The Celebreality Interview - Bonez

How’s this for different: Bonez was a God-loving purveyor of morality in the I Love Money cast who wasn’t willing to do whatever it took to get the cash. What a weirdo! I’m kidding (kind of), but what’s not a joke is that Bonez’s deeply held faith did give him a unique perspective in this group of greedy hedonists. Below, I Love Money 2’s latest cast-off talks of his Christlike sacrifice, how the show tested his faith, how such a religious person can reconcile competing for so much money in the first place, and his vow of celibacy.

Was this show a good time for you?

Overall, yeah. It was the first time in my life I ever got to compete for a quarter million dollars, so I was extremely grateful for that opportunity. I got to travel to a place I’d never been before. As far as the game goes, it gave me an opportunity to meet new people. Also, I was able to be on national television and be a positive person.

There’s not much of that on VH1. We don’t see many overtly religious people in these parts, either. Did you feel a sense of otherness while filming?

Yeah. At times, my faith was tested because of the different characters on the show that may not have felt the same way I had, as far as morals and values go. At times, I felt like the odd man out or that I was on an island by myself, since I wasn’t willing to do anything and everything for the money. I had to stay true to myself and be a good representation of my religion, myself as a person and my family.

Did you find it funny when Angelique said that you “are a very spiritual person jez like me…”?

Being a religious person, a Christian, the worst thing we can do is judge other people who are spiritual. But after seeing the episode yesterday and seeing all the things Angelique was doing and then hear her say that she’s spiritual just like me, she can’t be. I don’t knock her, but we obviously have different spiritualities that we practice. I’m not saying she’s wrong, but I was surprised when she said she was a spiritual person.

I think everybody was. It’s ironic that you were eliminated for being likable, right?

A quote that’s stuck with me my whole life is the “nice guys finish last” thing. At least this time around, nice guys didn’t finish last. Nice guys finished in 12th or 11th place, whatever I was in. Even when I was dating women, I was always the respectable guy. Don’t call her that, don’t do this. In turn, it always seems like women want the guy that’s going to be a womanizer or that’s going to do them bad. I think that’s kind of the same thing in this game: the more manipulative you were, the more you were willing to compromise who you were, the further you went. I think my final decision on going in the box was that if Jesus Christ sacrificed for us, I could sacrifice myself and go in there to see if I can pull my alliance out of this situation.

When you said, “When I was dating women…” what did you mean? Are you no longer dating women? Have you taken a vow of celibacy?

Don’t get me wrong: I’m still dating women. I was referring to back in my player days when I was in high school and my early years of college. I love women, but yes, I have taken a vow of celibacy. That’s something I decided to do within the last few years, getting more serious with my faith, saying I think I can hold off till marriage. I’m not going to lie: I have not always thought that way. Believe me, I’ve had plenty of women “encounters,” but that is something I’m trying to do to further my faith. I think if I’m going to be sitting here talking about my faith and being a Christian, why not practice it? I have to practice what I preach.

Well, good luck with that. During elimination, you said you wanted to stay in the game to spread purity and peace, but in such a dirty game, that would seem to be a lost cause, no?

To a certain extent it was, even within myself. I fell victim. I fell into an alliance. Even though my alliance wasn’t dirty or evil or bullying or trying to violently threaten people, our alliance obviously caused the game to get dirty. When people think of alliances, they think of people doing sneaky things, people being untrustworthy, people being disloyal. I guess by nature, falling into an alliance you get those qualities branded on you. Just seeing everything that occurred in the house – the fights, the everything – I was at a point where I felt like you see what people will do for the love of money. I wanted to let Frenchie know that I couldn’t stop all that from happening, but if she kept me and sent Buckwild home, at least she didn’t have to worry about me getting into a conflict. I’m not that kind of person.

It’s sort of surprising that someone as religious as yourself was competing for a small fortune in the first place, what with the whole camel-going-through-the-eye-of-a-needle thing.

I’ve gotten that a lot. The Bible says that your love of money should not be greater than your love of God, and my love of God is higher than anything. That’s what I meant when I said it was God’s will if I left. I wasn’t willing to bring my character down or do something that would strongly contrast with my spiritual views. But in addition to that, if you go after money, it’s what you do with it. Like I stated in the first episode, if I did win the $250,000, the first thing I was going to do was give 10 percent to my church, which is typical. I was thinking about starting a charity, too. I didn’t plan to use the money for selfish needs. Don’t get me wrong, I’d probably by myself a new pair of pants or shoes or something, but more than that, I wanted to use the money to make a difference.

In this week’s extras, It calls you out for being a liar and a hypocrite (via song). Any idea what he’s talking about?

I don’t know where he’s coming from. I don’t even remember having many conversations in the first place that would have allowed me to lie to him. I could see if I said that alliances were horrible and then I went and joined one, but I didn’t say anything like that. Sometimes It, God bless him, says things that come to his head that don’t make sense. This could be him having one of his It moments.

What was the most harrowing thing you saw in the house?

The backstabbing, the way people went against their friends. I fell victim to that in Episode 6, when Heat was kicked off. He’s a great friend of mine, and unfortunately, we ended up on separate alliances. That kind of turned the both of us against each other by default. I interviewed that he was pathetic while he was leaving. I didn’t mean that he’s a pathetic person. If anything, I respect him for crying. I think real men cry. I just thought it was funny that he’s this big, buff dude crying. That’s what I meant by that, but I think it kinda came across wrong.

When you were eliminated, you said that it was meant to happen since you were eliminated on the 7th day during the 7th elimination. But that would have been the case for anyone who was eliminated at that exact point, right? That wasn’t a special message just for you.

That is true. I just said that because I thought it was coincidental that in the Bible, seven is the number of completion and I happened to be the one going home. And honestly, I was trying to think of something positive to say in response.

How much did your mom appreciate the “Hi Mom” shirt you wore during your interviews?

She told me she was so proud of me. The only drawback was that if I did or said anything that would come across as disrespectful, rude or below the standard of what my mother has for me, it would have been a direct representation of her. So, it was good that I wore the shirt, but it created a lot of pressure, too. Sometimes in the interview room, things would slip out of my mouth and I’d be like, “I didn’t mean to say that!”

Any regrets?

I’m extremely happy that I did the show. It gave me the opportunity to be positive and spread my light. That came at a price, though. There were plenty of episodes where people were yelling at me, people were in my face, so I did have to endure a lot while being in there. It wasn’t a cakewalk. But I look at every opportunity as a blessing. I can hold my head high because I didn’t do anything to mess up the family name.

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

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 1:19 pm