By Ken Gornstein

Matt Botti, a twenty-four-year-old senior finance major and staff assistant in the University Relations division, is a contestant on Average Joe II, a reality television show currently airing Monday nights on NBC.

Here, he talks about how he was chosen for the show, which was taped in Hawaii before Joe I aired, and his experiences on and off camera.

Q. Where were you when you were “discovered”?

A. I was at the Black Rhino bar in downtown Boston, having beers with a few friends. A recruiter from NBC came up to us and said he was looking for people for a new reality television show. He said it was an opportunity of a lifetime, at an exotic location, and asked me to come in for an interview the next day in Boston.

Q. Did you believe him?

A. I was a little hesitant at first, and then he gave me his business card, and it seemed legitimate.

Q. What process did you go through before being selected for the show?

A. First was the interview in Boston, which lasted about two hours. About a week later, they called to say I was moving on in the process and that they would need to conduct an extensive background check. That took about two and a half weeks. Once I cleared that, I had to undergo a rigorous health screening, where they checked for every possible disease. A couple days later, they invited me out to Los Angeles for a final round of interviews and another round of physical and psychological examinations.

Q. How did you find out you were selected?

A. Some of the casting staff came to my hotel room around midnight one night and said they had made their final decisions about who had been chosen for the show. They tried to make it sound as if I hadn’t been picked, saying things like, “We’re real sorry not everyone can make it.” Then they blurted out, “But congratulations, you did!” and they threw confetti at me. I was kind of in shock for the rest of the night. They sent us to the filming location directly from there.

Q. When did you first learn the concept of the show and where it would be filmed?

A. I didn’t learn the actual concept of the show until the day before we started filming. And I didn’t learn it would take place in Hawaii until we were boarding the plane in Los Angeles.

Q. Did you have any second thoughts about doing the show after you landed?

A. Actually, we were given one last chance to back out a day or two before filming began, but by that time I had already decided I was going for it.

Q. Do you think of yourself as an average joe?

A. Well, I’m not a supermodel or anything.

Q. When was the first time you saw the woman you’d be trying to win over?

A. About three days into the shooting. Q. What were your first thoughts? A. I thought she was pretty hot.

Q. Describe a typical day.

A. Some parts of it were very stressful. We would do about three on-camera interviews a day, each lasting about a half-hour. They would ask us about the other contestants, about the girl, and about other things that were going on in the show. And they would ask you the same question two or three times, each time phrased a little differently, to get you to say what they wanted you to say.

Q. Sounds more like you were a prisoner of war than a contestant on a television show.

A. Sometimes it felt like it, yeah.

Q. How long would a day last?

A. From the time we woke up until the time we went to bed. We had cameras on us 24-7.

Q. Did you ever get used to the cameras?

A. I was always aware of them. But I got a little more comfortable with them after the first few days.

Q. How did you get along with the other male contestants?

A. They were pretty cool guys. We all have similar personalities — we’re all outgoing and like to party.

Q. Have you remained friends with any of them?

A. Actually, we’re not allowed to contact each other until after the show ends. But a few of the guys are from Boston, so once the show’s over, I can see myself hanging out with them.

Q. Do you think you’ll have an easier time getting dates as a result of doing the show?

A. I better.