5 Questions with… Jamie Colby

By Brian Flood 

Official Headshot“Strange Inheritance with Jamie Colbypremieres on Fox Business Network tonight at 9 pm ET. We recently caught up with Colby to discuss her new show, spending time away from home and her numerous professions.

TVNewser: What should we expect from “Strange Inheritance?”

Colby: Expect to crisscross the country meeting families who find themselves with very unique inheritances. Imagine learning you’ve been left the guns Bonnie and Clyde had on them in the death car, becoming the proud owner of 150 tractors, being left the largest private insect collection in the world, or a becoming the fourth generation to own and run a family amusement park. I predict viewers will be wondering what they may have stashed away in their attic or garage! It could happen to any of us and that’s part of the appeal.

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Losing a loved one is never easy and dealing with an inheritance isn’t always either. For one of our characters, his inheritance came when he needed cash for cancer treatment. It proved a blessing. For another family they had to make tough decisions on which items to keep and which to sell. Their inheritance was instead initially a burden till they unexpectedly found a letter they’d also been left by their Dad telling them what HE wanted them to do.

TVNewser: What was it like spending eight months on the road while filming?

Colby: I love an adventure and have always been a “drop and roll” correspondent ready to leave on a moment’s notice. Sometimes when the back to back trips were tiring, I was really energized by seeing new places and meeting these families. They were so warm and welcoming and told stories about their legacies that inspired me. I wish the soaps in hotels were a bit bigger and the biscuits on the complimentary breakfast buffets weren’t so tasty, I lost count how many I consumed, but there’s nothing about traveling for this show that would prevent me from doing it again! I also got to horseback ride with a real cowboy, wrestle an alligator, hold Bonnie Parker’s gun, sample a pinot from a winery inherited by an 8 year old and hold in my hands several letters written by JFK both before and after he became President to the mother of a sailor who perished in the Naval ship he commanded, PT-109. I still can’t believe I got the opportunity to do all of this in such a short period of time

TVNewser: What the most bizarre thing you witnessed while taping “Strange Inheritance?”

Colby: Having an alligator hatch in my hand was amazing, until it took my finger in its mouth and tried to twist me around like they do when attacking prey. I learned they are born with that instinct. Also, making wine the Lucille Ball way with my feet in a vat was nostalgic but felt oddly strange. And finally realizing that furniture not known for comfort made by a world-renowned master craftsman could be so valuable time and again at auction was a head scratcher. But when it comes to collecting, it’s not always apparent something is or will become very valuable. We used experts at times to teach us how much and how come.

TVNewser: You spent some time at the Food Network, so I have to ask… what was your favorite meal during the eight months away from home?

Colby: I eat pretty healthy at home and cook a fair amount so the road provided some challenges. We mostly traveled to smaller communities in the 25 states we were in and sampled quite a bit of southern food, chicken, fried food including alligator and a fair bit of farm grown food when we could find it but the truth is you can’t always get the vegetables and healthy stuff like you can in a big city like New York. I generally roll with it, so when a local crew member said we had to try the mouth-watering sky high pies at Farmhouse Cafe in Huntsville, TX – known for their Coconut cream – I was all in! I’ll admit we sampled many more than that and it was an indescribable highlight. I wonder if they do mail order!

TVNewser: In addition to a TV personality, you’re a licensed lawyer, CPA, mortgage broker and Realtor. So, when do you start medical school?

Colby: That’s funny because that was the original plan. I wanted to be a pediatrician and made it as far as organic chemistry. The textbook weighed like 20 pounds and I said I need to rethink this. I ended up in accounting and decided I wanted to learn the entertainment business. I graduated too young to take the CPA exam, so an accountant I was interning with suggested in the meantime I go to law school. It ended up being the perfect path to entertainment attorney and now show host. But if I did want to go to medical school now do you think they’d take me without a high school diploma?

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