06 November 2010

Reality TV Romeo 'not a real geek' - TV Fraud

After fearlessly pursuing one beauty and kissing another in the spa, Beauty and the Geek contestant Daniel Iachini is fast becoming reality TV's most unlikely Romeo.

But the Adelaide molecular biologist's luck with the ladies has not come as a surprise to his friends who admit Iachini is far less geeky than he appears on the Seven Network show.

According to friends, Iachini is actually quite confident with women and has had several girlfriends in the past, including a long term relationship of 18 months.

Far from being an awkward geek, the 23-year-old is a regular on Adelaide's nightclub scene, where he has helped friends with promoting club events.

An acquaintance of Iachini's, who did not want to be named, said he was puzzled to see him as a contestant on Beauty and the Geek.

"Why is Daniel on that show? Since when did preppy G-Star clothes and a long beard make someone a geek?" he said.

"I'm all for people having fun and giving things a go but it's not really fair and it obviously compromises the integrity of the show when for starters, the geeks aren't really geeks."

Iachini's friend Stuart Duckworth, who handles promotions for the Electric Circus nightclub, said Iachini was a geek but not in the stereotypical sense.

"He's a scientist who has been studying for years and he is really smart," Mr Duckworth told ninemsn.

"But he's not the type of geek who doesn’t know how to dress well."

"I wouldn't consider him to be a really geeky person and he definitely would be a lot less geeky than the other people in the house."

Mr Duckworth said he was not surprised to hear that Iachini — who has been romantically pursuing personal shopper Kara Palmieri and on tonight's episode kisses twin Ellie in the spa — had been making advances towards the beauties in the house.

"He is the sort of person who has a lot of confidence and of course he is going to use it," he said.

"I think he probably went on the show intending to take full advantage of that."

Iachini's participation on Beauty and the Geek is not the first time he has appeared on TV.

In June the scientist was a contestant on the Nine Network's Millionaire Hot Seat where he was eliminated on his first question.

On the show Iachini appeared without his geeky wire-rimmed glasses and with a less scruffy beard — but revealed a penchant for dressing up as a geek by donning a bowtie.

The obviously confident Iachini won the audience over by cracking jokes about picking up women in nightclubs by saying he was a stripper rather than a scientist.

He also revealed he hoped to find a cure for breast cancer and had written his university thesis on the disease for his mother, who had been diagnosed with the condition.

The Seven Network has not yet responded to ninemsn's request to speak to Iachini.

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