The fur flies in ABC’s dog-grooming competition ‘Pooch Perfect’
A woman of many talents, actress, singer, producer and comedian Rebel Wilson gets to show off yet another side of herself in a competition series upcoming on ABC.
In “Pooch Perfect,” an eight-episode series premiering March 30, the “Pitch Perfect” and “Isn’t It Romantic” star is the host as 10 of the top dog groomers from around the country and their assistants compete in a series of challenges designed to test their canine coiffing skills.
As teams are winnowed down, the remaining tandems will show off their transformations in an epic dogwalk. The winner — as determined by a judging panel of reality star Lisa Vanderpump (“Vanderpump Rules”), celebrity dog groomer Jordan Bendersky and veterinarian Dr. Callie Harris — will receive a substantial cash prize and the “Pooch Perfect” trophy.
For Wilson, who is also an executive producer here, the role is familiar ground, having grown up in a family of professional dog handlers in suburban Sydney, Australia.
“My great-grandmother started The Beagle Club of Australia,” said the actress, “and every weekend of my childhood … I was going to dog shows. And my family’s business was a little yellow caravan that we traveled all around Australia in to different dog shows, and we’d sell dog grooming products mainly to all of the dog showers. … But I was personally a junior handler and went to so many dog shows all around the country and showed dogs and groomed dogs. Yeah, it’s a side of me that people didn’t think.”
The dogs on this show are all family pets that have been screened for temperament to make sure they like being groomed and shown. And the groomers are the creme de la creme, all highly trained and accomplished professionals who are wellversed in cutting and dyeing canine fur safely, lest the dogs be hurt. And when it comes time for the dogwalk, it will be celebrity handlers escorting them down the aisle.
But as much as the skill of the groomers will be on display, so will the canine-human bond. For Wilson, who ironically enough is allergic to dogs, it’s a chance to show off what she does best.
“I’m going to try to bring the comedy,” she said. “I also do what’s called ‘Dogography’ in the show, which is a new term that I invented where, basically, we dress the (production assistants) up in dog costumes, and then I worked out little dances.”
“Because of COVID, we had just stuffed animals as my audience,” she added. “So, yeah, I tried to lighten it up. So it was a challenge, and it’s hard, and I have a lot of respect for everybody who works in reality because it’s really difficult.”