The last episode of VH1’s Daisy of Love ended with London aka Joshua Lee throwing in the towel, and leaving Daisy in tears. In a new interview with VH1, London talks about the reason he quit, his feelings for Daisy and answers on whether or not he regrets leaving the show. Below are excerpts from this interview –
During your exit interview, you said that you were 95 percent sure that leaving the show was the right thing to do. Looking at it now, did you make the right call?
Even now it’s hard to say. I won’t know that for a while. It’s still kinda fresh. I think it was the right call, but I definitely have some regrets.
What was the main factor that led you to your decision? Was it Daisy walking away as you were talking to her about your domestic situation?
Well, here’s the thing. That didn’t go down the way you saw it on TV. The show made it look like I was homeless. I moved down to Pennsylvania to take care of my dad’s bills and stuff, to help him out financially because he was in a bad spot. He had a really bad back, and they put him on pain pills. He got a addicted to pain pills because he was on them for so long, so he went to rehab to get off them. We had some problems, some stupid stuff happened and he decided to kick me out. I wasn’t homeless, I had places to stay and I was moving back to New York, anyway, because that’s where I was before I went to live with my dad. It wasn’t that I was homeless, I was just couch surfing because I had a week between getting kicked out of my dad’s house and going on the show. No big deal. It’s not how they made it look. So, we get in the limo after the date and Daisy says she’s cold, so I said, “Wear my jacket.” She says, “Ew, this smells like smoke! Gross!” OK, you smoke, too, Daisy. This is after she’s already given me an attitude. She’s like, “No! I’m gonna wear it!” She finally finds this sweater she was looking for, and she takes this girly sweater, throws it at me and says, “Here. You can wear that.” I was like, “F*** that.” That’s when I got pissed off. It’s like, if I do something stupid like pass out from drinking too much on national TV, I deserve to be the butt of a joke. But if I’m doing something nice, don’t try to make me a joke. I don’t care if it’s your show and we’re all here for you, if you’re going to make a joke out of me, I’m going to defend myself. I’m gonna say, “Screw this. It’s stupid.” There are plenty of things to make fun of me for besides offering you my jacket when I’m cold. That’s when I said, “This is bulls***, I want to go home.” I’m not going to let someone try to turn me into a chump.
So basically it came down to your feelings for Daisy not being strong enough to run the risk of looking like a chump on TV?
Kind of. It’s less about looking like a chump. It’s more like…it’s a TV show. It’s like if you go to a strip club and the stripper is telling you how much she likes you and if you fall for that and spend all your money, you’re an idiot. I just figured I’m not going to be a joke. I’m not going to sit there and be part of a TV show. I like to be real. If I can’t be myself, I get really weird, I flip out and I just want to get away.
What did you think of how destroyed she was by your decision?
I didn’t see any of that at the time, but watching it on TV made me sad. There was a connection between us and watching it made wonder if it was a bad decision to leave.
What about the alcohol thing? Do you have a handle on your drinking?
The thing about the first episode is I have an ear disease called Ménière’s. Sometimes my inner ear fills up with fluid and I hear distortion in my left ear when I sing. One of the symptoms of that is vertigo. I’d been having a problem with that after flying out to L.A., with the change in pressure and the stress and everything. I was drunk the first night, but that kinda kicked in and then it was over for me. I couldn’t stop spinning. It bothered me for the next few days in the house, too. I don’t drink that much. I tend to drink socially and being in the house was one big social experiment. I was drinking socially from morning till night, but when I’m not in that house, I’m not being social so I don’t always drink.
In all, was this a good experience for you?
It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve done in my life. But I don’t know if I would do it again, right now I’m glad I’m back in New York, playing with my band and working on my music.
