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Interview: Reality TV Star Chats About Love, Life and Loving Life

Cynthia Dieyi |
February 26, 2014 | 4:51 p.m. PST

Staff Reporter

Brendon Villegas (Photo by Trevor Bolliger, Big Brother Wiki)
Brendon Villegas (Photo by Trevor Bolliger, Big Brother Wiki)

Who says you can’t combine the rigors or academia with the soaring demands of celebrity lifestyle?

Reality TV star and physicist Brendon Villegas stands to prove them wrong. The former "Big Brother" contestant is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in Biomedical Physics as well as trotting the globe on CBS’s “The Amazing Race” with his wife and reality TV partner Rachel.

Neon Tommy recently caught up with Villegas and he dished with regard to school, finding love and life on the celebrated lane. 

What’s it like being on reality TV?

Brendon Villegas: It's an experience that you really can never quite prepare for because it looks pretty fun, neat and so awesome when you’re sitting at home on the couch watching it. When you actually start doing it and you’re the one being filmed, you find out that there's a lot more that you didn’t know about. It's kind of nice because it takes the curtain away a little bit so you realize “wow, I forget these reality TV people are real human beings.” Some of the emotions they experience and the things that we see on TV, its real. Some of it is maybe overhyped– maybe a little edited but for the most part we are who we are. One good thing about reality television is you learn a lot about yourself.

When I went for "Big Brother 12" for the very first time, I had a father growing up who worked a lot and wasn’t always there for me so I harbored a little bit of resentment. Then I went on the show and I find out my dad used to fall asleep every time watching me in the house. It took me a while to get a moment like that and I would never have gotten it under a usual circumstance.

What are the perks that have come with your participation on reality TV so far?

Villegas: Honestly, the experiences are brilliant. On our last "Amazing Race" we had to travel to Japan, Tanzania, India, Hawaii, Germany– these are all places I never would’ve been able to afford a flight to. So we get to go and actually do things that are a part of other cultures you know – do these very unusual things that we would never again do and get some money while we’re at it.

A lot of it is also about the bonding. Like when Rachel and I first met on "Big Brother," we weren’t together. We found love on "Big Brother," came back the second time when we were engaged, went on "Amazing Race" as an engaged couple and then we just finished another season of "Amazing Race" as a married couple. We’re a very unique case because our whole love story was captured on TV.

You have a very strong academic background. How did you decide to go from that to reality TV?

Villegas: I almost did not go on "Big Brother" for the very first time. I was approached; someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey! have you even thought about being on TV?” and I’m like, “Yeah, but I’m 29 years old and I’m comfortable with who I am – maybe when I was younger, partying and drinking but not anymore.” Then I actually said well you know what? I’ll go try it out.

So I went down, filmed the first video for them and after that I got accepted into UCLA for my PhD program. I also got offered a research position for the summer so I was like there’s no way. So I called them up and told them I had to turn it down. They called me up like two weeks before the show filmed and asked me if there was any way– and all I could think about was, “Dang it! I’m going to be a grad student for the next five years and that’s going to be a lot of money.”

It would help me considerably not have to worry about finances so I decided to do it. You only live once in your life and maybe this was the chance. All things happen for a reason cause then I met my wife [Rachel]. I was 29, been actively dating since I was 16 and all that time I never met somebody I was really truly in love with and I met the very first person that I’ve ever been really truly in love with on reality TV.

Twitter/@brendonvbb12
Twitter/@brendonvbb12
SEE ALSO: Interview: Actor Alex Pettyfer Discusses 'Endless Love'

How do you juggle the activities that come with being a celebrity and the demands of academia? 

Villegas: Well, reality television doesn’t really launch you into superstar status. I mean we’ll always be recognized somewhere, maybe in a restaurant by like one or two people or sometimes you could go to a place where a bunch of people recognize you. It is something that we have to be aware of if we’re gonna go out. If Rachel and I want to go to a bar with our friends and we’re gonna have a couple of drinks, we have to make sure we’re careful that somebody is not going to take a picture when we’re looking drunk or stupid.

It’s things like that where you have to give up your privacy a little bit. With a show like "Big Brother" especially because people see us so much, it’s weird when we get out of the house. You have to remember, “I just got out of the house I haven’t been around human beings for three months, except people that I hate” (laughs). So you get off the show and random people come up to you and they’re a little bit like too embracing you know. So they come up and they’re like, “I love you” and you’re like, “Woah! who are you?” and then you have to remind yourself that it’s okay.

With "Big Brother," they forget about boundaries. They’re so comfortable with you because they literally feel like they know you. And they’re like, “Oh! I remember when you were doing this” and you’re like, “I don’t remember that.” After the dust settles and you look back, its cool and very flattering. I can also understand how it is because my wife’s sister was just on this past season. So we went through the same experiences when we watched her. 

You were on "The Bold and the Beautiful" recently. How did that happen?

Villegas: Well right when we got off "Big Brother" the first time, they asked us if we wanted to make any guest appearances so I was the bartender and Rachel was a waitress. Lo and behold, they have asked us back like four or five times since because we’re a real couple and we’re always together and they love how it looks on the show. We also love being on the show. Everybody there is so nice and so great and they all work together as a family. I also got to spin “The Price is Right” wheel backstage and that was pretty awesome.

Should your fans expect you on TV soon?

Villegas: Yeah, Rachel and I are back on "The Amazing Race." We had a lot of fun filming it. For now I really just want to finish my PhD and I am still about two years away from doing that, but I’m getting close and doing some school stuff. Science is my big love. I also love movies, I love acting – I just love life. I feel like they want you to pick one thing and stick with it and you’re like, “That’s so boring.”

The 24th season of “The Amazing Race” kicked-off on February 23 and new episodes air sundays on CBS at 8/7c.

Reach Staff Reporter Cynthia Dieyi here. Follow here on twitter here.



 

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