“Matt the Poet and I Will Be Contestants On I Love New York Season 57” – An Interview with Beauty and the Geek 5’s Tommy

RealityNewsOnline: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us at RNO. Congratulations on winning your season!

Tommy: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am truly grateful for having had this wonderful experience.

RNO: After the first episode aired, many people wondered why you were cast since a tall, dark, and handsome law student doesn’t fit the classic profile of a geek. Why did you chose this particular show?

Tommy: Actually, the show chose me. I happened to be in the right place at the right time. A film was being shot at my law school last fall and they needed people to play extras. After sitting in the background all day, I was approached by one of the producers from the film who apparently noticed my geeky style, formal speech, and awkward interactions with some of the female cast members. Once he found out I was also a student at the law school, he got me to come in for an audition.

RNO: You were clearly this season’s showmance champ. At any point were you concerned that the drama might affect your game?

Tommy: (Laughing) Well, I don’t know if I would refer to myself as the “champ” of anything romance-related, but I was certainly fortunate enough to have had a great deal more female attention than I was used to receiving in my everyday life. Having had little experience with that kind of interaction, it was easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of emotions, but I kept reminding myself that the girls were there to teach me how to get dates, not to be my dates. It’s the old “give a man a fish / teach a man to fish” thing.

At times, though, especially with a certain female cast member, I just got so hungry for fish that I wanted to take a break from the lessons just so I could have some food for a second. I had gone through a long stretch in my life when food was scarce, the fishing was rough, and the nets kept coming up empty. After a while you stop casting the nets out altogether. You’re just too tired, too weak, and hungry to even bother wasting the energy. So when a fish jumps up out of the lake and lands in your boat, your first inclination isn’t going to be to ask it where to find the others. It’s tough to learn on an empty stomach, you know.

Wow, I just took that analogy way too far and made this question awkward. Sorry about that. Next question, please.

RNO: When you watched the season play out on TV, what surprised you most about your castmates? Was there anyone who came off differently on the air than who they were in the mansion?

Tommy: I thought Cowboy Joe got a bad edit. He is a kind, passionate, spiritual guy with a heart of gold, and I think that because of his big personality and sheer volume of words spoken in a day, he was the one they decided they could most easily edit into this season’s “bad guy.” Nothing is altered in any way, though they just have to leave some stuff out for the sake of time. I actually think some of my geekier behavior – obsessions, compulsions, neuroses, and general goofiness – wound up on the cutting-room floor. But in hindsight, can I really complain about coming off slightly cooler on TV than I am in real life?

RNO: You and Amanda appeared to work very well together. Is that an accurate assessment and do you credit the partnership with the win? Or would you have won regardless of with whom you were paired?

Tommy: Amanda and I worked amazingly well together and I was so excited when she picked me. I feel like I got the most nervous of all the guys before every elimination, so I had worked myself up to the point at which I was convinced that I was going home that night. To have been picked by anyone was a relief; to have been selected by Amanda was an honor.

Sometimes I live in my own little world, and Amanda is much more of a down-to-earth, realistic person, so I think I needed someone like her to keep me grounded and bring out my best in every challenge. I think I would’ve been happy with Tara, but we are too similar to have worked well together. Neither one of us is aggressive or assertive enough to have gotten anything done. We would’ve sat on the couch and said to each other, “How do you want to prepare for this challenge?” “Oh, I don’t know, how do you want to do it?” “Oh, I don’t care, however you want is fine.” We would’ve been best friends for sure, but best friends who went home the first night.