The Man Behind the Egg: An Interview with Average Joe’s Zach

Recently, I got a chance to sit down and talk to my favorite man from Average Joe, Zach Cohen! I have to say up front that it was the most candid interview I've ever done! He's quite a fireball, this one, but I still love him. And, whether you love him or hate him, you've got to appreciate the honesty.

So sit back and relax... It's time to meet the man behind the egg...

RealityNewsOnline: How exactly did you end up on Average Joe?

Zach: A friend of mine that is a club promoter met a casting agent from NBC... He sent me an email asking me if I would like to be part of a reality show called "Life of the Party." I obviously pictured a setting like Paradise Hotel and was all for it... Then I ran into the average Joes.

RNO: Did you expect it would be as big a hit as it was?

Zach: I never expected it to be a big hit. As a matter of fact, before it aired, I was thinking and hoping it wouldn't air at all and at the end of the day it would have just been a nice long vacation.

RNO: There's one thing I'm dying to know! Did you actually tell Brad that Melana wasn't your type and that you wouldn't normally date someone like her?

Zach: I was in a game – I knew it was a game, and I knew I had to screw with some people. I told different people different things. Truth be told, I do not remember any conversations I had with Brad because to me, they were all meaningless.

RNO: What did you really think of Melana? You can tell me. I won't tell...

Zach: There were times that I thought Melana was a sweet, sincere, genuine person. There were other times (more in the beginning and in the end) that I thought she was out there just to make herself look good. People have to understand that it is truly difficult to really be yourself on a reality TV show when cameras are three feet from your face at all times.

RNO: Did your opinion of her change after watching the show play out?

Zach: My opinion of Melana didn't change at all once I watched the show. I knew who she connected with, I knew who she liked, I knew who she didn't like. My time with Melana was very relaxed and easy. It wasn't difficult for us to talk about whatever we wanted to. She told me how she felt. I knew what was going on.

RNO: In the first episode, you felt like you might want to quit because of being "the best of the average." It's understandable to have your feelings hurt by being portrayed as something you obviously don't feel about yourself. But what made you stay?

Zach: I had conversations with a few people, producers, that told me to stay. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and if I passed it up, I would obviously never know how it would turn out, or what the experience would be like. I am not a quitter, so I decided to stay.

RNO: I always had the inkling that maybe it was more about the competition for you, rather than just for the girl. Was that part of the reason that you stayed?

Zach: For a lot of the time it was about the competition. I like to win. I usually am a graceful loser, but when I lose and I suspect there is some sort of cheating going on, I am not so graceful... Yes, I was in it a lot for the competition, but I was also in it because I was looking forward to seeing what Melana was like off camera in real reality situations.

RNO: Your behavior in the beginning of the show made you a classic villain for the series. In our interview with Adam, he told us that, in his opinion, your early bad behavior was kind of a defense mechanism. How would you describe the way you behaved in those first few days? Did you want to be the villain?

Zach: It was definitely a defense mechanism... I had to prove to myself that I was better then these guys and I didn't belong. And if I got kicked off the show, it was because I was a dick, not because she didn't like me... But after getting to know some of the guys I felt like I could get along with a few of them (very few) and I also confirmed my beliefs of being better then a lot of them. However, my acts of being a "villain" were not completely and entirely a defense mechanism. I like to make people laugh, and I do it at my expense and at others' expense. If someone cracked an egg over my head or belittled me, I wouldn't run into a corner and hide and cry to a camera, I would step up and either defend myself or belittle the person right back. I am not a coward.

RNO: Did you feel you were portrayed accurately? Want to blame some of that bad behavior on editing?

Zach: I will partially blame the way I was portrayed on editing. It is easy to show 99% of one person's good side and 1% of their bad side and vice versa, which they obviously did for me. I don't mind that. When I am with the boys I am not a sappy, romantic person. I apologize to all the women out there that think there boyfriends, fiancés, and husbands are perfect gentlemen when woman are not around. Of course, when I am around the guys it is not locker room talk 100% of the time. But it exists. I have some more news for you – since the airing of my last episode, I have had as many women come up to me and tell me that the boat house scene was bullsh*t because they too have their "locker room" moments that they wouldn't discuss in front of there men. So to all of you people that are so clueless as to what goes on, here it is: Women talk sh*t when their men aren't around and men talk sh*t when their women aren't around. If that makes me an @$$hole, then so is everyone.