Tag: interview

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Beauty and the Geek psych evaluation

Last week, I got a message on here and on Facebook from a high school student in New York. The full story (that she explained in full a little later) was that her psychology teacher had seen Beauty and the Geek, assigned groups of kids in his class to watch different seasons, then gave them a few options for an assignment after that.

One of those options was to interview a former cast member, so because her group liked me the best (Yay!), they found a way to contact me, we sent a few messages back and forth and I eventually had an hour-long chat via Skype with three high school psychology students. They sent me a list of questions ahead of time, giving me time to think about my answers, so I got to tell them a couple of good stories and I like to think I dropped a couple of interesting knowledge bombs, too.

Some were basic questions that I might get from anyone: Why did you audition for the show, how has it affected your personal life, what would you have done with the money, etc. One question I liked that had an answer they probably didn’t expect was #7 on the list:

Some individuals may feel that receiving the money as an award corrupts the experience. Do you agree with this? In other words, are you glad that you didn’t win?

“No.”

Aside from the obvious “I would have liked to win”, I don’t think it corrupts the experience. It may affect how you approach it: you may be there for the experience or you may be focused entirely on winning the money, but either way, your goal is set, you know what you’re trying to accomplish. If everyone is there solely for the experience and the money is introduced a few weeks in, that could corrupt it. People’s behavior could change because their goal changes. (I suppose “corrupt” is a personal judgment—you consider money a negative factor—but it definitely alters the experience, for better or worse.)

I also liked the final question, #10:

What was going through your head when you found out that high school students wanted to interview you about a show you did 10 years ago?

Initially, I was flattered. “They like me, they really like me!” Then I was extremely curious. “What was the process that went from ‘high school psychology class’ to them contacting me about a potential interview? What kind of terrible teacher would force their students to watch that show?!” (Plus there was the little voice in my head reminding me, “I’m over 20 years older than these kids… God, I’m old.”)

It was really nice that they’d seen all the episodes recently, so I could tell them stories relating to their questions and they knew exactly what I was referring to (the quotes below are approximate, but you get the idea):

  • [One question on the students’ list was about whether I’m still into the same activities that I was ten years ago.] “Remember when someone mentioned ‘going out only two times a month’? That was me.”
  • “We were allowed to tell girls anything but the truth about why we wanted their phone numbers, so Chuck was the smartest out of all of us because he came up with the best lie!”
  • “I let Scarlet yell at me after the outdoor challenge for a long time because I agreed with her. I knew I screwed up.” [I proceeded to give them a list of things I could/should have done differently.]
  • “During the Aftermath, the producers were giving people some of those questions. The girl who asked Joe on a date was 14 years old.” [Joe called her afterward and got to talk to her dad.]
  • “They didn’t show all of the questions because someone asked me about how the Boy Scouts responded after my ‘meltdown’ during the outdoor challenge. I think they specifically worded the questions to see what kind of emotional responses they could get.”

Finally, toward the end of the interview, one girl asked me for five adjectives that best describe the experience for me and there’s no question that “memorable” belongs on that list.

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I was on the front page for a few hours…

Or maybe more than a few hours. I’m not sure how often The Gate moves from story to story on its main page, but there was a day when I could go to the site and there it was: a picture of me in my sorta-almost-glory that people could bask in. And it wasn’t even because I’d been arrested this time.

Nope, the article was an “interview” that I did with a writer for the website, which entailed his sending me some questions, my responding to them and him deciding what to include. If you’d like to take a look, here’s the link plus the text inside for when the link disappears (which could be in another few hours…). Continue reading “I was on the front page for a few hours…”

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Not all geeks are [blank].

If you’ve been following the epic story of Beauty and the Geek from the beginning, you’ll know that the show’s on TV, I gave an interview over the radio and, well, this blog is just a dust mite compared to all the information you can find on the Internet. I think the only form of media that hasn’t been flooded yet is carvings on cave walls.

Seriously, though, the show is eventually going to get some exposure on paper, too. Sure, there have been plenty of columnist reviews across the nation, most of which gave the show good marks—those who didn’t like it… they’re pretentious pricks. Why? Because I said so. And don’t question my judgment on this—I could have you destroyed in the blink of an eye by an angry mob of fans who think I’m cute.

But I’m not talking about general opinions from people who only saw the first two episodes before promoting or condemning it. I’m talking about juicy information that you wouldn’t find out for yourself by watching the show… or reading it on my blog. Something much cooler than newspapers, but something you can still burn in effigy if it tries to make you seem like a pretentious prick.

So here’s what led to this entry: Yesterday, I got a call from Kathy, the publicist out in L.A., who asked if it would be okay for People to give me a call. No, not just random folks off the street—People, the magazine. It’s not like I had better plans that afternoon, so I told her that’d be fine. (I did have plans to go shopping with my mother, but they weren’t better plans…) She asked me when I’d be available and we eventually got it scheduled for 3:00.

At approximately 3:20, my phone rang. It was Kathy again, but as part of a conference call—she’d be lurking on the line with the mute button on during the interview. If I had any questions, she could pipe up with an answer. Then her voice disappeared, at which point the interviewer’s voice asked me how I was doing.

The questions were very low-key, I tried to be as candid as possible and avoid little white lies. For example, I admitted that my social life hadn’t changed much since I’m still spending most of my time in the basement studying for the bar exam. Still, I could tell her that while it still feels kinda awkward approaching women, I’m more comfortable just engaging in a conversation that might arise. Or that might be a white lie, I haven’t decided for sure—it’s been a while since I’ve talked to a strange woman (not including the oddballs I already know).

The one thing I definitely remember was when she asked me to complete this sentence: “Not all geeks are [blank].” “…Geeks.” Hey, it was the first thing that came into my head. As I was thinking about how to elaborate on that, Kathy jumped into the conversation to say that’s exactly what she was thinking: “Not all geeks are geeks.” I eventually came up with something like “There’s still a person behind the horn-rimmed glasses and the pocket protector.” I don’t recall whether I added that you might have to try a little harder to find that person, but the sentiment is the same.

That was pretty much it. I don’t know how much of the conversation they’ll put in print, but it was nice to hear the interviewer say it was easy to talk to me. (Maybe it wasn’t a white lie after all…) Perhaps you’ll feel the same way after watching future episodes of Beauty and the Geek… or maybe not—you probably shouldn’t talk at the TV too much or people will start looking at you funny.

Oh, one more thing: if you want to see which parts of the interview they used (along with interviews of all the other male cast members), pick up the issue of People that’s coming out on June 17th. The Bachelor issue. It’ll say that I’m single and available. I just hope it won’t lead to my social life changing because the basement gets raided by a mob of strange women who think I’m cute.