Remember Fox's reality show Joe Millionaire, where a man named Evan Marriott took on the identity of a millionaire and tried to win the heart of one woman out of 20 prospective ladies who thought they'd eventually marry a man worth $50 million? Yeah, so do I, unfortunately. Marriott was a good-looking guy who women couldn't help but fawn over. Well, now, Evan Marriott looks completely different and isn't recognizable as the fake rich man who ended up not marrying Joe Millionaire's winner Zora Andrich.
Apparently, Marriott is still the average Joe he was when he was cast in the reality show. He made an appearance at WE tv Presents: The Evolution of Relationship Reality Shows at The Paley Center on Thursday and shocked everyone when he showed up with a big, burly beard. Now 40, Marriott is still a contractor, who is living a normal life. He revealed at the panel,
I went back to work. I'm a contractor. I was saying backstage that after the show, you don't know what to do, where to go with your life. Some friends got together, had a little intervention, a come to Jesus moment. [They] said, "You can't come by our offices and just hang out anymore, and say: 'What are you doing today?' It was like, "What are YOU doing today?" And I was just going to the bar.
Eventually, Marriott started his own business. He's happy with his life and looks like this:
Yep, that man with a Duck Dynasty beard is Mr. Joe Millionaire himself. He looks like a different person and is making everyone do a double take.
During the panel, Marriott was asked about starring in a reality series. He reflected on becoming a reality TV star, which he believes no one understands unless you experience it yourself. He became an overnight star and explained,
It's as simple as this: I was staying at Central Park South, the night of the first show. I went to bed as Evan Marriott and the next day, when I went out on the street, people were literally — this is not an exaggeration — people were at stoplights in their cars, yelling out at me, "Joe! Joe!" And I'm going, "Who the hell is Joe?"
Even though he's not the man you remember, it seems Marriott is where he's supposed to be. As he said, "I started a business for myself and everything has been great. I did my first job... I got it, and literally was almost in tears. I called my dad and said, 'I feel like I've just been paroled, this is where I should have been, you know?'"
Images: Getty Images (3)
