Two weeks ago, Natalie and John were the sixth team to get sent home from Beauty and the Geek. I had the chance to talk to them both as they unfortunately followed their friends, Eric and Jesse, home. Here is what they had to say…
Josh Clinton: Hey guys.
John Gardner: Hi.
Natalie Reeves: Hey.
JC: How are you doing?
JG: Good.
NR: Doing okay.
JC: Great. So tell me when you first saw each other on the show, what did you think of each other?
JG: Natalie was amazing. I was a little intimidated at first being partnered with the “Ultimate Hooters Girl”. But I thought she would be a great partner right off the bat. When she talked about doing corporate trading and stuff, I was pretty impressed by that. Then, when we moved into a room and got to talk one-on-one it took a little bit of time, but then we fell into deep conversation and it went great.
NR: As soon as I saw John, I was like “wow, he’s not as shy as the other geeks.” He was very outspoken. He was talking to all of us. Of course, everyone was nervous but he was funny. After that I knew he would be the perfect geek to have. Then when we got partnered, everything just clicked. I was very very happy to have him as my partner.
JC: Yeah. After getting to know each other for all of these weeks, was there anything that surprised you about the other person?
JG: I was surprised that Natalie was so interested in computer science. She has three laptops, which I thought was cool. I like computers too. So it was pretty awesome.
NR: Wow, there’s a lot. For one, I was surprised that we got along so well. Another is that I didn’t know he had a 5.0 in high school. That was like “WOW!”
JG: (Laughs).
NR: I was pretty impressed with the way he could put me in my place when I needed it as well, because sometimes females can get a little carried away. But also the support. I learned that he wasn’t one of those guys who would keep pushing you and make you feel bad about yourself. No matter what I did, it was always my best and John would definitely try and help me.
JC: That’s great. Natalie, when you heard about the makeover what you were expecting or what were you hoping that they would do to him?
JG: (Laughs).
NR: (Laughs). I told them all the hair from the nose up had to go. Eyebrows, nose hair, we had to see where his forehead was.
JG: (Laughs). That was pretty funny.
NR: I don’t know. I was like “just please don’t come walking out with bright pink or anything like that”.
JC: Right. So how surprised were you when you actually saw him with his makeover?
NR: I was totally shocked. I was so surprised. I couldn’t move. I wanted to run up and give him a big hug, but I was paralyzed. I was like “Oh my god, WOW! Hello, who are you!?”
JC: Yeah, so if you saw John on the streets like that and didn’t know him, you would be attracted to him then?
NR: Yeah, definitely!
JC: Cool. So what was your favorite challenge?
NR: The anatomy challenge, where we had to body paint. I was trying to identify the different parts of the ear, but I wasn’t even sure if he had one because of all the hair. Apparently I was tickling him too, so it was hard to focus. But the Mayan challenge was pretty sweet. Going to Mexico was pretty awesome.
JG: Yeah, she did really well in that. I think for me, my favorite challenge was the prom challenge. Just because that was the one challenge I was most nervous about coming in. The reception to my makeover was huge, and I loved that. But my strategy going into that challenge was to talk to the first people I could and not give me time to over think it or worry about it. The fact that I was able to win that there and do really well was great.
JC: Yeah. So Sam won the Comic Con challenge a few weeks back. I think a lot of that had to do with him having experience as an actor and having more stage presence. Who do you think should have won?
NR: I would have been happy if anyone else would have won. I would be 100% happy if anyone but Sam would have won. Of course, I loved Erin with her surfer gear. That was funny. I liked Jasmine’s “Bedhead”. But I liked my character too, though.
JG: Yeah, I think that Natalie had a strong character, but I think the judges were responding more to the more humorous characters. I think Natalie’s was more classic. Jasmine had a good character set up that she was comfortable with because it fit into her personality more. The one thing that was disappointing about that challenge was the judges didn’t really comment on the costumes that much. Jesse had a fabulous costume and he was up the latest working on it. Then, that week he still got eliminated. It was kinda rough that he put that much effort into it and still had to go home.
JC: Yeah, so how fair is it to have Sam and Nicole on the show since Sam seems to be good at every single challenge and they seem made for him to win?
NR: I definitely find it unfair that they have Sam as a beauty. Males seems to be more dominant than females at least with what the beauties were doing for challenges. Either one, though, because Nicole is good at sewing and knew what girls would like when they were all putting together baskets. So there were a few things here and there that I found a little unfair.
JG: Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses that can be applied to different challenges. But Sam has experience in front of the camera and is very comfortable in front of audiences. I think that comes into play in a lot of challenges like the comic book challenge. So he is able to focus more on the material and just feed off of the crowd. He is not distracted by the crowd as much as the other beauties.
JC: Yeah. You were such a strong team, but it seems like competing is almost like a crime on this show. It seems like it would be better strategy to “fly under the radar” and pretend to be less of a threat like Josh and Shay.
NR: Yeah, we tried that. It failed.
JG: I don’t think we tried…
NR: Yeah, we talked about it at least.
JG: The first week we were there I told Natalie that the winning combination of past seasons had been teams that “flew under the radar”. But after winning elimination week one, it was so much for “flying under the radar”. Regardless of what strategy is best, though, I think Natalie and I were on the same page. You still have to try your best and put your best foot forward. I think that’s a good way to approach the game.
JC: Right. Why do you think you worked so well as a team?
NR: We both are very laid back and supportive. He get along so well and understand each other. I never pressured John to study more or anything. I never asked anything except his best in a challenge. We also trusted each other, which helped us too.
JG: I think being able to trust each other and knowing that you have partner support is key. We have similar ideas about how to play the game and when you go into a challenge you are already pretty nervous. So the last thing you need is to think your partner is going to be apathetic to you if you don’t do things a certain way. So it’s good to know that you partner is satisfied with you putting your best effort forward.
JC: This last challenge in Mexico we saw that you were trying to have this whole conversation with Sam to try and persuade him to not put you up for elimination. Did you think that would honestly work?
NR: Okay, earlier I had a plan. I had this whole thing where I was going to talk to him. I didn’t necessarily think it would work, because I thought for sure they would put us into the elimination room. But it was worth a shot. The only thing was that it was best to approach that sober. Not after drinking a lot of tequila. I was stumbling over my words and wasn’t even sure if I was making sense or not. (Laughs).
JC: Yeah, that kinda messes things up.
JG: (Laughs).
NR: Yeah, that kinda doesn’t help out the whole plan.
JC: Explain your friendship with Jesse and Erin. I talked to them last week, but explain more about why you became friends?
NR: Okay, it started out with our rooms being right next to each other. We shared a bathroom, so we started talking and we all clicked. We became really close, especially in the morning. (Laughs). They were such nice people and they weren’t there for the wrong reasons. Not saying anyone else wasn’t either, but we just got along because our rooms were so close to each other and we just clicked.
JG: I think that I originally got close to Jesse, because he was very genuine and sincere. I really liked that about him and felt really comfortable talking to him because of those reasons. The same is true with Erin.
NR: Erin is a genuinely nice girl. When I met her, I thought we would definitely click. They were awesome. I honestly feel like we actually did win, because we made such great friends. So I’m pretty happy.
JC: Yeah, that’s cool. I have to ask John this question. Besides Natalie, who was the hottest beauty in the house?
NR: Besides Natalie. (Laughs).
JG: Besides Natalie, I would have to say Erin. Yeah, Erin.
JC: Well if it matters at all, you definitely had the best beauty in the house in my opinion.
JG: Yeah, I agree.
NR: Thank you.
JC: So what are your plans now?
JG: I’m currently in San Jose, California and working on my Masters degree. I’m new to California. So I think I’m going to take up surfing and meet some new people. Some guys at my work go surfing all the time.
NR: I’m trying to pursue modeling and acting. I’m still taking classes at school for backup. Erin and I were planning on moving to Los Angeles together and hopefully we will still do that in the Spring.
JC: Alright, very cool. Well thanks for your time and good luck with everything.
JG: Thank you.
NR: Thanks.
– Beauty and the Geek airs on the CityTV network in Canada on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
– Beauty and the Geek airs on THE CW in the U.S. on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
