Chat Ed : Welcome to this evening's WIFE SWAP webchat with Elissa and Steven Baker!
Elissa : Good evening everyone!
Trisha : Hi Elissa
stace4875 : good evening ellissa
kayleigh : hi ellissa
Elissa : Thank you so much for logging in. I can't believe there are 800 of you here.
MJ : hey
Elissa : It's all too much for me! I'm very flattered.
Steven : Hello everyone - Steven here!
sarah3 : Hi Steven
Steven : I won't delay any longer- please go ahead - sorry we were late!
lembop : How was the family holiday?
Elissa : It was fabulous - all of us together. The kids spent more time underwater as they preferred to be in the pool. Steven slept a lot and I read a lot. Even people in the hotel though had found out that we had been on the show. Everyone kept asking us personal questions about the swap - like did I sleep with Tony! No peace even in Lanzarote!
Ed : did you?
emf0778 : lol as if
elissaC : Elissa i love your name:-D
Elissa : I think we all know the answer to that Ed! NO! The man was unhygienic - he probably had fleas! I was so ill from it when I came home. Would you sleep with a man that cares more about his dogs than he does you?
Steven : It was a very nice, restful holiday and we enjoyed every minute of it.
retro399 : so, how much did you enjoy the wife swap experience? did you see life in a different perspective afterwards?
Elissa : retro - I just realised that you can't run your life through your children. They are a priority without a doubt, but this is 2004 and women have the right to be individuals, we should be treated as equals and Tanya is not considered an equal. She's a baby-making factory and a cleaner and I really feel for her.
Steven : It was a nice experience for me. Nice to have someone else around but it was very quiet. I wouldn't like to repeat it.
Shrek Rodgers : Hi Elissa do you feel like you are penalised for being a career woman?
amy99 : do u spend more time with your children now though?
Elissa : Yes I do feel I was penalised - they made out like I spend every day at work, the answer is 20 hours at the bank and about 10 hours toast-mastering work. That's 30 hours out of the week.
ladylise : and all the rest preparing and at gym!!
Elissa : If I'm not working I'm driving the girls around to swimming, parties, other people’s houses etc. so my life on Saturday and Sunday revolves around the girls. In January and February I don't work at all at the toast-mastering, so then it's only 20 hours a week. I do a lot of cooking too, which didn't come out in the programme. My children eat very healthy meals. I do like going to the gym but only after I've done all my work with the girls and the house and I'm home by 10:15pm.
Victoria : Steven, did you find living with Tanya a 'breath of fresh air'?
Steven : That's a difficult one...It was different because she has a different way of thinking - very abrupt - not what I'm used to. It wasn't uncomfortable or unpleasant, but there's nothing like what you know.
harwooda1 : Steven do you stand up to elissa more
Steven : I try to harwooda1, but rarely succeed!
Grace : Elissa, were you surprised when Stephen joined in the criticism of you at the end of the show?
emf0778 : big up to Steven saying what he really thought in the meeting
Elissa : Yes! It took me by surprise, but he had just spent twelve days with the acid-tongue of Tanya and she manipulated him a lot I think.
lalia : Didn't you feel they all ganged up on you at the end
Elissa : I was expecting the lashing from the Australian side but I had been on six planes in twelve days so I was absolutely zombiefied. So if that had not been the case I would have been much better prepared. I would never have stooped to the level she did. I may come across cold because I like to think about what I'm going to say beforehand, but Brits do that. But they needed to have their five minutes of thunder and I hoped the viewers saw what they were really like from the programme. They threw the dead mice they found in the house at night into the jacuzzi with the dog, you know! There was no way I was going in there!
Beanie : i think u did really well Elissa hats off to you!!!
Elissa : Ohh thanks Beanie! People who really know me knew that I would be able to handle anything. I was longing for them to send me to a sheep-shearing farm because I loved the sheep.
blueheaven : Elissa, what do you prefer as a punishment - being gangsta-slapped or head-butted?
Zovella : Did you find the aggressive language the Australian dad used a little worrying - head but and gangsta slap etc???
Elissa : Neither! What's gangsta-slapped for goodness sake?!
Chat Ed still doesn't know
Elissa : Yes I did find it worrying because I'm not used to that. I'm not trained to handle that kind of language.
Gilly00035 : I'd like to know if Steven and Elissa have fun together, nights out etc?
peter : we want steven....we want steven... we want steven....
xx_natz_xx : steven rules!!!!!!!
Elissa laughs!
BenClea : Steven is cool!
Steven : You mean I can get a word in edgeways?!
Andrea : Where is Steven have you locked him in a cupboard
Elissa : You better be careful Steven! You know what it's like when you're allowed to say something!
Steven : No comment! I'm allowed out on a Tuesday and a Monday, Andrea, providing I have been very good :) We have had some very nice evenings out in the past. We may resume those nights out and the fun together if she still talks to me and not 'at me'.
Elissa : Get him off the line! He's bound to say too much now!
Steven grins and giggles to himself
wendy : way to go steve!
Steven laughs
Elissa : Heheheh... This is so funny.
celia : Steven do you think you will get a dog for the kids to love?
Steven : No.
Mickael : woof
Steven : I don't think it would be fair to the animal.
Cat : elissa did you feel bad after u lost the dogs?
xx_natz_xx : You lost the dogs!! don't you feel bad about that? How can you say he was being rude when you lost his dogs? They could have been running on the highway...I think that was unfair!
Elissa : They were just outside having a well-deserved break.
EJ : and you shouldn't throw dogs like that.
Elissa : When we did the BBQ I nipped back to get changed and the dogs had pooed on the carpet again, we had about 30 people in the house, so I got rid of the dog poo, bleached the carpet and put the dogs outside. They were only outside for about 20 minutes. And so they should have been!
supermum : Hi there I just wanted to say I agree with you on the issues of the dog poo
barberella : do you think you were made out to be the bad one?
LIV : Do you think the show portrayed the real you, or was it bad editing?
Elissa : I think I came across as the realistic one. Any normal, ordinary woman would have acted the same way. The cleaning and the dogs were the major problems. The 12-year-old daughter used to go to bed with the two dogs under the quilt with her. The industrial cleaners found dog poo that had been under the children's beds that had been there for some time. They said they had never been in a house so dirty.
Tom : DIRTY
Rae : What did you think when The Aussie bird said you should submit to your husband? I woulda freaked!!!
Elissa : Exactly! Submit?! I'm not a wrestler!
Jody : Steven wrestle her to the ground
Leeds-Gal : Steven...has she treated you different since the program..?
Elissa laughs
Steven : A nice thought, but not very practical, Jody! Leeds_Gal erm... no.
Graham : Both of you - what was the most enjoyable part of the swap for you?
Elissa : I enjoyed being with the little children. I sometimes had nine children to look after. I loved the sheep too and the fact that the big dog was let out of her cage to behave like a family dog should do.
Steven : I did enjoy the experience, no particular part was more enjoyable than any other.
leon and kristyn : steven be the man you said you'd be!
WE LOVE STEVE : bye steven we love u, BE ASSERTIVE!!!!!!
Elissa : Steven's blood pressure did go sky high when she was here though.
Steven : I've got news for you - it still is!
ladylise : give steven the last word for gods sake
xx_natz_xx : Steven Stay coool babe!!! we love you
Steven : Thank you very much.
wm : take care...
loopy22 : bye take care
SimonC : bye
RioFan : bye Ellissa
Elissa : Bye bye everyone, thanks for watching.
LADYCALLER : bye
zoe1385 : seeya guys thanks alot x
Steven : Thanks for joining us today, look I have the final word! Goodnight, God bless!
jackieR : take care elissa & steven xxxxxx
annette : Aw bless
michaelhelen : Bye guys - good luck Steven
garcia : No you don't - i have the final word!
Elissa leaves the room
Steven leaves the room
