The Celebreality Interview – London

“It’s a TV show,” London tells us. “It’s like if you go to a strip club and the stripper is telling you how much she likes you and if you fall for that and spend all your money, you’re an idiot.” Below, Daisy of Love‘s seeming front-runner tells us why he decided to withdraw from the competition, what’s up with his homelessness and whether the house was really as glam as it seems on TV.

During your exit interview, you said that you were 95 percent sure that leaving the show was the right thing to do. Looking at it now, did you make the right call?

Even now it’s hard to say. I won’t know that for a while. It’s still kinda fresh. I think it was the right call, but I definitely have some regrets.

What was the main factor that led you to your decision? Was it Daisy walking away as you were talking to her about your domestic situation?

Well, here’s the thing. That didn’t go down the way you saw it on TV. The show made it look like I was homeless. I moved down to Pennsylvania to take care of my dad’s bills and stuff, to help him out financially because he was in a bad spot. He had a really bad back, and they put him on pain pills. He got a addicted to pain pills because he was on them for so long, so he went to rehab to get off them. We had some problems, some stupid stuff happened and he decided to kick me out. I wasn’t homeless, I had places to stay and I was moving back to New York, anyway, because that’s where I was before I went to live with my dad. It wasn’t that I was homeless, I was just couch surfing because I had a week between getting kicked out of my dad’s house and going on the show. No big deal. It’s not how they made it look. So, we get in the limo after the date and Daisy says she’s cold, so I said, “Wear my jacket.” She says, “Ew, this smells like smoke! Gross!” OK, you smoke, too, Daisy. This is after she’s already given me an attitude. She’s like, “No! I’m gonna wear it!” She finally finds this sweater she was looking for, and she takes this girly sweater, throws it at me and says, “Here. You can wear that.” I was like, “F*** that.” That’s when I got pissed off. It’s like, if I do something stupid like pass out from drinking too much on national TV, I deserve to be the butt of a joke. But if I’m doing something nice, don’t try to make me a joke. I don’t care if it’s your show and we’re all here for you, if you’re going to make a joke out of me, I’m going to defend myself. I’m gonna say, “Screw this. It’s stupid.” There are plenty of things to make fun of me for besides offering you my jacket when I’m cold. That’s when I said, “This is bulls***, I want to go home.” I’m not going to let someone try to turn me into a chump.

Right after that is when you were telling the cameras to go away and saying, “I’m a real person…”

Yeah. I was just tired of being in a situation where you’re being manipulated. That’s where the whole puppet thing came from. But Daisy did apologize for that. She was just being drunk. She said she was trying to pay attention to the other guys, too, and she liked me. She was just doing that 5th grade thing, when you’re mean to the boy you like. And then the whole truth or dare thing, I already didn’t want to be there, and she brought that up and it was like, “OK.” It wasn’t a big deal. That’s not what pissed me off.

So basically it came down to your feelings for Daisy not being strong enough to run the risk of looking like a chump on TV?

Kind of. It’s less about looking like a chump. It’s more like…it’s a TV show. It’s like if you go to a strip club and the stripper is telling you how much she likes you and if you fall for that and spend all your money, you’re an idiot. I just figured I’m not going to be a joke. I’m not going to sit there and be part of a TV show. I like to be real. If I can’t be myself, I get really weird, I flip out and I just want to get away.

What did you think of how destroyed she was by your decision?

I didn’t see any of that at the time, but watching it on TV made me sad. There was a connection between us and watching it made wonder if it was a bad decision to leave.

From the beginning many viewers picked you out to win, and it did seem that Daisy was into you the most.

When there are cameras in your face, it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not. Trying to be an artist and everything, people are always trying to tell you you’re not good enough and this and that. You have to deal with criticism and you need a thick skin to defend yourself and not listen to what people say. When you’re in a position where you feel like you’ve got the short end of the stick, you’re like, this is where my claws come out.

You made a comment wondering why you had to compete with the guys. You weren’t comfortable with the competition aspect, right?

First of all, the guys on the show for the most part are great people. Obviously, there was drama, but there were some good guys there. At one point when I was flipping out at the cameras, I said, “I’m not gonna talk s*** about you and you and you because I like you.” It’s hard when you’re competing against people to stay true to what you believe in and accomplish the goal of getting the girl. And two, when there’s love there, you don’t compete. This was different than anything I’ve done before, and it’s not always easy to know how to handle that kind of stuff. When you’re in a new situation, you make mistakes. And then you learn.

Part of the running gag on the show is how cosmetically oriented the guys are. Was the house as glam as it looks on TV?

On TV we wanted to look our best. Plus, if you’re competing for a girl, you want to look like you give a s***. I wear eyeliner daily. I don’t wear anything else. I just flat-iron my hair, that’s about it. Everyone has to dress the way they’re comfortable. Boring people wouldn’t have cared. You want interesting people on the show.

What about Sinister’s snide comment that equated your music career to that of a garage band?

I’m not as far along as Sinister is in my music career, but my band [The Party Death] recorded a demo for Atlantic Records and the head of A&R loved it and wanted to do some showcases for him. We ended up breaking off after that. But whatever. We’ve played the Knitting Factory in New York. That’s a big venue. We’re not a crappy band. We’re just not a signed major label band. We’re fairly known in New York. We’re not huge, but we’re working on it.

What about Riki calling you a loser?

I’m kinda proud of that. I’m sure Riki was a loser at one point, too. I’m sure there was a point before Headbanger’s Ball when people called him a loser.

What about the alcohol thing? Do you have a handle on your drinking?

The thing about the first episode is I have an ear disease called Ménière’s. Sometimes my inner ear fills up with fluid and I hear distortion in my left ear when I sing. One of the symptoms of that is vertigo. I’d been having a problem with that after flying out to L.A., with the change in pressure and the stress and everything. I was drunk the first night, but that kinda kicked in and then it was over for me. I couldn’t stop spinning. It bothered me for the next few days in the house, too. I don’t drink that much. I tend to drink socially and being in the house was one big social experiment. I was drinking socially from morning till night, but when I’m not in that house, I’m not being social so I don’t always drink.

In all, was this a good experience for you?

It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve done in my life. But I don’t know if I would do it again, right now I’m glad I’m back in New York, playing with my band and working on my music.

Keep up with London via his MySpace.

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Daisy of Love show page
Daisy of Love full episodes, show clips and bonus scenes