Massachusetts Reality-TV Men, Part 2: The Smartest Mass Reality-TV Man of All

Mr. Boston of I Love New York proudly refers to himself as a stud, but MIT alum Matthew Herman of Beauty and the Geek was called upon to transform himself from a "Geek" into a "Stud."

The Ashton Kutcher-produced Beauty and the Geek is a competition in which several teams of "beauties" and "geeks" try to teach life lessons and social skills to each other. Whichever team trades the most knowledge wins. Bostonist waited to mention this show because, although teams are eliminated in each show, it seems a little less scandalous than most reality TV and is somehow kind of sweet.

Matt and his partner got eliminated in episode three. He was paired with an award-winning brunette beauty, Andrea, a Miss Missouri USA. However, the beautiful blondes and beautiful brunettes of the show immediately hated each other, and Matt and Andrea were the victims of the vote-strategizing typical of reality TV.

But they still come off looking nice. Reality-show critic RJ Carter praises Matt and Andrea: "He chooses to focus on being friends with Andrea, while Andrea is glad that Matt is more confident now. It may not be as entertaining as watching the couple argue on the way out, but it's way classier."

MIT interviewed Herman about his stint on the show, and he offers some inside information on the reality-show process. Of what he learned from the show, he says, "Maybe it encouraged me more to go up and maybe go out on dates with somebody, but other than that, it didn't really."

Herman is still in Boston, so it looks as if he's not leaving the city for the bright lights of Hollywood and all those reality shows like Battle of the Network Reality Stars and The Surreal Life that attempt to recycle reality-show "celebrities." He told TV Guide that he appreciates having a real job: "The work I do is math-related, working on problems that use some of the stuff that I learned in school. I don't really want to talk about it too much. I want to try to keep the show as separate from work as possible."

However, Bostonist has a proposal - how about a gender-reversed Beauty and the Geek? Have they done that yet? There's plenty of geeky women out there and tons of male beefcake who could benefit from knowledge-exchange. Why not just take the castoffs of I Love New York and introduce them to smart women?

Image of MIT Matt and his beauty partner, Andrea, from The Trades.