My Personal Interview With Niels Hoven of Beauty and the Geek 3

I was fortunate that Niels Hoven is a great guy and was generous enough to forgive me for botching that last interview he gave me. We had a chance to talk again this afternoon and here’s what he had to say about his time on Beauty and the Geek 3.

Have you all recorded your reunion show yet, or is it going to be live?
To the best of my knowledge, it’s going to be a clip show. I think there are clips and outtakes from the whole season. I don’t know if it’s outtakes or highlights. We’re going to be as surprised as everyone else is.

So you haven’t actually recorded it yet?
No, we haven’t had a reunion yet. A bunch of us are going to Las Vegas for a reunion. As far as I know, not everyone is gong. The network isn’t paying for the trip, so I don’t know who will be coming for sure. We’re going to go there and hang out. I know Nate will be there, Jennylee, Cece, Scooter…I don’t really know who will be going, but it should be a lot of fun.

So you haven’t seen too many of the others since the production ended?
We got to do a little bit of publicity in New York. That was the last four teams that were together. And I saw Jennylee when we went down to LA to do some publicity after we were voted off.

That was Reality Remix, right?
Yes, we did Reality Remix, the local news and a whole lot of phone interviews.

So you’re getting tired of all this, I’m sure.
Yeah, I’m getting excited that it all is winding down.

What made you decide to go on the show?
I met the casting crew at a party at Ankur’s house, a friend of mine and told them what I was working on. And it went from there.

How did it feel to be surrounded by cameras 24 hours a day?
It was weird in the beginning, but you get used to it really, really fast. Part of it was that we spent the week before in a hotel doing final auditions. It was tough being in a hotel for a week with very little outside interaction. So when we finally got out of the hotel, we were surrounded by all these people, your mouth just starts running and you just love having others around.

I didn’t know that they sequestered you before the show began.
They don’t want us to see each other before the show.

So, after you were eliminated, which I was really sorry to see by the way, did they sequester you again until the end?
Yeah, we go back in a hotel. They don’t want people going home and having people tracking when they leave or anything. So they send us back to a hotel. Jennylee and I were lucky because it only ended up being like a day.

One of my readers, Michelle, has asked where you guys got your clothes for the makeovers. Can you tell us the name of the store?
Kitson Boutique in LA. They actually do have a web site.

Other than you and Jennylee, who were you the sorriest to see eliminated?
Everybody hated to lose Mario and Nadia. Everybody got along with Mario and everybody got along with Nadia. They both brought a lot of energy and good feelings into the house.

Who from the show will you stay in contact with in the future? Most of the guys are good friends and will probably stay good friends. I’ve talked to a few of the girls since the show. I talked to Sheree and Nadia some. But the bonds that the guys have will probably stay close bonds.

If you could do it all over again, would you handle any situation differently?
I would have liked to have more time to get to know Sanjay. We really didn’t have much time to talk be fore he had to leave. Just watching the show afterwards, I thought, hey, that guy’s hilarious. I would have liked to get to know him more.

How long were they actually there? About a day?
No, Sanjay and Tori left after about a week. First we had to do the show where they gave us the option of taking the $20,000 and then the first elimination was after that.

Are you sorry you didn’t take the $20,000 and leave?
Well, $20,000 is ok. Then it’s $10,000 per person. Then, after taxes, it’s only about $6,000. And my experience on the show was much more valuable than taking the $20,000.

What was the biggest thing you learned from being on the show?
I learned a lot about interacting with high drama, high maintenance, manipulative girls. I learned a lot about what I was looking for with the people in my life and what I’m not looking for in the people I have relationships with. I learned a lot about myself and what I want to accomplish.

Did you just want to smack Cece when she said that whole “take the blonde out of the bikini” gibberish?
By that point, it really wasn’t that unexpected. Cece just doesn’t have any empathy. She doesn’t know how things make people feel.

How did you feel about Nate asking everyone to vote for Scooter and Megan?
It really didn’t surprise me that Nate did that. He’s just that kind of person. I guess a lot people wonder if he’s really like that, and he is. Nate usually puts himself last a lot more than he should. He really looks out for other people. He’s not perfect, but he tries hard.

Did Nate’s actions change your vote? Do you think it changed anyone’s votes?
I think it might have swayed a couple of people, but I don’t think it changed the outcome. I was already impressed with what Megan had done to try to better herself. I would have been happy if either Scooter or Nate won. Everybody loved Scooter. Everybody loved Nate, but it all came down to the girls.

Do you think the way the show was edited was fair and do you think the show gave the viewers a correct view of each of you?
No, we were expecting things to get blown out of proportion, but I think the editing was really accurate. If anything, they toned down a lot of what was said. For example, the day in the house when I almost broke down. When you watch it on TV it only lasts about 10 minutes. The whole house was on edge that day. And it lasted about 12 hours. It just didn’t come through as intense as it was really. It was really tough because we were cut off from outside contact. No phone, no internet, anything. So we had no source of outside support.

Did they ask you guys to say those funny things like Mario’s “You’re like a transformer, you’re more than meets the eye?” and Drew’s Star Trek references, or were those real?
They told us to do things like make a toast to our girls, but the things that we said were real. The words were ours when we talked about the girls.

What was your favorite challenge while you were in the mansion?
My favorite was the makeover because that was the time when Jennylee and I really worked together more than any other time.

After your makeover, you looked really hot in the auction. Have you kept up with the new style, or have you gone back to some of your old style habits?
Absolutely, I’m keeping the makeover look. I got so many compliments, how could I possibly go back? I may not always manage it, but I do try to make a good impression.

How did you feel about Jennylee, your partner, and Nate being so into each other?
I was ok with that. Nate is a great guy. The obvious question is whether it affected us working together, and I don’t know about that. But I could appreciate it. Nate is obviously a great guy and it’s totally fair that Jennylee would want to be with him.

You’re such a generous guy.
I think people don’t realize just how non-competittive things were in the house. The guys especially weren’t that competitive. You’d send someone to elimination, then help them with the next challenge.

What was your least favorite challenge or event while you were in the mansion?
My least favorite challenge was the picking up girls in the park [with the dog]. It was ok going out an flirting but then you had to try to get a phone number from people you don’t actually care about. I didn’t feel comfortable with having to lie to the woman to try to get it.

Who do you not care if you ever talk to again?
I doubt that Cece and I will have much to do with each other.

Since you admitted that you have a pet Venus Flytrap, how was it working with the dog?
The dog drooled a bit more than I had liked. We had to follow him around with a towel.

What is your Venus Flytrap’s Name?
Snatch.

And did it make it through your time away?
No, unfortunately, it didn’t. But that’s ok. I’m on the road so much these days that I don’t have the time to keep up with it.

Are you dating more these days?
Yeah, I’m dating around.

Would you ever consider doing another reality show?
I would consider it, actually. It would have to be a pretty cool reality show. Something positive. No back stabbing.

So can you tell me where the Chisholm Trail ends?
It leads from Texas to Kansas. I’ll never forget it.

I didn’t think so. Did you just want to kick yourself when that was your question?
It was ridiculous. Nate could have picked the other question. It was really 50-50 who got that question. If Nate had got that question, I would have been in the finals.

What a crummy question. I felt so bad for you.
I felt pretty bad too.

Is there anything else about you or your experience that you want us to know about?
Just that I had a blast.

So do you think you’ll watch Beauty & the Geek in the future?
I’ll probably watch future seasons of it. But I can’t imagine that any would be as ridiculous as ours.

Good luck, Niels. I really appreciate you taking the time once again to talk about your experience on the show. I wish you all the best.

Niels is a relaxed, interesting guy. In print, his answers don’t have the fun, upbeat tone he has when he talks. Just know that it was there.

And if you want to know more about Niels, his current work as a professional dating coach or what the other beauties and geeks are up to since the show, be sure to go read his personal blog. It’s at http://www.nielshoven.com/

One of his latest posts is about what is up with Nate & Jennylee since the show finished production. You can even ask him some questions that I may have missed here. Be sure to stop by his blog and say "hi!"

And be sure to tune in Wednesday evening at 9 pm EST for the Beauty & the Geek reunion show on the CW.

Reality TV, reality-tv, Television

_{Photos from the CW.}