Joe Millionaire turned the premise of The Bachelor (fresh off its first season at the time) on its ear; whereas original Bachelor Alex Michel had been touted as a successful catch with no secrets to hide, Evan (who, despite his last name, has no ties to the hotel brand) had to woo the ladies while keeping a big secret. The deception started to wear on him. “Now I’m living the biggest lie in front of America and I think it’s the most ironic thing in the world,” he eventually told show staffers (on air of course!). “This is about all of America seeing 20 girls misled into thinking some guy’s a millionaire…and the more I think about it, the more it eats my brain out, ‘cause I really like this girl.” Which girl? Zora Andrich, a substitute teacher, was the lucky lady Evan chose to give his final necklace (not a rose, get it?). Forty million people watched Evan break the news that he was broke in the November 2003 finale. (For comparison, the last Bachelor season finale, with Matt James, only drew 5.75 million viewers.) Zora decided to stay with Evan anyway, and as a prize, they were given $1 million to split equally. Still, Evan doesn’t know what the big deal was. “I’ve never been able to figure out why 40 million people would tune in to see a guy who did nothing, and that’s how I feel about it,” he said in 2020. But how about two guys? FOX’s new revival, Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer (premiering Thursday, Jan. 6, at 8 p.m. ET), fixes a problem from the original show; the female contestants vying for love won’t be completely in the dark. They’ll know that only one of the two men they’re competing for is the millionaire–but not which one, and the men will need to compete for the affections of the women as well. Today, 47 years old and single, Evan looks a lot different than he did when Joe Millionaire first premiered. His dark locks are now silvery and fall to his shoulders, and—as one Twitter user pointed out years ago—he’s got a beard that seems more fitting for Game of Thrones than a reality show. Keep reading to find out what happened to the original Joe Millionaire Evan Marriott, including his non-Hollywood career, what his bank account looks like these days and whether he’d ever go back to TV.
Who was the original Joe Millionaire?
Evan was from Virginia Beach, Virginia, but moved out to California where he had a brief stint as a model and seriously explored the idea of pro wrestling, even training at the facility of Rick Bassman, the wrestling and MMA legend who discovered John Cena. He also worked as a bellhop. By the time Joe Millionaire started, however, he was introduced as a construction worker.
What happened to the original Joe Millionaire?
Evan was surprised when, just two weeks after his hit show’s finale aired, the FOX network “took my lot pass and I was out in front of the FOX studios with the door slammed in my face. It was that quick.” He then hosted one season of the Game Show Network show Fake-a-Date (it was canceled) and acted in a few TV shows and films. He claims he eventually suffered from a real “identity crisis,” explaining in 2015, “I wasn’t Evan Marriott, the guy that could go have a casual beer with friends. It’s dissipated, but the first three years, everywhere I’d go [in L.A.], everyone would look up. And what that does is you start to get paranoid." Did he at least get to enjoy the attention from groupies or make friends with celebs? Not as much as you’d think. “There weren’t any groupies,” Evan has said. “You got your girls that uh…. they wanna f**k a guy who’s been on TV, [but] I never had groupies, I never had a group of girls waiting in the lobby of a hotel.” According to Evan, he also didn’t get the warmest reception from mainstream celebs–although he did go to dinner with Vivica A. Fox and thought she was “a sweetheart” and “extremely down to earth.”
Where is the original Joe Millionaire now?
Evan keeps a notoriously low profile. He’s admitted he’s a “close-lipped” person and has granted only a handful of interviews over the years. He has no presence on social media, something that’s unusual for a reality TV star. But he’s probably not far from his apartment in Orange County, California. How did he end up there? Well, once he realized FOX wasn’t keeping him around and he decided to move away from Hollywood, Evan took his prize money and invested it into a new business. He’s now got a heavy-equipment rental-contracting company in Orange County. “I started a business for myself, and everything is great. I did my first job and literally almost was in tears,” Evan told an audience during a reality TV panel event in 2012. “I called my dad and said, ‘I feel like I’ve just been paroled. This is where I should have been.’” Getting back to regular life has allowed him to stop being treated like a celebrity, which he doesn’t mind. “Today, people who know me from that show are few and far between,” Evan said in 2015. “And to be honest, most of the people who do come up for an autograph think I was the guy from The Bachelor. I don’t bother to correct them.” Would he ever go back to TV? Sure–but he doesn’t have to, which is something he savors. “I’ve got a good job I can fall back on,” he told Vulture in 2015. “If something else comes along, I’ll do it, but I don’t really have to, and I’m not gonna let the media make me look any worse than they did on my way out the door when I last had my opportunity. I think a lot of people aren’t as strong as I’ve been. They’ll do anything. They’ll sell their mother up the river for a shot on TV again. And I don’t really care.” Overall, Evan is happy with life. “If I’m not [happy], then I’ve got a serious screw loose,” Evan once joked. “I’ve had a very fortunate life. I’ll probably live here in Orange County for another 20-25 years and then move back to Virginia. I do what I love to do. I work hard and I get tired, but it’s a good kind of tired. At the end of the day, I go home and have a Scotch. I like Scotch.”
What is Joe Millionaire worth?
Today, Evan seems to be an actual millionaire. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he’s worth about $1.5 million.
Who did Joe Millionaire choose?
Evan and Zora broke up soon after Joe Millionaire wrapped, but both thought highly of each other then—and now. “I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Zora wasn’t into my money,” Evan said at the time. “Zora was an innocent girl who was sweet and nice, and she was kind.” In fact, Zora told him during the finale, “I was really turned off by the fact that you had inherited all that money.” In 2020, Zora still looked “really good,” Evan admitted. “I haven’t talked to her in a long time but I’ve seen her in pictures. She does infomercials all the time.” In December, Zora, who is now a “busy mom of two (and a half)," said she still likes the faux millionaire who chose her above all others. “Evan and I have talked over the years,” she shared with the New York Post. “We share an experience of which few others can relate. Despite our differences, I really like Evan. His heart and character are intact—and I appreciate his unapologetic, bold personality.”
How many seasons of Joe Millionaire are there?
Evan said in 2020 that he didn’t know how they would make more shows like his, because “they were such a clusterf**k,” but after his show wrapped, FOX tried it again with The Next Joe Millionaire. However, the magic never materialized; three-quarters of Season 1 viewers clocked out and when the season ended, FOX put the franchise on the shelf–until today.
How can I watch Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer?
Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer premieres Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022 on FOX in a special two-hour event from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Next, 17 Best Dating Shows You Can Stream Right Now to Get Your Guilty Pleasure On
