There’s a version of ESPN that existed in the mid-90s that feels like a fever dream now. Before the network became wall-to-wall debate shows and hot take artists screaming at each other about last night’s game, ESPN2 launched in 1993 with an identity that was looser, more experimental, and frankly more fun. It was willing to put things on television that didn’t fit the traditional sports broadcast mold as we know it today. Kiana’s Flex Appeal was one of those things, and it was appointment television for me from the moment I first saw it one early morning in 1995.
I was nine years old. At that point in my life, I wanted to be a professional wrestler more than anything else in the world, which meant I was already paying close attention to anyone who was physically impressive. Kiana Tom was physically impressive in a way that was hard not to notice, even at nine. She was fit, she was beautiful, and she carried herself with a confidence that made you want to watch whatever she was doing, even if that thing was a tricep extension on a Hawaiian beach at seven in the morning. I was hooked instantly.
I’ll be honest about it the way the show was always honest about itself: part of the appeal was absolutely that Kiana Tom was one of the most attractive women I had ever seen in my life. The show didn’t pretend otherwise and neither did anyone who watched it. She and the other women on the show were stunning, fit, and comfortable in their own skin in a way that felt natural rather than manufactured. It wasn’t exploitation. It was confidence. There’s a difference, and Kiana understood that difference better than most.
For me personally, in the mid-90s, Kiana Tom was right there with Pamela Anderson and honestly ahead of her in a lot of ways. Pamela was everywhere, on every magazine cover, impossible to ignore. Kiana had something different though, a combination of beauty, athleticism, and genuine passion that made her more than just a pretty face on a screen. She deserved more of that mainstream attention then, and she deserves more credit for what she built now.
Here’s what I also understood at nine years old, even if I probably wouldn’t have articulated it properly then: the show was actually good. It wasn’t just hot women in bikinis working out on or around the beach (though that was obviously an appeal). The workouts were real. The instruction was clear and accessible. Kiana wasn’t just standing on a beach looking great and calling it fitness content. She knew what she was talking about, she communicated it well, and she made you believe that this lifestyle was achievable and worth pursuing. The show became the highest-rated program in ESPN history within a week of its premiere and went on to run for over six successful years until 2001. That doesn’t happen on the back of aesthetics alone. The substance had to be there, and it was.
What made Kiana’s Flex Appeal work was the combination of all of it working together. The locations were gorgeous, typically filmed at high-end resorts in Hawaii and the Caribbean, which gave every episode a warmth and escapism that a gym setting never could have matched. The production had a breezy, sun-soaked quality that felt like a vacation you were invited to join. And at the center of all of it was a host who was passionate about fitness in a way that viewed as completely genuine. Kiana Tom wasn’t performing enthusiasm. She had it.
I recently rediscovered the episodes on YouTube and spent more time than I probably should have going back through them. They hold up. Not in a “charming for their era” way, but in a genuinely useful, well-produced way. The workouts are solid. The instruction is still accurate. Watching those thirty-year-old episodes, she moves through every workout with energy and conviction that makes them feel as alive today as they did in 1995.
And if you follow her now, she’s 61 but honestly looks like she stepped right out of a 1995 fitness magazine. She’s out-working and out-shining people half her age, looking practically like she did in the 90s, and she’s living proof that her philosophy works.
I had a massive crush on her at nine years old. I still think she’s one of the most beautiful women to ever appear on television. And I also think she made a genuinely great fitness show that helped a lot of people and deserves to be remembered as more than a 90s curiosity. Those things aren’t in conflict with each other. They never were.
Look at America right now. Obesity rates are at historic highs. The conversation around health and fitness has become so politicized and so tangled up in discourse that actually encouraging people to be fit has become controversial in certain corners. And television, ESPN included, has lost the willingness to just be earnest and aspirational about anything.
The network that once put a beautiful, passionate fitness expert on a Hawaiian beach every morning now fills its airtime with panels of people arguing about quarterback ratings. The idea of a show like Kiana’s Flex Appeal today, fronted by a beautiful fit woman, openly proud of her body, and genuinely expert at what she is teaching, would terrify a modern network executive. They wouldn’t know how to hold both things at once, the way Kiana made it look effortless. That balance of blatant physical appeal and unironic expertise is exactly what’s missing, and exactly what’s needed.
There was nothing harmful about Kiana’s Flex Appeal. There was nothing exploitative or degrading about it. It was a fit, confident, gorgeous woman on a beach teaching people how to take care of themselves, and she did it with warmth and passion for over six years. The fact that she was also magnetic and easy on the eyes wasn’t a flaw in the programming. It was part of why people tuned in, got off the couch, and picked up a pair of dumbbells. Motivation comes in a lot of forms, and Kiana Tom was one of the more effective ones.
Hollywood and television have been running on fumes for years now, rebooting and reimagining everything from cartoon franchises to decades-old prestige dramas nobody asked to revisit. For once, here’s a reboot that would actually make sense. Bring back Kiana’s Flex Appeal, with Kiana Tom back in charge. She’s 61 years old and in better shape than ninety-nine percent of the American population, which makes her not just qualified but uniquely compelling for this exact moment.
There’s something powerful about a woman in her early sixties who looks the way she looks and moves the way she moves, because it obliterates every excuse the rest of us are carrying around. You can’t watch her and tell yourself it’s too late or too hard. The evidence is standing right there on the beach with a dumbbell. ESPN could fill an hour every morning with something that might actually change someone’s life instead of another panel of middle-aged men arguing about last night’s box score. I believe an audience is there. The host is as capable and motivating as ever. The only thing missing is the willingness to do it.
If you haven’t gone back and watched any of these episodes, they’re on YouTube and they’re worth your time. And Kiana, thank you for the show and fitness lessons. Nine-year-old me was a loyal viewer, and 40-year-old me is still a fan.
