Katie Boyd, star of "Wicked FIt."  (Photo Credit: Tracy Coyne)

When Tracy and I walked into the Miss Fit club, we really didn’t know what to expect. Lights? Camera? Action?

The owner of the gym, Katie Boyd, is also the star of the hit T.V. show “Wicked Fit,” so we wondered if the life of a reality star would include camera men documenting her every move. What we saw was not like anything we expected.

Katie’s sister, Linsey, invited us into the gym and told us to make ourselves comfortable until Katie could talk with us. We could see Katie--- she was sitting on the floor in the next room with a client, holding her hand--- and this is what we heard her say:

“This is the first step….I’m so proud of you…Your life is going to change…I love you.”

This woman was not Katie's typical pageant queen clientele, rather, she was an average person who needed help with not just her weight, but her self-esteem.

Later, we found out that that young woman had been victimized on Facebook, and suddenly, the interview we thought we were going to have about glitz, glamour, and the life of a celebrity, quickly turned into a grounded discussion about bullying.

“Let’s play a game,” Katie suggested while talking with us. “For one day, let’s not say anything negative about someone else, or ourselves.”

I was with her, nodding away, until I heard “or ourselves.” Damn. That’s every other sentence in my critical mind. But, she is right. We, as women, spend too much time sabotaging rather than supporting each other and ourselves.

“I am now hyper-aware of who I am. And I try not to talk bad about anyone,” Katie said.

                                                "Taunton Tigress"

Katie grew up very popular. A pretty pageant girl, she could fit in with the jocks and the burnouts alike, she admits. She never once dealt with a negative remark--- until she landed on T.V. Her show, “Wicked Fit,” airs Sunday nights at 9:00 p.m. on the Style network. On the show, she is tough, brash, and outspoken. But this Taunton girl never saw the public hostility coming.

“I’ve had a lot of backlash from the media,” she told South Shore Woman in an interview (click on the video below to see the interview).

Since the show aired, she’s been called “fat,” and a “transvestite,” among other things. It has been hurtful, but honestly, she said, it was the best thing that could have happened to her because it put her in a place where she could understand what it felt like to be bullied. Now she wants to help others.

Katie is not fat. She is healthy. And, as a trainer, she could be working out 8 hours a day---but, she’s busy with clients, so no-can-do. She loves her body and who she is. And, she wants women to remember it is okay to be yourself. In addition, people are too quick to judge, she points out. Her low voice, for example--- the reason why people refer to her as “a man in drag,”--- is the result of a car accident that severed her vocal chords. “I used to have a very feminine singing voice,” she said.

Life experiences. Circumstances. Shit happens. Just be yourself and embrace it...

As for Katie’s life on the T.V. screen, we had one last question: Is reality T.V. real???

She said: “Reality T.V. is about processing. It’s like having a shrink when you are doing the interviews at the end of the day.” But ultimately, Katie claimed, it is “situational.” There are many scenes---like the softball game she played with her fitness rivals down the street--- that she would never have orchestrated on her own.

 And the rivalry between Katie’s BFFs Monique and Monica?  (Well, that’s real.)

 Will we see a season 2? We sure hope so! Katie finds out in January, so stay tuned.

Watch 'til the end to learn a little known fun fact about Katie.

By Stephanie Neil

Stephanie Neil is a journalist. Her business, technology, and human interest stories have appeared in a variety of print and online newspapers and magazines including eWeek, Managing Automation, The Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Huggies Baby Network, South Shore Woman, and The Boston Globe.  She lives on the South Shore with her two kids, two cats, and a dog. Contact info: stephanieneil@comcast.net  or 781-378-1652. Follow her on Twitter @StephanieNeil