“I Might Be an Oddball, But I Wouldn’t Hurt a Fly” – An Interview with Greatest American Dog’s Beth Joy Knutsen and Bella Starlet

Beth Joy is a true character whose excitement was infectious when talking to her on the phone. At one time in her career, she impersonated Seinfeld’s Elaine, so you can see how a big, bold personality could be used. Undoubtedly, Beth Joy was one of the biggest characters on the show and a reality producer's dream. She was vocal and, most of all, passionate about her dog and her thoughts. This allowed for a lot of drama in the house while she was there.

Beyond that, Bella Starlet has her own career, which obviously helped in giving the pair a "leg up," so to speak, with getting onto the show in the first place. Bella has been in numerous commercials, including a Super Bowl ad for Dr. Pepper, and even has her own independent film.

This week, Bella Starlet and Beth Joy were eliminated from the house after not doing well on a final challenge. You can read the recap here.

RNO: Thanks for taking a few minutes to chat for the RNO readers, Beth Joy. Is Bella Starlet there with you?

Beth Joy: Thanks, and yes, she's had some watermelon and is taking a mid-morning nap close by.

RNO: How did you and Bella Starlet get selected for the show? Bella has her own entertainment résumé?

Beth Joy: [CBS casting] found us and called us! I was so excited. We didn't have to go through the whole audition process, we went straight to being cast. They invited Bella and I got to come along.

RNO: Bella was the only rescue dog on the show, right? How old was she when you got her?

Beth Joy: Yes, she was. There should've been more. I got her at ten months and now she's ten-and-a-half years old.

RNO: With her being a rescue dog, you didn’t know what she'd been through before you got her. Has she always had problems with her feet?

Beth Joy: We think she was hit for having accidents in the house. They wouldn't let her outside. We got her from a woman who knew she was being abused and made it a mission to get Bella out of that house.

She was hit a lot, so that's why when people go to pet her and pull away too quickly, she sometimes snaps at them. We don’t know everything that happened. It takes a long time to get a dog through any issues; any behaviorist will tell you that. I still praise her for going to the bathroom (laughing). I believe in positive encouragement. She's my world!

RNO: There seems to be quite some controversy over paw-gate and two distinct camps on how you handled the painting challenge with other dog owners and trainers out there. Some say you did a great job in working through the issues like you're supposed to and others vehemently opposed Bella's little yelps. When you were doing the painting challenge, were you really trying to work through issues with her little paws? Did you decide to try other methods besides the sponges on the paws that we didn't see?

Beth Joy: Oh man! Those yelps were voiceover yelps! It created drama. I never forced her to do anything and didn't push her. She shuts down so I stop her and don't push her further.

The paw issue, well, it takes time to work through an issue. We worked on that painting for, like, 12 hours. It was a perfect time to take the time, work through her paw problems. I was always very kind and gentle. We also did some of the other techniques like pushing the brushes, rolling over and stuff as well, but that didn't get shown.

In facing the judges Laura didn't want to go home so bringing up the work I was doing with Bella was her way of possibly staying in the game. The way the judges were talking, they liked our painting best, so I was surprised we didn't win that one. It was pathetic on Laura's part. She's great with her dog and loves him, though.

RNO: When I interviewed Laura last week, she said that she wasn't the only one who spoke up about Bella crying during the paint challenge. Were there others?

Beth Joy: There were alliances in the house and they decide to all-out fight for Laura to stay. They all had something to say. Travis and JD knew I didn't hurt my dog. I explained to the judges that she had paw issues and that I was working on them with her during that time. I explained this while I was getting judged, so it was all out there.

It's a reality show, folks! They show all the funniest stuff and the drama. I might be an oddball, but I wouldn't hurt a fly or hurt Bella.

I had a great time and great bonding experience with Bella during the paint challenge. It proves that what we have is truly special and we got the chance to show America what we have together.

RNO: Back to the second challenge, was it clear that you weren't supposed to have clothes on the dogs? Because it was sort of a surprise to see only Bella had on clothes, even though Brandy liked to dress Beacon as well. You seemed surprised at Judge Wendy's comments and fought back.

Beth Joy: I was very surprised! Wendy does fashion shows for dogs and we've come in contact before. When she said [that dogs shouldn't be wearing clothes] I wondered why she was talking out of both sides of her face.

With Bella, she wears dresses on the red carpet, wags her tail and loves it. Before coming to California this summer, I shaved her down to help out with the heat. The clothes could help protect her from the sun. But the dinner party invitation asked for appropriate attire. In my eyes, that's a pretty dress for Bella! It's fun!

It's funny because you can't sit there and say that a $41 billion-a-year industry, of which about a quarter of it is dog fashion, is wrong! You can't tell America not to dress dogs up. It's funny because one of my cats wears a dress and gets mad when you take it off. Whatever!

RNO: Both of this week's challenges seemed more biased towards the larger dogs. Why did you decide to have Bella Starlet dig instead of ringing the bell? It seems like it would've been smarter to have Leroy try to dig for Teresa.

Beth Joy: Actually, before each challenge, we get to have a practice session. She digs with her nose and did well in practice. She did well in practice so we figured she'd do fine in the challenge, too. It's funny because I'm so claustrophobic and being in that box for five minutes was awful! She pulled a dog card [during the challenge] and decided not to do it. I'm okay with that, though.

RNO: And with the puppy-herding challenge, the little dogs again seemed to get lost among the larger, rambunctious puppies and at a distinct disadvantage.

Beth Joy: With this challenge, we came out to greet and Bella went crazy for the puppies. But by the time we got through the day, the dogs were all exhausted and hot. Several dogs overheated. By the time Bella came to do it, she just wanted to go to the swimming pool. All you can ask is that she does her best, but at least she didn't bite the pups. She just wasn't interested in them.

At this time, our publicist cut in and told us we had only time for one last, quick question. I was disappointed not to be able to talk about the huge fight between the judges, but it looks like we'll save that bit of comedy for JD's interview.

RNO: Is there anything else you'd like to tell the readers about your time in the house or about Bella Starlet?

Beth Joy: She rules the world. She's fabulous and I love her with all my heart!

If you want to see more of Bella Starlet and Beth Joy you can visit them at www.bellastarletdog.com.

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For more news about this show, be sure to check out SirLinksALot: Greatest American Dog and The Source: Reality TV Headlines!