This is a great show, by the way. :P
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=547245
MU student looks to prosper as 'Geek'
Posted: Jan. 1, 2007
Joanne Weintraub
Drew Sawa lets his geek flag fly.
And why shouldn't he?
(http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/owlive/img/jan07/weincol0102_125x83.jpg)
"Geek, nerd - I look at those as compliments," the Marquette University senior tells me. "It means you're smart.
"A lot of successful people are geeks. Look at Bill Gates."
At 22, Sawa has nothing like Gates' fortune, but he's about to get a small taste of his fame. The Illinois native is one of eight proudly nerdy guys chosen to mix it up with eight frankly gorgeous women in the third season of the CW's "Beauty and the Geek."
Geeky guys (like Drew Sawa) and stunning beauties (like Erin) are "different species" that must learn to co-exist on "Beauty and the Geek."
When to Watch
What: "Beauty and the Geek"
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 3, repeated 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 7
Where: The CW (Channel 18)
The eight-week reality series, an overnight success for the old WB network when it premiered in June 2005, returns to the air Wednesday night.
The faces will be new, the format familiar: Teams made up of one man and one women compete for a $250,000 prize, with the beauties asked to flex their brains and the geeks challenged to develop their social skills.
A fan of the first two seasons, Sawa submitted an audition tape for the third because he thought it would be fun.
And, yes, he admits in a phone call from the Chicago area, where he's visiting his family during the holiday break, because he thought it might help him meet women.
"When it comes to academia, being a geek works for me," Sawa explains. "But in the social realm - going to bars and so forth - I have some inhibitions."
Tall and thin, with boyish bangs and wire-rimmed glasses, Sawa is a serious student with a double major in finance and entrepreneurship and a minor in philosophy at Marquette.
He also has an abiding interest - well, in fact, a geeky interest - in all things "Star Trek," along with a tendency to express himself in terms Capt. Kirk, Lt. Worf or Seven of Nine would understand.
As he memorably explains in the show's two-hour opener: "Beautiful women are a different species. It's as if they're Romulans and I'm the Federation."
The beauty Sawa is paired with, a model and voice teacher named Erin, is indeed an interesting match for him.
As confident as he is diffident, graceful where he's a bit gawky, she's not even sure of the name of the TV and film franchise he holds dear.
"Is it 'Star Trek' or 'Star Track'?" she asks him more than once. "I've never watched it."
At first, Sawa acknowledges in our interview, he was struck by how much Erin and the other beauties didn't know - including, in one case, the month and year of the next presidential election. But the more he got to know them, he says, the more he respected their strengths, even their wisdom.
"People talk about common knowledge, but there's really no such thing," he says, sounding a little like the tolerant, humane heroes of the "Star Trek" tradition. "Everybody has their areas."
Part of the show's appeal is that it deliberately asks people to operate outside those areas, where some flounder and others flourish.
The women, for instance, must track down books in a library, answer questions about current events and interview an economist.
As for the men, one of the more intimidating things they're asked to do is present a short stand-up comedy act before a live audience.
Sawa's spiel, seen in the opening episode, doesn't bomb as badly as some of his fellow contestants', but it's not exactly a hit, either.
Of the less-than-enthusiastic audience, he says on camera: "Their eyes were like phasers blasting at me. I felt as if I were a starship that didn't have any shields."
Still, Sawa tells me, he's not at all sorry he did it.
As a matter of fact, he says, "I had a blast."
Prohibited by his contract with the producers from talking about how far he and Erin progressed in the competition, Sawa won't say whether he's done with his part in the show.
He will say he feels a little more confident in the social world these days than he did before he met all those beauties.
"It helps knowing they're insecure about some things, too," he reflects. "It's like everybody's geeky about something."
should help recruiting......
Unfortunately, the only hot girls on marquette campus will be the ones on tv this time of year. Never ceases to amaze me how all the hot girls disappear under hooded shirtshirts and baggy jogging pants for 8 months of the year and emerge bronzed and beautiful that one fateful day the temp. creeps above 70.
Quote from: snakesinthesnoilet on January 02, 2007, 03:43:15 PM
Unfortunately, the only hot girls on marquette campus will be the ones on tv this time of year. Never ceases to amaze me how all the hot girls disappear under hooded shirtshirts and baggy jogging pants for 8 months of the year and emerge bronzed and beautiful that one fateful day the temp. creeps above 70.
Amen to that! Always so frustrating during the winter months!!!
Quote from: 77ncaachamps on January 02, 2007, 05:46:43 PM
Quote from: snakesinthesnoilet on January 02, 2007, 03:43:15 PM
Unfortunately, the only hot girls on marquette campus will be the ones on tv this time of year. Never ceases to amaze me how all the hot girls disappear under hooded shirtshirts and baggy jogging pants for 8 months of the year and emerge bronzed and beautiful that one fateful day the temp. creeps above 70.
Amen to that! Always so frustrating during the winter months!!!
i hear you. such is life in wisconsin.
Just an update, Drew has not been eliminated, and is still on the show. He's probably one of the least improved after his makeover.
Great show.
Another update .. MU Drew was eliminated on the last show. >:(