new ones?

Carmen Electra: All the time, and I'm so flattered and so grateful. It was such a new, fresh idea at the time, and we really had no idea how people would react and we really had no idea what kind of audience would want to have this series. We didn't know if only guys would pick it up, or if girls would, and it's just been great to get such a positive response from women. Just having women come up to me and say they love the workout series, and that they have it and have guys come up and say, "I bought it for my girlfriend and she loves it." I feel really lucky and have gratitude for that, and now I get to put out a new series so I'm very happy.

So where will you plan on taking this series from here?

Carmen Electra: Wow, I don't know. You kind of have to go with the flow, that's what we did last time.

So you have no other plans for future ones right now?

Carmen Electra: Nope, not yet. What we like to do is shoot more than one series all at the same time, so that we have five or six to put out throughout the year.

What do you think these two new ones add to the series as a whole?

Carmen Electra: It's just completely different routines, completely different ways of learning sexy dance moves and routines, getting in shape. There's actually a club scene where we shot at Studio 54 in Las Vegas, so you can learn a sexy routine if you're out on the dance floor. We really just try to brainstorm and think of a lot of different ideas. For a girl like me, I understand because working out can get really boring. Doing the same exact routine every day gets old, and you need something new and fresh to inspire you. So that's why we wanted to come up with really fun ideas, stuff that's not out there that we haven't seen before.

So do you think you'll be the new Billy Blanks if this whole series takes off?

Carmen Electra: (Laughs) I used to do Billy Blanks all the time, actually. The new Billy Blanks. (Laughs)

(Laughs) That's you. The new Billy Blanks.

Carmen Electra: (Laughs) I think we'll stick with the Aerobic Striptease, but that would be funny if there was a new Billy Blanks class.

Is there anything you can tell us about the future that you're working on? Maybe something about Scary Movie 5?

Carmen Electra: Well, you know I was in the very first Scary Movie and then the last Scary Movie 4, so I don't know. I heard they're doing another one, but I'm not sure yet. Of course, I'd love to work on Scary Movie 5. That'd be great.

Is there anything else you're working on that you can tell us about?

Carmen Electra:Meet the Spartans, which is a spoof movie that's coming out in January. That was a lot of fun. There was a Super Bowl commercial that I just shot for Icebreakers. That was pretty cool. I've never been in a Super Bowl commercial, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease: Vegas Strip and Aerobic Striptease: In the Bedroom DVD's will be available on December 18.