Wed, May 19, 2010
He's known as "America's personal trainer," the Florida fitness freak with the ponytail and the trademark shout. He is Tony Little and he can be seen on television sets across the country snuggled in spandex and perennially peppy, constantly urging America to get off that couch and get into shape. Little is an infomercial institution, but even after 25 years perfecting his routine on the Home Shopping Network, he told us he still gets the jitters before he goes on air. "I am always nervous. I am always shaky, I am always very intense," he said. On the day we shadowed him, he did two live shows, hawking his "Easyshaper" to millions of viewers. Over the course of his career, he's done more than 10,000 shows and for every single one of them he's wound up tighter than, well, a Gazelle. "I don't like taking chances. I'm a perfectionist," he said. "I like to have everything ready to go because on live TV, if you mess up once you're gonna lose money."