Hours after his Beauty And The Geek makeover made headlines, Mike Gambaro has addressed rumours he was a “fake” geek or paid actor on the show.
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The rumours emerged not long after the show’s 2022 cast was announced, when fans uncovered an old photo of Mike looking rather handsome.
“I did see that. My thought was ‘I’m an actor? That literally is the biggest compliment, I was so happy to hear that,” he tells WHO exclusively of the rumours.
Mike also cleared up some details surrounding the photo in question, which showed him with a much shorter beard posing in a Ghostbusters outfit last Halloween.
“I was sweating so much. I’m in Queensland, and I’m in that big Ghostbusters costume… so the beard looks a lot shorter in the photo. That actually is just because I’m so drenched in sweat,” he laughs.
His beard was even longer by the time he started filming for BATG and it was the first thing he had to give up as part of his makeover on the show.
He was terrified that shaving would make “the baby face come out”, but it was worth it when the cast cheered at his reveal and beauty Heidi paid him a special compliment.
“She seemed to love it. I’ve never seen anyone call me hot before, so that was very cool,” he laughs bashfully.
“I remember just right before coming out of that elevator… I was almost in tears. It was just a combination of happy, nervous and just so many emotions running through my head.”
It was seeing everyone’s reactions that really pushed his confidence to a new level – and that was before he even caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
“I didn’t expect how positive it would be,” he says, adding that Heidi telling Aimee to “back off” her geek was among his favourite reactions.
“I was just terrified of how people were going to perceive it, especially because I’m someone who just doesn’t like change… that was very daunting.”
The beauties weren’t the only interested ladies after Mike’s makeover either; his phone has been going off non-stop since the makeover aired with DMs and texts.
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The sudden spike in attention has been totally overwhelming for the 20-year-old, who admits: “I’ve actually stayed off Instagram for the moment.
“I usually don’t have girls coming for me and that’s just kind of weird,” he admits.
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But there’s one DM he will be keeping an eye out for; a message from the girl who once rejected him for not being tall enough.
Mike recounted the story before his makeover and revealed how much it affected his self-worth, now he’s hoping for an apology.
“I know right now she’s on holidays overseas, so she probably hasn’t seen [the show] yet. But I hope she does because I don’t think she knows how much that actually hurt me,” he admits.
Since the makeover he’s adopted a whole new wardrobe – which he confirms the geeks are gifted after filming – but there was one thing he refused to keep doing.
“I don’t fake tan anymore. This is not fun, I don’t know how people do it,” he says.
Though it didn’t make the show’s final edit, he confirms he was sprayed down during the makeover – in the nude no less!
“I’m glad Australia didn’t see my bare naked ass but apart from that it, what you saw was what I went through,” he laughs.
As for his advice to other geeks, or even just Aussies looking for a confidence boost, Mike says to embrace change if it’s going to make you feel good.
“There’s an amazing quote from The Office, ‘you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take’,” he jokes.
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