Interview with Niels & Jennylee of Beauty and the Geek 3
Niels
Age: 25
Hometown: Silver Spring, Maryland
Occupation: Graduate Student- Electrical Engineering
Jennylee
Age: 22
Hometown: Sherman Oaks, California
Occupation: Model
Niels and Jennylee became the sixth team to receive walking papers on Beauty and the Geek Season 3. While things slowly began to wind down, the love connection between Jennylee and Nate had only just begun to heat up. But it was a huge dose of reality when both teams, Jennylee and Niels, and Nate and Cecille landed in the elimination room. The girls fought their way through the questions, ending their round with a tied score. In the beginning the guys were neck and neck, until Niels missed the last and final question. This unfortunately left our lovelorn pair separated, at least temporarily. We caught up with Jennylee and Niels and learned some interesting things about their experience.
Hi Niels and Jennylee! How’s it going? We’re thrilled to talk to both of you.
Niels: Hi! I’m doing great! Thank you.
Jennylee: Hi! Good!
Niels, let’s start by asking: how did you end up auditioning for Beauty and the Geek?
Niels: Well, I had already been interested in self-improvement and learning to become a more social, outgoing person, comfortable in more social situations. I had been interested in that for a few months when the casting of the show began. I’m actually friends with Ankur from Season 2 who is also in my department at UC Berkeley. So, I was at a party at his house and I ran into some members of the casting team and I was telling them how I was interested in self-improvement and they said, “Oh that’s perfect. You should come out and do an audition.” Evidently, I was exactly what they were looking for, and they were exactly what I was looking for. It worked out really well.
Why did you decide to audition, Jennylee?
Jennylee: I got a call from somebody and he referred me to the casting department of Beauty and the Geek. I still to this day don’t know who. I couldn’t make the first audition and I had no idea what Beauty and the Geek was. I had heard of it, but I’d never seen it. They called me for a second audition and I made it. I had been working all day and I had my hair up in a ponytail and I went in. They put me on camera and they called me back and it went from there. I went through all the processes of casting, which is an intense process and I guess we made it.
Not having seen the show before, what were your expectations?
Jennylee: I gotta tell you, I had no idea what to expect. I went online and tried to read every piece of information I could find about Beauty and the Geek and what I’d be asked. But at that time I couldn’t see episodes online. I really hadn’t seen much. I just read through reviews and things. It sounded like a terrific show. I expected to be a part of this terrific show. I didn’t know anything else, really.
What was your first impression of Jennylee, Niels?
Niels: Tall and pretty blonde.
Jennylee, was Niels in desperate need of improvement when you first saw him?
Jennylee: To the naked eye, yeah. I mean he walked out with his pants beyond his belly button, not the coolest way to wear your pants. Sure, he met me and the first thing he started talking about was things I really didn’t know about or really didn’t care about too much. So it’s not the best way to meet somebody because you’re completely thrown off and uninterested right off the bat. It’s a little overwhelming to the eye. So, I knew we were going to have to tweak a few things here and there, but he came out on top for sure.
Niels, after your makeover, you appeared more confident and totally motivated. Was it the clothes, the look… whatever… that gave you that extra burst of confidence?
Niels: Winning it was huge. I don’t think we’d even come close to winning a challenge before. Then we finally came together and won that one as a team. Also it seemed that people react differently when you put in a little effort to make a good first impression. That was a really powerful experience for me.
Which team were your strongest competitors?
Jennylee: Definitely Nate and Cecille. The won right off the bat and they won quite a few challenges.
We heard things got a bit sticky between the girls. Jennylee, what’s your opinion about the blondes versus brunette thing?
Jennylee: It had nothing to do with hair color at all. It just happened to be that way. It is a clear trait - you put five blondes next to each other and you’re like, “Dang there’s a lot of blondes.” But it really had, well, really; Sheree, Tori and Andrea were definitely different than the five of us girls, not because they weren’t blonde. It was just because they were different. So it really wasn’t about hair color at all.
You obviously developed an attraction to Nate from the very beginning. Did it change the focus of the competition for you?
Jennylee: It didn’t. This competition… the reason we were there… it was just a game. That was a total side note for me.
Niels, in light of her attraction to Nate, did she give her full attention in the competition?
Niels: There was one particular decision that you may remember that became the most stressful for us to make. I think there’s a lot more factors playing into Jennylee’s decision. She had a lot of emotions that played a big role in her decisions that I wasn’t experiencing.
Jennylee: But I think my head was in the game at first even though….
So if you weren’t attracted to Nate, would you have played the game differently?
Jennylee: Here’s the thing about me being so stubborn about me not wanting to send Nate and Cecille to the elimination room. If you put Nate and Cecille up against Andrea and Matt, I was pretty sure that Nate and Cecille would come back. Obviously it happened and they did. We figured they’d probably win the next competition, which they did. Then they nominated us for elimination. So, I saw that coming first of all. Second of all, the only other outcome that we could’ve got from that was if Andrea and Matt came back, which would be horrible because then we would’ve lost Nate. So, either way it would’ve been just sucky.
Did this experience have a big impact with both of you?
Niels: For me the time in the house was really a chance for me to step back from my life; being cut off from phones, family, friends, internet, work and all of that. It was an opportunity to step back and look at my life and re-examine my priorities. As a result of that I realized that my time in grad school, I was working towards a PhD in electrical engineering. I realized that wasn't something I could really get excited about. It wasn’t what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. As a result, I’m not in grad school anymore. I’m no longer working towards a PhD. I’m working as a dating coach teaching guys social skills and relationship skills. I’m happier than I’ve been in a long, long time.
How did you become involved with the Art of Attraction?
Niels: I was actually interning with the company before I went on the show. I was taking out garbage and ordering food in exchange for being able to listen in on the workshops. I went on the show and learned a lot. From the show, I went immediately to New York and during my summer in New York I was going out a lot. I think that’s really when things began falling into place. After that, I got a promotion to instructor. I was in Australia in December. I’m going to be planning some workshops in Europe in a couple of months and I’m really excited.
Jennylee, was the show exactly the way you expected?
Jennylee: When I first went into the house, I kind of had a culture shock first of all because I was around people I wouldn’t necessarily be around and most of all, because I’m not around people that much. I’m not that social in general. I mean, I can handle myself in just about any situation, but I’m very independent. I like to keep to myself and do what I want to do when I want to do it. I take care of myself. No one takes care of me. So it was hard for those decisions, like what I’m going to eat, sleep, and do, everything during the day to be made for me. It was really hard and I still don’t like the idea of that. But I got used to it. It definitely let me have an experience that I wouldn’t have normally if I had an option. I got to do lots of things that I never would have the chance to do and meet awesome people that I never would’ve been able to meet.
I think we’re all wondering, what was your initial attraction to Nate?
Jennylee: The initial attraction to Nate… he was very sweet and cute and I could talk to him. I got along with him. I admired his personal sense of style. It means he’s creative and expressive in many ways. I thought he was very cool.
With only two teams remaining, who are you guys rooting for?
Niels: Tough question. I think everybody feels the same way. I think we would all love to see Nate win, but nobody wants Cecille to win.
Jennylee: Yeah, everybody says that.
Niels: It kind of tears at the heart strings. If there’s any way to let Nate and Scooter win together, I think that would work out really well.
Jennylee: Well, Megan and Scooter have kind of flown under the radar. They’ve never been to the elimination room so it’s kind of like… ”la” and then there’s you know, Nate and Cecille who have just been a huge focus in so many different ways. I mean everybody I’ve talked to have said exactly what Niels just said; they want Nate to win but not Cecille.
Niels, you and Scooter made an attempt to make Cecille realize her “shallowness”. Did you make any headway?
Jennylee: Absolutely not. I think Cecille’s very comfortable in her skin. I think she’s happy with the way she is and she’s not willing to change that. That’s cool. I mean, I’m very open to change in general and trying new things and change my perspective, but Cecille is happy with herself and not wanting to grow in many directions.
Niels: There’s definitely no change. I hope we made an impression but it’s kind of hard to tell.
Jennylee: I have to say, when we were in the elimination room, it was a very sad moment. We were about to leave the house. You don’t get to say good bye to people. You really walk out right there and whoever’s up on the viewing room you don’t see again. So, it’s really sad. She said something very inappropriate about blondes and bikinis… I couldn’t even tell you what she said. But, it was really inappropriate and it really made me want to cry. So, I called her on it. I wanted to say more derogatory things at that moment. It was very aggravating to me. I just said it was very inappropriate. But it did impact her. She clearly felt bad. Afterwards she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” You know she was having her personal “hooray for me” moment and she wasn’t thinking about others so that was kind of… you know… Cecille.
What do you both have in store for the future?
Jennylee: All kinds of fun stuff. You know, I’m modeling and acting. I love what I do. I like to do lots of different things. I hope to host.
Niels: I’m still working with my company as a dating coach. I love seeing people improve their relationships and after putting so much work into myself I think I have a unique perspective I can share with other people. I’m headed to Europe in about a month. I’m excited about that. In about two weeks, we’re headed to Vegas for a season finale party at Pala on the 21st. Of course your readers are invited. We’d love to see them out there.
That sounds wonderful! Well, Niels and Jennylee, thanks for your time. It was great talking to you! Good luck!
Niels: Thank you, Syrone. Bye!
Jennylee: Okay. Thank you. Bye!
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