Beauty and the Geek

Joshua and Shay were arguably the most improved team on this season of Beauty and the Geek. They started out the season at the very bottom, coming in last in the first challenge. But since then, they've worked hard and studied their way all the way up to fourth place. Shay, the bartender and former beauty pageant queen, and Joshua, the Princeton astrophysicist, spoke to BuddyTV today about Shay's terrifying zoology challenge, how much they studied during their time on Beauty and the Geek, and their analysis of how the rest of the season is going to go. Below, you will find an audiofile and a transcript of the interview.

Hey everybody. This is Debbie from BuddyTV and I'm talking to Joshua and Shay from Beauty and the Geek. Hey, guys.

Shay: Hey, how are you?

Joshua: Hey, hello.

I'm doing great. So, you were eliminated last night, but I thought that you both did really well in your elimination round. Can you just tell me what was going through your minds during it?

Shay: I was terrified. I was like, "Oh no, oh no, oh no." I was just like, "Oh, this is it, this is it." But, I thought we both tried really hard. I was just really nervous, ready for a new place. It was nerve-wracking.

Yeah, but you got all your questions right.

Shay: Yes, I got all my questions right.

How about you, Joshua? What was going through your mind?

Joshua: Of course, I was nervous. The elimination questions are so random. I went in and I had thought that I studied hard and I knew a lot of the stuff, but they're just so random, you don't know what to expect. I was confident in Shay and she rewarded that confidence and got both of her questions right, and I was very happy. I was a bit frustrated that I didn't get William's first question, but such is life. And that was sort of the end of it.

Shay, you had the most terrifying challenge ever. Oh my gosh, I don't know how you did it.

Shay: I don't know how I did it. Yeah, I don't even know exactly how I got through that. Yeah, it was very much one of the scariest things that I had ever done. You know, I had—I'm from the South, so I had some weird little animals when I was a kid, but never once did I have a grub that leaked black stuff out of it, and hissing cockroaches, and neon-bright, light-colored snakes. I've always been told that the brighter they are the poisonous they are. So, yeah, that was definitely nerve-wracking, but I was just trying to make sure...I was like, if I finish, I'm going to do this because, this would be a favor to Joshua, and I'm just going to do it anyway, even though tears were rolling down my eyes and I was crying so hard, but I'll do it.

Good job! And Joshua, how do you think you compared in your challenge, compared to the other geeks.

Joshua: Honestly, from what I heard from the cheering—we were in the other room listening, the other geeks did a lot better than I did. Apparently, they threw caution to the wind, whereas I sort of did that, but it was hard because I tried hard not to spill stuff because it said in the study material not to spill stuff. But whatever, some of it was fun, and the messier I got, the more fun it was for everyone, and I had a good time with it.

What has been your favorite challenge so far?

Shay: Joshua?

Joshua: Yeah?

Shay: What's your favorite challenge so far?

Joshua: So far? Are there more coming?

Er, I guess I didn't mean 'so far.' But, you know, throughout the whole competition?

Joshua: My favorite challenge was the salsa challenge. I do a lot of dancing on my own anyway, and so then I know how to dance. And I thought I did pretty well with it.

Shay: And my favorite challenge was the one that I won, which was the teaching challenge. That was my favorite because I won. But, outside of that, I don't think I have another one. There was the debate challenge, the rocket challenge, what else was there?

Joshua: The anatomy challenge.

Shay: Oh, the anatomy challenge. Yeah, I need to learn my left from my right.

Joshua: The superhero.

Shay: Oh yeah, the superhero challenge! It was cool. If you guys would have seen us before I got there on stage, I did a great job.

Tell me one thing about your partner that you're most impressed with.

Shay: Go ahead, Josh.

Joshua: I think one thing that impresses me most about Shay was her... she had a decent ability of absorbing the material. I mean, she did great in the debate, she was hard-working and did fine in the elimination room. I mean, the beauties are always given so much material, and Shay was actually very good at picking out what actually mattered. I was very impressed.

Shay: My favorite... the thing that I liked most about Josh... He pays such good attention to detail, more than anybody I've ever seen. The smallest things, stuff that I would have never, ever, ever, ever thought about, he was just right on top of it. He analyzes everything, sometimes way too much, but for the most part, it was pretty good. I think that was pretty cool. And the fact that he knew so much just about general, if not non-general, information. Stuff that I probably should have paid attention to in school, Josh knows about it. That's pretty interesting, I think.

Last week, in my interview with John and Natalie, I had asked them which team that they were most impressed with, and they both thought that you guys were really great, and they said that you studied a lot and worked really hard. So, I'm wondering how many hours a day... I mean, you guys had a lot of study material each, and how much time did you devote to studying each week?

Shay: Oh my goodness, in the beginning, you know why you guys didn't see me a lot? It's because I was studying.

Joshua: The beauties are always given just tons of material...

Shay: Yeah, the study material was ridiculous. So, I would get note cards and start studying them like that. Yeah, we took a lot of time out to dedicate towards...I was making sure that if we were to go to the elimination room, then there's no way we're going to leave this house because we weren't prepared. So, I was like, I didn't give a good gosh darn about laying in the sun, I don't want to go swimming, let's get up here and study. I mean, it was to the point where sometimes I got frustrated with Josh because I'm like, "Why are you over there talking to them instead of studying?"

Joshua: It was always a tough call. You study the study material in preparation for the elimination, or you studied for the challenges because they didn't always go together.

Shay: Yeah.

Joshua: And you go back and forth and it always takes so long. When you're in the middle of a challenge, it's not so bad, but in preparation, you never feel ready for it.

Now, I'd like you to kind of provide your professional analysis for the end game. So, what's your opinion of the three teams that are remaining?

Shay: William and Jen will probably end up killing each other. Let's see. I would like for Dave and Jasmine to win, and Sam and Nicole probably won. That's my analysis of how it all went down.

Joshua, how about you?

Joshua: So, my thinking is that I want Dave and Jasmine to win. But what I think is going to happen is, the next challenge looks like it has an athletic component to it. I will guess that Sam will carry the next challenge as well. They have won five out of seven...but then, if you put Dave and Jasmine with William and Jen, I don't know who comes back. We haven't seen Dave and Jasmine up there. I would put William and Jen above Dave and Jasmine, but the questions are random and William and Jen are sort of tearing each other apart. They have a hard time actually studying together, and although they did fine against us, they might not be able to keep that up. It's too hard to call. I hope Dave and Jasmine win, but I have my doubts. But it is hard to tell. The elimination room is so random...

If you guys had had the power to vote off another team, like in last week's episode when you guys went to Mexico, who would it have been?

Shay: If we had a choice to vote off somebody when we were in Mexico, who would it have been? Definitely, I probably would have picked Will and Jen because those two were at each other's throats, and hopefully, they were able to get over it, but I doubt it. Yeah, definitely I would have voted them off because Will was just way too cocky, and even though Jen was trying her best to try to resolve things, he was just like, "Hm, I don't think so. I want to be here for everybody else, but not my partner." So, with that kind of attitude, nobody wanted that. It was like, "eh, whatever." Yeah, definitely it would have been Will and Jen. Who would you have voted off, Josh?

Joshua: I think I would have voted off William and Jen. We were asked who we thought should go and I think it was unanimous for William and Jen. I mean, even William and Jen gave that as their answer. So I think it would have been sort of mean not to grant everyone's wish. And for them to indicate it sort of makes sense ... so it works from all different angles to eliminate them. That would have been my choice. That being said, if we knew that next week's challenge was going to be bartending, I probably would have wanted to get rid of John. Just with his juggling, he would have dominated that. But whatever. I'd like to see how the William and Jen dynamic play out form here on out.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing that too.

Joshua: Personally, I'm more interested in Dave and Nicole's dynamic.

Oh yeah, me too! That looks great! Was there any indication before that Dave had a crush on Nicole?

Joshua: There definitely was, but Shay remembers it better than I do, so I'll let her answer.

Shay: Yeah, I remember once, when we were all sitting around in the kitchen. He said once before that he really wanted her to choose him for the prom thing. He was interested in her, but he didn't know how to go like approaching her, what to say to her.

Joshua: For the prom, it was weird, though, because we were told that Nicole had to ask someone. Or, at least, that was the impression I got. So, it wasn't clear that he could say anything at that point.

Okay. And, finally, what is the one thing that you're going to remember from your experience here?

Shay: One thing that I'm going to take away from this experience is that being able to put yourself out there for people to judge you, being around awesome people. That in itself was just amazing. To take yourself out of your world for 2.2 seconds and place yourself around people that you don't know if you have the ability to live with them and to learn from each other. That was awesome. And plus, I had a damn good time at the end of the day.

Joshua: I think it's easy to go through life seeking out people you have a lot in common with and you get along with. But on this show, none of us had similar life experiences, but at the same time, we all got along, we were all friends, we all learned from each other. I think it's possible to go up to random people and start chatting, get along. People have more in common than you would imagine. And, as Shay said, put yourself out there and see what happens. Don't worry about it, you'll be fine. You'll meet people, you'll like them, they'll like you, whatever.

Shay: And if they don't—

Joshua: You have nothing to lose, and it's not going to be in vain.

Shay: Yeah.

Great. You guys, since the beginning of the season, you were one of my favorite teams, and I'm so proud of you guys for going as far as you did. So, congratulations.

Joshua: Thank you.

Shay: Thank you so much.


-Interview conducted by Debbie Chang
(Image courtesy of The CW)