Exclusive: We Talk to Dave's Friends, Creators of DateDavid.org
It's clear that Beauty and the Geek's Dave is a fan favorite -- hey, he won us over after some initial skepticism, and he seems to have won you guys, over, too, based on the polls and comments. We had the chance to chat with Dave's college pals Nancy Zimmerman and Simon Strange, the brains behind DateDavid.org, a site created to get Dave some experience with the ladies -- all in good fun, of course. In part one of this interview, Nancy tells us about the infamous clothing swap, Dave's TV makeover, and whether or not Dave's potential dates have to be LARPers. In upcoming installments, we'll get the scoop on what kind of woman should date Dave, why Nancy and Simon created the site, and what Dave was like in college!
CW Source: I read your FAQ, and it sounds like you and Dave met in Alpha Delta Phi. And you and Simon are together, right? So who met Dave first?
Nancy: We're domestic partners. Simon knew him (Dave) for longer b/c he was with Alpha Delta Phi before I was. I joined later, so that’s when I met David.
CW Source: You’re watching Beauty and the Geek this season, right? Are you surprised that Dave has made it this far, or did you see it coming?
Nancy: I’m surprised and very excited that he’s in the final two. I’m holding my breath. He can’t tell us anything at all about what’s happened on the show or what’s going to happen. We don’t have any sort of privileged information. He’s been pretty fastidious about that.
I know he had a plan -- in kind of geek fashion, he had a strategy to kind of fly low in the beginning. I’ve actually never watched a reality TV show before, but I guess that’s a good strategy, to lay low at the beginning. He said that was his strategy and we were like, "Oh, whatever, David," but now I kind of believe it. I don’t think it was all really calculated. When he went to that quote-unquote nervous breakdown, when he was drinking because he thought he wasn’t a good partner to Jasmine, that was real! He was totally upset and made a resolution that he was going to try a lot harder.
CW Source: What do you think of Jasmine? And what about that clip where Dave tells her point-blank that she was his last choice for partner?
Nancy: First of all, I’ll say that Simon and I were watching (at the beginning) and we picked Jasmine as one of the beauties that we liked because she’s just so sweet. It turned out that she was his partner and they played that clip that you’re referencing and we thought, "Oh, no, Dave; what are you doing!?"
CW Source: From what you’ve seen on the show, has Dave had a personal transformation?
Nancy: It was a really exciting experience for him. I think it just gave him more confidence. Even the makeover, you could tell that he really thought he looked good. He totally looked cute – but I think they made him look especially bad when it started. What was with that Afro?
We spent 10 years trying to get him to not wear Velcro shoes! We were like, where do you get those as an adult? And he'd say, “Well, they are very easy to take off and put on.”
That’s the most important external thing that we can pinpoint. I’ve seen him kind of come out of his shell in college before. I was impressed by the bartending and the salsa dancing. I don’t think I could dance with that much enthusiasm and let go.
CW Source: I didn’t know much about LARPing until Dave talked about it on BATG. Is LARPing still a big part of his life? Do you think his ideal woman would have to be a LARPer, too?
Nancy: I’m sure he’d be happy to date a fellow LARPer, but I don’t think that’s a requirement. It’s a rare trait.
CW Source: Is he still actively LARPing?
Nancy: Yes. He gets all stressed out about it. He spends many, many hours, like a second job, sometimes, putting these big shows together. And then people go and spend the whole weekend LARPing.
CW Source: Are you a LARPER?
Nancy: I’m not a LARPER, actually, but there were a whole bunch of people from our college, and actually our fraternity, who did it. They weren’t all geeky, either. Some are just normal people who like to go out and do this stuff. There’s an organization called Quest, and they’re called the Questies. They would make these big elaborate storylines – like the equivalent of becoming a dungeonmaster in dungeons and dragons.
CW Source: What's this on your website about you and Dave swapping clothes?
Nancy: That was a running gag for awhile. We actually ran against each other for the presidency of the fraternity. We thought people would decide (who won) in 15 min… we were sitting around in the kitchen, probably drinking. We decided to put on some sort of gag to waste the time. We came out in each other’s clothes.
CW Source: So who won the presidential race?
Nancy: I think I won that time.
CW Source: Tell us about that handspring Dave did in Mexico – I see on your site that Simon claims to be the one who taught him that!
Nancy: Simon’s kind of embarrassed that I wrote that on the website. Apparently he taught David to do that. I was like, “That’s awesome!” He did it on national television.
CW Source: I think he was a bit tipsy, too...
Nancy: Otherwise he would have nailed the landing!