Campus Cutie: Irish Bachelorette Edition – Jeff Gerlomes ’14

With all the hype surrounding the Irish Bachelorette (let’s face it – it lived up to the hype), I decided to sit down with the lovely gentlemen of the show after their exits. To begin, I had a chat with the host of the show, Jeff Gerlomes, an active member of the NDtv team and the man behind the “Hat Ceremony.” 

Year: 2014

Dorm Allegiance: Duncan Hall, still live there

Major?  History and FTT; And what is the major you wish you chose? PLS seems interesting but I have no regrets about history and FTT.

Hometown: Napa, CA

Campus Activities? NDtv, Liturgical Choir, and Knights of Columbus

What does it mean to be a “domer”? I think it means committing yourself to the impossible pursuit of perfection and being aware that that is impossible – you can’t nail everything but you can’t aim for anything less than perfection. 

What is your best/favorite ND memory so far? Rushing onto the field after the Stanford game last year was phenomenal. The quality of athleticism that day was amazing to watch and seeing the field destroyed for the rest of the season was so cool. It was the ultimate unifying experience for the student body.

What is the #1 item on your ND bucket list? I would like to read the newspaper to Fr. Hesburgh.

If you could change one thing about Notre Dame, what would it be? The weather! But the bigger thing would be that there is an unfortunate thing about academia right now where colleges are looked at as jobs centers training people for their future careers. It doesn’t generate the best experience for people here at Notre Dame. If we could encourage people to embrace the core of the liberal arts, they would get a lot more out of their college years. 

What is the best class you’ve taken at ND? Probably “Europe in the Age of Revolution and Nationalism” with Alexander Martin; it was incredibly dramatic considering the period of history it covered – the French Revolution, the reunification of Germany, the Napoleonic Wars.

What is your favorite spot on campus? The Basilica, I had so many choir memories there. It feels homie. Every time you enter, you can discover something new; everything has a message.

Favorite Domer – dead, alive, or fictional? Well of course, Josiah Barlett [from The West Wing]. He has an incredible moral compass for every actor and politician since. 

What is your ideal academic and professional endgame? I would like to teach history at the college or university level and to do for history what Carl Sagan did for physics. Everyone should know the basics of history, like they know Newton’s Three Laws, and should have more of an impact on peoples’ lives.

In 25 years you will be… recovering from a stomach ailment because I work too hard and stress too much.

Tell me something no one here knows about you. Since I’ve been on NDtv so much, there’s not a lot people don’t know about me. But I will say I was a very ugly baby. I had a huge head and was a week overdue so it was not pretty. 

Guilty pleasure song/band? Abba, it’s not even a guilty pleasure they’re so good. A close second is Beyonce. She truly is a great American success story.

Signature drink? Bocci Ball – it’s orange juice, vodka, and amaretto. A nationwide awareness campaign is needed to teach bartenders how to make it. I feel pretentious when I have to explain what it is when I order it. 

Why did you want to become involved with the production of the Irish Bachelorette? I’ve been involved with NDtv very heavily over the past three years and even filled in when Matt McCurdy [executive producer of NDtv] was abroad last year. I was very involved with the creative side of it. We just sort of had this idea at student media retreat and we ran with it. It was so well received! It was apparent through the Twitter conversation and word of mouth. IT’s a little bizarre – we made something people are interested to see and talk about. We also got to teach people around the [NDtv] office how to make television people want to watch. We’ve produced something people are really interested in. 

What was the most difficult part about hosting the show? I had to escort each of the final two contestants to the final hat ceremony. Our location got changed so it was a very long walk. I had to make conversation but couldn’t be too revealing about what was about to happen. 

What was the easiest part of hosting the show? That classic moment at the end of each hat ceremony, “Gentlemen, Kirsten, this will be the final hat of the evening,” came naturally.

Who were you rooting for from week to week? You can’t ask that! Most of the crew grew attached to Omar and were very happy to see him get the first impression hat at the first ceremony. Of course, I did not intervene at all! 

Was the experience worth it? It really was. The thing that I found most pleasantly surprising was that I had a really great time getting to know the rest of the NDtv staff. It doesn’t matter what you’re working on, being a part of a team is just a good feeling. 

What is your next NDtv project? I’ve been trying to develop a show called “Wee Hours.” We realize that most of our viewership happens during the overnight hours and we want to highlight that with a talk show developed specifically for the 3am crowd with a more eclectic, zany low-production value level of humor. It will be an experimental late night talk show but the editing staff will have free reign over the final product meaning they can do what they like with special effects. 

Look out for more from Jeff on Channel 53, NDtv!

HCNDxo

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