Will Wikle is everywhere: television, radio, and the emergency room. The jack of all trades recently answered some questions from our intern Christopher Rudolph and dishes on Omarosa, Bette Midler, and his romance with LOGO’s Jason Bellini.
Hey, Will! What have you been up to?
Right now, I’m at the Genius Bar inside the Soho Apple Store watching two 7 year olds argue about the hard drive capacity on their iBooks. It’s pretty amazing considering that at that age, I was out in the fields of Mississippi eating mud and making HeMan give head to Skeletor.
How did you like Fashion Week?
I was fortunate enough to attend very inspiring, rad shows. For the first time ever, I can say that I now completely view fashion design as a true expressive art. As I listened to my boyfriend interview Richie Rich backstage at Heatherette, I was reminded of the passion and actualization of inspiration that goes in to “making it happen.” Besides Heatherette, I loved both Yoko Deveraux and Project Runway. But mostly just going to PR with Bradford. Now that we all know who made the final three, I can say that I am very upset that everyone won’t get to see Kara Janx’s line…If I was a trannie, I would only wear her evening dresses.
How has your life changed after Big Brother?
That’s such a tough question. I obviously didn’t return to the same life that I left, which was both good and bad in so many ways. Great things have happened for me: I started a new job at a different hospital, I signed on with LOGO, I started with Twist, yada, yada. But life was hard for me too. You know, I naively expected to be affirmed by my 15 minutes on TV….like every self confidence issue I ever had would disappear simply because I had achieved some level of being recognizability. Well, that was the exact opposite case. I went through a pretty intense depression after that experience was over. It was a real challenge to figure out who I was again and be proud of that person. I had some great friends and family to help me out and I came out a better dude because of it. So, it’s all good in the end.
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How would you describe your new weekly radio show, Twist?
It’s your basic Top 40 music countdown but with a little gay flavored topping. I guess you could call me Casey Gaysem. We have the basics like music, therapy, and long distance dedications, but we also have a celebrity on each week and allow them to speak about and directly to their gay fans. So far, we’ve had everyone from Beyonce and SJP to Pink and Daniel Vosovic. Oh, and since it airs on major radio stations, we’re always sure to talk about straight people like Clay Aiken and Tom Cruise. Twist is inclusive, ya’ll.
You recently interviewed Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker, who are some of your other dream celebrity interviews?
Such a tough decision! You know, my conversation with Bette really challenged me in a most unexpected way. I of course opened the interview with a discussion about her start in the bathhouses, expecting a canned answer involving Barry Manilow and turning a blind eye. But she came back with this fiery emotional dialogue about her extreme connection with those shows and that audience in particular. For the rest of the 20 minutes, I was literally left nothing short of speechless as she took me on a journey that illustrated what fuels her passion for performance. Here eyes were twinkling and her laugh was completely pure. The only other time that I have connected with another person on camera like that was while filming the second season of my travel show on LOGO. I interviewed a lesbian artist, Denise Walker, who lived with her partner in the isolated Western Australian community of Broome. As we got deeper into the exchange, I could see that Denise had come to the interview having had virtually no other real interaction with other gay people. She was so willing to share all of herself, good and bad, in exchange for confirmation and feedback. We ended up really helping each other and I left that experience a different person. So, in summation, I guess that is my dream interview…someone who comes willing to go there and allows both me and everyone watching to truly share the experience. Canned answers stink like Bill Frist’s nuts. My dream interview subjects change every 10 minutes. Right now, I’d have to say Jodie Foster, Greg Louganis, and Kristin Chenoweth. Random, I know.
So you’ve conquered television, radio, and you even write your own blog, are there any other entertainment mediums you’re itching to have a go at?
I wouldn’t turn down a walk-on roll on that UPN show, Girlfriends.
Have you ever had any juicy run-ins with other reality-show stars?
I have a singular confession: the only reason I signed on to film Battle of The Network Stars was for the sole purpose of spending time on set with Omarosa. And it paid off in spades. Apparently she has a major beef with ex American Idol loser Nikki McKibben that started on, of all places, the set of Reality Star Fear Factor. Anyway, one day, Melissa, Coral, and I were sitting around on set watching Omarosa arguing on her cell phone about her daytime minutes. (Which was worth it, seeing as how Omarosa still pulls the line “baddest bitch in the boardroom” even on the Verizon operator. Hasn’t it been 6 years since that show aired? Out of nowhere appears Nikki Mckibben who lunges at Omarosa with arms spinning, shouting something along the lines of: “Get ready to taste blood, you ashy c*nt”. It is also important to keep in mind that Nikki McKibben, also about 6 years post brush with fame, was rumored to be running a meth lab out of the green team’s locker room. Anyway, just as the first fist barely misses Omarosa’s wide grin, security guards and reality cameras appear out of thin air and the whole situation begins to go the way of a back episode of Cops. It was delicious.
Has it been easier for you to get dates after your reality stardom? Do you get recognized often?
As I said before, I was so down on life after the show that I never paid attention to the menz as much. I knew I couldn’t bring the heat to a relationship so I shied away from it. Yes, I do get recognized often but it is mostly by my patients in the ER. The other day, I was in the process of doing an EKG on a crashing patient and he lifted his head of the table and goes “Dude, I wanted you to win so bad.” It is always at weird times like that…I’ll be putting catheters in while having intimate conversations with people that feel like they know me. It’s strange but I kinda like it.
So you’re currently dating Jason Bellini from LOGO, how does it feel to be a media power couple?
I guess we are a media power couple if media is defined by the pictures and clippings on my mom’s fridge. You know, I didn’t even meet Jason through LOGO which is the strange thing. I could say a bunch of cheesy things at this point but I’ll spare you. I’ll just say that I would be with Jason even if his job was sacking groceries at Gristede’s.
And finally, Will, let’s end with a little family background, do you have a big brother, and if so was he mean to you?
Ummm, dude I AM the big brother of the Wikle clan. My brother is a hardcore fundamentalist and my sister is living in sin with her boyfriend and child…does that mean that I’ve dropped the ball?
