The Celebreality Interview – Onix

In another scenario, Onix could have been a threat — on I Love Money 2 he was just a guy caught between his alliance and his team. Below, he talks the baffling decision by Heat that led to his elimination, “faux-mance” with Prancer, the Entertainer’s on-set tantrums, T-Weed’s sheisty tendencies and the job he lost for the sake of reality TV.

How was your time on the show?

Fun, but I thought it was gonna be a lot more fun. It was fun to go to Mexico and meet some new people, but as soon as the teams were picked, it was straight downhill from there. It was heated. You have a few strong personalities in that house and they seem to take over. You add in Frank [the Entertainer] and T-Weed and Buddha and Buckwild and everyone feeds off them. It was impossible to chill out or have a normal conversations because there were people just breathing down your neck. T-Weed’s bed was next to mine and after the first day, this dude wakes me up at 4:00 in the morning, saying, “Hey man, let’s go outside so we can talk and strategize.” I said, “If you do not let me sleep…”

Were you cool with T-Weed from your time on I Love New York?

Yeah, we’ve always been cool. Even after that show wrapped, we kept in touch. I’ve never had anything against him, but he’s…he’s not a bad dude, he’s a shyster. He’s a snake-oil salesman. It’s not a bad thing, he’s always on the grind, always trying to make moves and prove to people that he’s somebody.

You said that your appearance on the show put you at risk for losing your job. What happened with that?

I’d been doing this corporate-recruiting thing for quite a while and I was tired. I’m not happy sitting behind a desk doing the 9-5 thing. I’ve always wanted to do something entertainment-related. When the opportunity for the show came up, there was no hesitation. I went to my job and told my new manager about it. She didn’t really know me, and even though I thought she should have supported me, it’s not her obligation to do so. She told me that if I did the show, I couldn’t be guaranteed to have my job back. I figured this was a way to push me because I wasn’t going to jump. I knew that if I was forced to do it, I would do it. Acting is what I’ve been focusing on since the show ended.

You seem to be more normal than most people on VH1, which makes me question why you ever got involved in reality TV in the first place.

I go back and forth with that, too. Bottom line: it’s an experience. When I was given the opportunity to be on I Love New York, I questioned it for the longest time, but then I figured, why not? Same thing with I Love Money. I’ve heard people say, “Who’s Onix? We don’t remember him.” I take that as a compliment. In my mind, if you don’t remember me, I wasn’t a stand-out on reality TV. That’s not a bad thing. It means I was sensible. The funny thing is that I’d never met Frank before. I’d talked to him a couple of times through Heat, who I’ve known since I Love New York. When I got there, I didn’t realize Frank’s an assh***. I don’t mean to bad-mouth him. He knows he’s an assh***. He would yell at the crew and throw tantrums like this prima donna celebrity. And everyone just took it. Yeah, he’s the star of our show, there’s no doubt about it, but still: it’s reality TV. It was unbelievable to me that he could get away with that.

What do you think about Heat?

We’ve talked since the show. I’m not the type to hold a grudge like that. It’s a competition. It’s all about how far you’re willing to go. It’s not about who’s best friends with who. It’s about stabbing people in the back and mistrust and dishonesty and alliances. That’s how you play the game. I thought he would have understood why I didn’t throw the challenge. I didn’t have to: he was going to win anyway, so let’s throw the next challenge. If he really wanted to make a difference, he should have gotten in the ring with me. That way I could have at least thrown the challenge with some dignity.

Pairing you with Prancer just seemed stupid. Was there anything more to his logic that didn’t make it to air?

No. He made a terrible choice. He actually came up to me at the challenge and said, “We’re gonna give you a girl.” I said, “That doesn’t make sense.” Buckwild went off because she heard that exchange. I just don’t know where his logic was. It was like, you’re going to ask me to throw the challenge and humiliate me on top of it. I’m not going out like that. I think I made the right decision. At the end of the day, I need to go home from these shows with my integrity. I’m not willing to relinquish that for air time.

Maybe if you hadn’t hesitated, if you’d just gone in there and knocked Prancer out, instead of kind of goofing off before doing so anyway, you would have maintained the respect of your team.

If I had to do things differently, it would have been that. But I didn’t want to go in like Heat and body-slam her. I didn’t want to go in there and just pummel a female. I figured I’d have some fun with it, but in hindsight, my team was pissed off about that.

In retrospect, do you regret allying yourself with Heat in the first place? He only lasted three episodes last season, anyway.

I do, but going in, I thought because we had history, it would have been beneficial for both of us. Part of the reason I ended up in that alliance was that I ended up in the same room as him. If I had been in different room, I don’t think things would have turned out that way. We wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have those kinds of conversations.

Did you notice that they were spelling your name “Onyx?”

Yeah. I don’t know what’s up with that. On my picture and check it stayed “Onix.” Toasteee sent me a message on Facebook that said, “Hey, they’re spelling your name wrong. They did the same thing to me – sometimes, it’s two E’s, sometimes three.”

Was there any burgeoning attraction with you and anyone on the show? Did you get the sense that you would have hooked up had you stayed around longer? There seemed to be some flirtation going on with Prancer.

I think part of her strategy was to build a storyline. We talked about it, like, “We can have a faux-mance for TV!” I’m not sure if she felt that her character was strong enough to take her through to the end. Prancer’s a great girl and we have a lot in common personality-wise. We’re both just normal, pretty much. I think from the moment we met, we clicked. I have a girlfriend, so I don’t think anything would have happened on television. But I’ll tell you what: I had not met Myammee before. That woman is gorgeous. I wasn’t expecting that, and I really wasn’t expecting her to walk around half-naked the whole time. If I was single: yeah. Definitely would have been Myammee.

Too bad you only lasted two episodes.

It’s hard being on reality TV. You have to be an assh*** or a girl that’s half-naked. I understand that I didn’t give that for the show, but you know, at least try to keep someone on who’s got some sense! But that’s how it is.

Keep up with Onix via his FamousVH1Friends.com profile and his MySpace.

Related content
I Love Money 2 show page
I Love Money video and extras