Mike Catherwood Opens Up About Being a Celebrity Bachelor on “The Choice”

FOX’s celebrity dating show The Choice is only one week in, but we think it’s the perfect summer staple. It’s light, it’s funny and it has a ton of various-listed celebrity names that you’ll at the very least recognize. On tomorrow night’s all-new episode, we’ll see two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner Seth Wescott, Suburgatory star Parker Young, Loveline co-host Mike Catherwood and international superstar Joe Jonas take to the spinning chairs to find their match on a blind-date experiment like no other.

Catherwood will be the first to tell you that his celebrity status pales in comparison to his fellow celebrity bachelors, but between his brief stint on Dancing with the Stars, his guest-host spot on Live! With Regis & Kelly and his rising star as co-host of Loveline and radio personality for KROQ, we think you’ll recognize his face and we know after the episode airs you’ll walk away a bit more in love with him than before because that’s the type of effect this show has on the viewer. (Seriously, Pauly D came off almost charming and endearing last week.)

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of catching up with Catherwood to get ready for the blind date match-ups we’ll see tomorrow night. He was in plenty good spirits and more than willing to share the details of his experience on The Choice, how he determined when to pull his “love handle,” how he feels about his fellow celebrity bachelors and more!

Did you go into the show with any expectations?

No. No, I am going to be fully honest with you. I went into the show, and I mean right into filming, having no idea how the show worked, so I had to constantly ask Joe Jonas and Seth Wescott. I’ve also never seen The Voice, so I had no idea what was going on. I was totally blind to the idea of what this show was all about.

They asked me to do it and they said, “You can be on primetime television and it’s a show that really caters to making funny jokes and doing wacky stuff.” I was like, “Alright,” and I was in a spinning chair. So I had very little expectations because I did not know what I was doing. I could have been on an animated show!

Now, I know from the episode last week that some of those guys seemed to be swayed by the audience reaction a bit. Did the audience end up influencing any of your decisions?

Of course! Oh my gosh, when some of the girls walk out, the guys in the crowd go nuts! And from my radio show, Loveline, there were fans of the show sitting in the audience. Those guys felt this close bond to me and they were helping me out. Don’t let the producers know that though, because I don’t think they wanted any insider information, but those guys were totally giving me the thumbs up and thumbs down as far as who to choose.

In the clips for the episode, it looks like there is some quality back and forth banter and also fighting for your girls, between you, Joe, Parker and Seth. How was the camaraderie between you four? Were you helping each other out? Were you talking things over while the chairs were turned?

Parker was like everybody’s matchmaker. I think Parker was more concerned with us getting a quality date than him getting one. He was so nice about it! Everybody got along as far as the guys, because I think we were all in such a – it really was an awkward thing to do, and so I think we all had the kind of bond of doing this awkward thing together.

So the camaraderie was great, but you know, most of the girls really wanted Joe and then would settle for the rest of us, in different order, me being at the bottom of that list. So, all four of us got along but towards the end we all [the three of us] started to resent Joe Jonas because they all wanted him.

No, I didn’t. In fact, I probably didn’t do myself any favors by reminding them that I was the least famous and the least rich.

Hey, you could have gotten a good girl that way. You never know!

Mm, yeah, no, you know. Maybe it was a good idea because I filtered out all the girls that were money grubbing and I got the girls who were really in it for looove.

Exactly, there you go! Now in another interview I saw you say that you and Joe turned around for a lot of the same girls. So I have to ask, did you ever expect that you and he would share the same taste in women?

No, I didn’t in fact! But we totally did! We totally – we were going for the brunette, darker, more ethnic looking girls, that was Joe and I. And it seemed like the more buxom blondes and the kind of California beach girls were going to Parker and Seth. But, hey, look! Joe Jonas and I, we’re similar in many ways… and by that I mean not at all… but if we share the same [taste in] women, so be it!

Definitely! Well, I know it was a little bit ago that it filmed, but when you think back on that day, what’s one of the moments that really stand out for you?

The moments that stand out for me were when I practically stopped production by saying inappropriate stuff. It happened a lot! And I’m actually, I’ll be really shocked to see how they made it work because I said so much stuff that I know can’t make it to air.

So, at the end of it all, do you feel like you made the right choice? Did you have a good time on the date?

Yeah! I actually did. I mean, out of all the girls that came before me, I was, without question, very, very happy with the girl that I picked. She was sweet, she was smart, she was beautiful. Everything about her was great.

The Choice airs Thursdays at 9 PM on FOX.

Don’t miss Mike’s episode airing tomorrow night, June 14.