Josh, the rubber band club president and mechanical engineering major at Berkeley, was the second geek to be eliminated on The CW's Beauty and the Geek. He spoke to BuddyTV after his elimination about his experience in the competition and the huge rubber band war that he helped organize.

Below, you will find an audio mp3 file and a transcript of the interview.

Hey, everyone. This is Debbie at BuddyTV, and I'm talking to Josh from Beauty and the Geek. Hi Josh.

Hi Debbie.

So, you were eliminated this week and it was really sad. Tell me what went through your mind when that happened.

I was just really disappointed because I felt like me and Hollie had so much more to learn, so much more to gain by being on the show longer. And so, it was really disappointing that, you know, we couldn't finish out our transformation there. So, it was disappointing.

Your elimination round was really close, and then you lost on the leather anniversary question. So, now do you know all the anniversary gifts?

I will never, ever forget which anniversary I get a leather whip on for the rest of my life. I can thank the show for that.

Nice!

Yeah, I thought the question was, I thought, a bit hard. Most people in general, not just geeks, don't know the answer to that question. You know, just random people probably wouldn't know. So, I thought it was, you know, a difficult question, but if they're randomly selected, what can you do?

Yeah. And obviously the big story from this week's episode is Sam and Rebecca hooking up. How was the received with the other guys in the house. Was there any jealousy or anything like that?

I think the two of them hooking up wasn't all that well received because that's sort of not the point, not the spirit of the show for two beauties to hook up. I mean, I guess, they've never had male beauties in the past, but whatever. It's not what they were supposed to be doing. Neither of them was as focused on transforming or bettering themselves once they hooked up. Everybody, beauties and geeks, just felt like, you know, they were losing focus on what they should be doing, you know, trying to better themselves. And, I don't think there was anybody that was jealous of Rebecca or anything, or, you know, jealous of Sam. The guys thought Sam was able to hook up easily so, I don't know, maybe they thought they had a chance.

Do you think that this was sort of scheming on Sam's part? Because Rebecca and Will are one of the strongest teams, and if he got in with her, you know. Do you think there was anything like that going on?

I don't think it was strategic. I think Sam showed, you know, expressed interest towards all the girls, you know, right away. He'd show off to them, and Rebecca was the one who was immediately receptive to him showing off. So, I think that was sort of the beginning, that's sort of why they hooked up.

So, let's talk about the other people in the house. Who did you get along with the best?

Well, Hollie, of course. The other teams I got along with: John and Natalie, me and Hollie hung out with them a lot, Jesse and Erin. All six of us hung out all the time. We got along together really well. I talked to Dave a lot, you know, I was friends with him, talked him about what was going on in the house. Those were the main people that I talked to more than other people.

So, I have a theory that Jesse is kind of like a fake geek. Is that true? I mean, I realize that there's editing on the episodes so...I don't really get a geek vibe from him.

No, he's not a fake geek. Everybody's geek credentials are fully qualified. [Laughter] I guess I just passed my geek test by explaining it like that.

And what were some of the favorite moments you had while you were at the Beauty and the Geek house?

I mean, just the whole experience was just amazing. One great experience that I'm really sad didn't make the air was that we had a giant rubber band war throughout the inside and outside of the house. We just turned the whole house into... Every room, we were just leaping in and out of, using, you know, platters from the kitchen as shields. Tons of beauties and geeks were just, you know, running around shooting each other. Even outside, rolling around. We did it for hours. It was so much fun.

Sounds fun. Tell me what you learned from being on the show. Are you a different person now than before?

I think I've maintained a bit of my...I mean, I still maintain my own personality, you know, my own traits still. I think hopefully I gained a bit of confidence and some social skills, I think. I was given plenty of fashion tips. Mainly, they just pointed to nearly everything that I was wearing or doing with my anything. And it was wrong so. "Okay, wear shorter socks, change those shoes, get rid of the hair on your back and chest and neck, and gel your hair," and all this. I listened to all those tips and so I think I gained at least a better appreciation of what I could do to enhance my appearance.

I'm so impressed that you put a Frisbee in your gift basket. I love Frisbee, by the way.

You know, I actually read your review. So, I guess this counts as calling you.

So, what else did you put in it?

Well, originally, they had said, you know, Mike Richards the host, had said make it fun and romantic. And so, I took that pretty literally. And so what I did was I divided by basket in half, you know, put two rows down the middle, divide it in half. And one side, I had fun things. I had a visor and Frisbee and water balloons 'cause I thought those things would be so much fun to have. And fun things like that. I think I had a beach ball, or, I can't remember what I put in in the end. And then the other side, I had the romantic things, like the candles and the bath soaps and stuff like that. So I thought, you know, it was a dichotomy: two sides, have fun during the day, relaxing, romantic at night. That was the approach I was going for.

Well, unfortunately, it didn't win you the challenge.

I know.

And, so what are your plans for the future?

Well, this year, I'm finishing out my senior year of my undergrad degree at Berkeley. And then, I plan to go to grad school to get a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering next. So that's, in terms of my continuing to be a geek. And then, Hollie was also telling me, one thing I had to do is, while I'm doing my graduate school applications, I should also be attempting to get a date at the same time.

How's that going?

Um, not so well yet.


Interview conducted by Debbie Chang