One on One with Paul Grassi from The Mole
Friday, August 01 2008 | Comments (0)
Paul cherishes his family even more
after being on The Mole.
Being a contestant on The Mole might just offer Paul Grassi an opportunity to switch careers, but that wasn’t the reason why he wanted to be on a reality TV show – it was the cold hard cash he was hoping to win.
“My intention (for being on the show) was the 1 in 11 shot at winning a half-million dollars,” Paul told RealityBug.com from his home in the Bronx.
He was executed from The Mole last week and yes, he is disappointed he didn’t win the money but, hey, he did manage to make it to the final four. And who knows what the future holds now for the outspoken New Yorker.
Paul is a deejay on the weekends while working as a utility worker for the power company in New York but those days could come to an end, if the right deal comes along. He said there is a possibility he will be doing a feature film in October and has some other offers on the table. Getting into the groove, he’s even done his own Save the Mole video.
Despite his arrogant attitude on the show, Paul was affable and good-natured during his interview with RealityBug.com. But like the others on the show much of what we saw was a façade, he explained.
“Going into this, you have to play a certain persona,” he said. “I told everyone, ‘we are all friends, don’t be offended, because we are playing a game.’ Everybody kind of changed when the cameras were on.
“Naturally they (the show producers, directors) don’t show you everything, all the good times.”
A great example was when he had to answer questions about his wife in the “Ticket to Ride” mission. We saw Paul drawing blanks on the first couple questions about his wife, such as, “What is your wife’s dream job?” Paul said they made it look like he didn’t know much about his wife. (“Doesn’t he care about her?” Viewers have asked.) But in reality, he said the answers had to match what his wife would say and he did go back and answer all the questions. Camera trickery. By the way, he said his wife doesn’t really have a dream job to speak of. And he does care about and love her.
Paul with wife and daughter.
They met at a wedding in the Bronx where he was deejay’ing. It was love at first sight, he told RealityBug.com. Aww.
A different side of Paul, that’s for sure. But he said his strategy on the show was to stress everyone out into leaving. Pretty smart thinking. “A week into it people were already complaining, it was stressful, they were missing their families, the food’s not good,” he explained. “I thought, ‘I could make this the worst experience of their lives so they want to go home.’”
He didn’t have much time to razz Bobby about being a punk, but he told RealityBug.com that the guy was kind of a “wuss.” And his recollection of the fight with Clay erupted into laughter.
Every mission was memorable for him, but the first mission was the one that seemed to have the most impact, jumping over the waterfall was an amazing experience, he said, being one in 12 people in the world to have done it. It was scary though; he recalled the last instructions he was given before attempting the stunt.
“You’re just about to step on this raft and the guy tells you, ‘hey, if that line goes to the right it could wrap around your neck and kill you,’” he laughed, mimicking the stunt coordinator.
He also said his other favorite mission was when he had to run around town in his underwear – NOT!
“Everyone’s looking at you, camera people, everybody is looking at you like you’re insane.”
Perhaps the sanest moment during the show was when Paul was able to see his wife and daughter. “People don’t know … you can’t make calls, you don’t have any contact with anyone,” he said. So, that time with his family was precious.
Now that he is home for good, he said, he is going to further his education, take some acting classes, check out some career changing possibilities and wait to see what the future holds for him and his family.
Good Luck, Paul! Keep us tuned in here at RealityBug.com.
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