CHOOSING Fox News Channel’s Kit Hoover to interview the parents and sister of “Joe Millionaire” star Evan Marriott for “The Pulse” was a good call.
Why? Well, Hoover herself basked in the reality TV glow eight years ago as a contestant on MTV’s “Road Rules” – and knows all about what the Marriotts, Evan included, are going through.
“I left his parents’ house feeling like Evan is getting so overexposed and hoping he’ll parlay this into whatever he wants to do when the show is over,” Hoover says.
Hoover interviewed Evan’s parents, Hank and Charlotte Marriott, and his sister, Jan, at the family home in Virginia Beach, Va. The interview will air Thursday on “The Pulse” (9 p.m./Ch. 5).
Hoover says she asked about all the rumors: Is Evan gay? Is he a scion of the Marriott hotel dynasty? Does he have “Marriott” tattooed on his back? Is he a male escort? And the family answered everything honestly.
She describes the Marriott homestead as “awesome” – which is somewhat different from what she imagined.
“I was expecting it to be sort of a disheveled construction site, but it’s in a beautiful neighborhood in Virginia Beach,” she says. “His parents were just very gracious and welcoming – his mom is a really cute Southern lady who’s a member of the gardening club and his dad was wearing a cashmere sweater.
“They seemed to be taking the whole thing in stride,” she says. “They were able to laugh at everything, including those underwear pictures and all the rumors about Evan.
“I asked his mom whether she feels bad for the ladies on the show being lied to, and she said, ‘No, because they got a free trip to Paris out of it.’
“Seeing Evan’s family makes you like him that much more,” Hoover says. “No matter what you think of him, at least he comes from a good place.”