Beauty and the Geek

You guys seemed really close with John and Natalie, and Josh and Hollie, who were eliminated a couple weeks ago. And you actually had to go against both those teams in elimination, and I was wondering what's it like to go against your friends like that?

Erin: It definitely sucks really bad because whoever goes home or whoever gets to stay ... it's obviously going to suck because your friends aren't there when you get to go back up to the mansion. It's really just an uncomfortable position. We really just rooted for each other both times we were in there. Just best of luck to whoever wins.

Jesse: Yeah. It's really hard to face-off against your friends. No matter who wins, you end up losing. Either you're going home, or your really good friends aren't going to be there anymore.

Which team do you think has improved the most so far?

Erin: Shay and Joshua. They've come a really long way.

Jesse: I would agree. They started from like the very bottom and now they're right up there with everyone else. They're competitive in the challenges, and Shay even won one recently.

Who do you think will go all the way?

Jesse: I'm really hoping that John and Natalie go all the way.

Do you think they have a good chance?

Jesse: I do. They're a really strong team and they know a lot and have performed well so far. So I think they've got a good shot at it.

Erin: Yeah. I think so to.

And who do you think will go home next?

Erin: Umm ...

Or who do you want to go home next?

Erin: William and Jen might go home next because they just like, last nights episode I kinda was like unaware of that. They just don't seem to be getting along too well, or even being a team.

Jesse: Yeah. If you and your partner can't cooperate on the challenges, it'll be really tough to win I think.

Yeah. Do you think they've been having those problems throughout the whole time? Or is this something that just happened for this challenge?

Jesse: I think this was just something that had been building over time. I think maybe they had just not gotten along real well and it just built up to where it's noticeable at this point.

Erin?

Erin: Yeah. I kind of think that they weren't open to each other. Maybe they weren't looking at things optimistically. In the very beginning episodes William said that he like, didn't want to be paired up with her. I kind of don't think that he was being open minded about it and he should have given her more of a chance.

And what's the one thing that both of you will remember most from your experience?

Jesse: The thing that I'll remember the most is just all of the awesome people that I met there. All the good times. Just like, hanging out and talking with them. All the pointers that the girls gave me you know like, about ways to dress differently or how to try to act more confident.

Do you think you do act more confident now?

Jesse: I do think I act more confident. I mean definitely I can see a difference in myself from when I first got there and was on the show.

And Erin, what are you going to miss the most?

Erin: I'm going to miss the most probably, the friends. Being with them 24/7. Haha. I don't know, it's just like we all clicked. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I learned a lot about myself, so. I wish we could just stay in the mansion forever.

What did you learn about yourself?

Erin: I'm a pretty open, optimistic person to begin with, but .... you know. I'm not like a mean person or anything but people that I wouldn't usually talk to or, I wouldn't you know be like: ‘Oh my God look at that person, they don't know how to dress. I'm not going to talk to them.' I'm not like that, but definitely now it's kind of like: ‘Well maybe you should go talk to them. Or maybe you should give them the time of day. Or maybe you should have a conversation with them, you might learn something or they might be a really cool person.' So definitely that's something that I'm going to take with me for the rest of my life.

That's great! And you know one thing I noticed is that a lot of the people on the cast this year are from the Midwest. Is that just a coincidence? Like you both are from the Midwest.

Erin: I know it's crazy. I think they love the Midwest. The Midwest rocks.

Jesse: I'm guessing they're like a really big reality TV market or something.

Haha.

Erin: Well, you know, it's kind of like this. We're out here in the Midwest, we're not like actors or anything. If you go to the west coast, you're going to find the actors.

So what's next for both of you? Let's start with Erin.

Erin: I'm going to try to get myself out to California and maybe pursue an acting career, or maybe take up singing, or doing hair on movie sets. Something like that. I'm not sure, I usually just go wherever the wind takes me. So, we'll see.

Great! And Jesse?

Jesse: Well I want to keep being a software engineer. I like that type of work and I think it's really interesting. But I also want to go out more with my friends and have fun trying to do some of the things that I've missed out on.



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-Interview conducted by Debbie Chang