Smith dismisses ‘fairy tale’ talk before premiere
Brad Smith doesn’t give a hoot what you think about him, or his decision be the main attraction on The Bachelor Canada, the reality series that sees the former CFL wide receiver looking for love.
He does, however, care about one demographic in particular.
“At the end of the day, the only person who has to be happy with whatever I choose to do is me and my family, and that’s the only way I can think about it. If I paid so much attention to what people were saying on a week-to-week basis, I would get lost in the fact that this was an unbelievable experience that I have to look on as my own.”
Chatting with Smith on the phone Tuesday after his news conference in Toronto to promote the series, he comes across as someone who has a limited view of the public scrutiny that is about to come his way. During the news conference, he got to see the first episode of the show and showed off his Bachelorese, sprinkling the words “journey” and “reality” throughout his answers.
Over the course of nine episodes, Smith wines and dines his 25 bachelorettes, winnowing down the field at the weekly rose ceremony. The ladies who stay are asked to accept a red rose, the ones left empty-handed are sent packing from the Victoria, B.C., mansion where much of the series was filmed. (But not before a generally tear-laden exit interview, of course.)
Smith, who turns 29 the day before the show premieres next Wednesday on Citytv, has a selfdeprecating sense of humour that he deploys often.
He thinks about his answers and comes across as a reasonably well-adjusted guy, one who doesn’t have flashing-light relationship issues — something not everyone is expecting, including me.
“Understand, my goal wasn’t to go on and fulfil the purpose of the original, which was to get engaged right off the bat,” Smith said after I told him I liked him more than I wanted to after seeing the pilot episode.
“My purpose was to go on and try to put myself in the best possible situation to find someone to start my life with. That’s not an unattainable goal. And that’s not setting something that if you don’t get it, you’ll be crushed.”
So while the producers were talking “fairy tale” this and “Prince Charming” that, Smith stressed that he is a “regular guy” who comes from a good family (his dad is former CFL commissioner and senator Larry Smith) and was a “very average” player in the CFL.
“I’m a flawed person who makes a lot of mistakes, but I will tell you that once I make a mistake, I will never make it again.”
Some cornerstones of the Bachelor franchise are intact, however. There’s the requisite footage of Smith sans shirt, candles flickering in the background. And there’s a lot of kissing going on. A lot. You know your mom is going to see this, right?
“Shush that mouth! Put it this way: it’s a trailer, there’s a trailer for a reason! I think I did everything that I could do with the aspect of trying to be respectful. For me, the most important thing was to do stuff that my parents wouldn’t look at me and say, ‘C’mon Brad, what are you doing?’
“If we actually take a look — I’m not going to say what the numbers are — but if we actually take a look at the amount of girls on the show and the amount of girls kissed, I was very respectable.
“And not in a respectable, like, ‘Yeah, man! You did it, man!’ but respectable in that ‘OK, he’s trying to be a classy guy.’ ”
One thing Smith didn’t have control of, though, was how the bachelorettes acted when he wasn’t around to impress.
“Not until later on in the show did any of the girls ever go out of their way (to say what was going on). Maybe it’s the Canadian in us. All that stuff, I never heard about it,” Smith said and that included the clash between Calgary contestant Whitney and another woman. (Due to a non-disclosure agreement, not much more can be said.)
After shooting the first episode — which went on for a marathon 25 hours — Smith said he stopped noticing the ever-present cameras. “It was trial by fire on night one. If you can get past that, you can do anything on camera.” Any regrets? “Specifically, no … You have to have your set of values before you go in … For me, I went in with the way that I wanted to act and I wanted to be myself and I think I came across with that as much as I could.”
When it comes time to say goodbye, Smith revisits that self-deprecating humour. “Thanks for admitting you didn’t want to like me,” he said. “I’m just kidding. I love it. I get that a lot. It’s like, ‘You’re the Bachelor? I though you were going to be a d-bag!’ ” he said with a laugh. “But what’s to say that I’m not?”