How Alex Cooper Turned Her Love for Reality TV and Miley Cyrus Into Her Dream Producing Job — and What It Means for the Future of ‘Call Her Daddy’
There are two things Alex Cooper loves to talk about: reality TV and Miley Cyrus.
With Unwell, founded in 2023, Cooper already has the massively successful “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Unwell Beverages and a SiriusXM partnership. Now, through her just-launched Unwell Productions, she’s executive producing Disney+’s “The Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special,” debuting March 24; the reality dating series “Love Overboard,” landing March 26 on Hulu; and reality series “Let’s Marry Harry,” coming this year to Netflix.
“This has always kind of been the plan. This is a massive moment for Unwell’s evolution into a fully integrated media company,” says Cooper of stepping into the producing space. “We launched Unwell Productions because I genuinely believe nobody understands or engages or mobilizes the next generation like we do. We’re taking that unparalleled consumer intimacy that we have at Unwell and getting to translate it into premium unscripted series for major streamers. It’s a no-brainer for us.”
“Love Overboard” combines both romance and strategy, but Cooper had no interest in reinventing the wheel.
“We were just trying to make something that had the elements of a dating show and a little bit of that gamification and merging it together,” she says.
That’s why this show, set on a yacht, sees four couples living lavishly topside — and the rest of the singles below deck, cleaning up after the others. The “Downsiders” get the opportunity to break up. Each week’s eliminated single literally walks the plank and plummets into the ocean off Malta.
“It adds such suspense and humor and chaos,” says Cooper. “I was so interested in exploring this luxury yacht life and people being able to date like the Kardashian lifestyle, which most of us don’t get to experience. But also, will people fall in love underneath together and enjoy their life with the less glamorous things?”
Cooper wanted to see whether contestants would fall enough for each other to agree to sleep on bunk beds, without the Champagne and caviar — while also turning some of the reality show tropes on their heads.
“A lot of dating shows have become really serious, and I think that consumers are too smart now, where they think, there’s no way that these people who are trying to become famous are going to fall in love,” she says. “Unwell approached it with a more realistic approach: We want this to feel self-aware, a little chaotic in the best way, and the tone really was intentional. Other reality shows are so serious and intense that sometimes, it is a little hard to believe. These people just met each other three days ago. How are they already proposing?”
Meanwhile, Cooper also produces and hosts the upcoming “Hannah Montana” special — something she felt extremely qualified for as a self-described “Hannah Montana” fangirl, and whom Cyrus deeply respects. And though she loves reality TV and did a documentary about her life and tour last year, she has no interest in having her own reality show.
“I love watching reality TV. I love producing it, but I think that I have made now, at this point in my career, a pretty concerted effort to keep my personal life more private,” Cooper says. “I genuinely believe that I’m getting to do what I love. I went to school and majored in film and television. This is something that I always wanted to do. This is more the lane that I feel the most confident and excited about when it comes to reality TV.”
Cooper may be taking on multiple other projects, but her biggest venture, “Call Her Daddy,” isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s only growing. This year, for the first time, the next “Bachelorette” lead wasn’t announced on “Good Morning America” — instead, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul revealed her news on Cooper’s podcast. And Whitney Leavitt and “Dancing With the Stars” partner Mark Ballas performed their finale routine on the podcast, followed by a tell-all interview.
And at Unwell Productions, the collaborations are just getting started.
“We have a lot in development across many different genres. We have more dating shows in the works. We have true crime. We have some really fun docu-soaps and game-style shows,” Cooper says. “The goal for Unwell Productions is to keep creating content that’s fresh, entertaining and a little bit unexpected. But ‘Call Her Daddy’ will always be the mothership.”
With Unwell, founded in 2023, Cooper already has the massively successful “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Unwell Beverages and a SiriusXM partnership. Now, through her just-launched Unwell Productions, she’s executive producing Disney+’s “The Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special,” debuting March 24; the reality dating series “Love Overboard,” landing March 26 on Hulu; and reality series “Let’s Marry Harry,” coming this year to Netflix.
“This has always kind of been the plan. This is a massive moment for Unwell’s evolution into a fully integrated media company,” says Cooper of stepping into the producing space. “We launched Unwell Productions because I genuinely believe nobody understands or engages or mobilizes the next generation like we do. We’re taking that unparalleled consumer intimacy that we have at Unwell and getting to translate it into premium unscripted series for major streamers. It’s a no-brainer for us.”
“Love Overboard” combines both romance and strategy, but Cooper had no interest in reinventing the wheel.
“We were just trying to make something that had the elements of a dating show and a little bit of that gamification and merging it together,” she says.
That’s why this show, set on a yacht, sees four couples living lavishly topside — and the rest of the singles below deck, cleaning up after the others. The “Downsiders” get the opportunity to break up. Each week’s eliminated single literally walks the plank and plummets into the ocean off Malta.
“It adds such suspense and humor and chaos,” says Cooper. “I was so interested in exploring this luxury yacht life and people being able to date like the Kardashian lifestyle, which most of us don’t get to experience. But also, will people fall in love underneath together and enjoy their life with the less glamorous things?”
Cooper wanted to see whether contestants would fall enough for each other to agree to sleep on bunk beds, without the Champagne and caviar — while also turning some of the reality show tropes on their heads.
“A lot of dating shows have become really serious, and I think that consumers are too smart now, where they think, there’s no way that these people who are trying to become famous are going to fall in love,” she says. “Unwell approached it with a more realistic approach: We want this to feel self-aware, a little chaotic in the best way, and the tone really was intentional. Other reality shows are so serious and intense that sometimes, it is a little hard to believe. These people just met each other three days ago. How are they already proposing?”
Meanwhile, Cooper also produces and hosts the upcoming “Hannah Montana” special — something she felt extremely qualified for as a self-described “Hannah Montana” fangirl, and whom Cyrus deeply respects. And though she loves reality TV and did a documentary about her life and tour last year, she has no interest in having her own reality show.
“I love watching reality TV. I love producing it, but I think that I have made now, at this point in my career, a pretty concerted effort to keep my personal life more private,” Cooper says. “I genuinely believe that I’m getting to do what I love. I went to school and majored in film and television. This is something that I always wanted to do. This is more the lane that I feel the most confident and excited about when it comes to reality TV.”
Cooper may be taking on multiple other projects, but her biggest venture, “Call Her Daddy,” isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s only growing. This year, for the first time, the next “Bachelorette” lead wasn’t announced on “Good Morning America” — instead, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul revealed her news on Cooper’s podcast. And Whitney Leavitt and “Dancing With the Stars” partner Mark Ballas performed their finale routine on the podcast, followed by a tell-all interview.
And at Unwell Productions, the collaborations are just getting started.
“We have a lot in development across many different genres. We have more dating shows in the works. We have true crime. We have some really fun docu-soaps and game-style shows,” Cooper says. “The goal for Unwell Productions is to keep creating content that’s fresh, entertaining and a little bit unexpected. But ‘Call Her Daddy’ will always be the mothership.”