A Reality Check With ... JD Roth (NBC's "Age Of Love")

JD Roth’s career began as an actor at the age of 10. Throughout his childhood and early teens, he reached millions of viewers in more than 250 national on-camera and voiceover commercials. At 19, Roth became the youngest game show host in television history on the hit syndicated show, Fun House. Roth founded 3 Ball Productions with partners John Foy and Todd Nelson in March of 2002. In his career, Roth has been directly involved and responsible for over 1,000 episodes of reality television. In the past few years alone, his successes include NBC’s For Love or Money & Discovery Kids’ Endurance. Tonight, his unveils his latest project, NBC’s Age of Love, which he executive produces. JD sits down with RealityCheckByGina to discuss his television career & dish on his hot new show.

RC: You are a television veteran. When did your career begin?
JD: This is almost my 30th year in showbiz. It’s all I know how to do. I have no fall back plan & I think that’s the way to be successful. I have no plan to do anything else.

RC: When did you start to make the transition from game show host to reality tv producer?
JD: It was luck really! The first show I pitched was bought. I had no idea it would turn into the monster that it is. I’ve produced shows like Biggest Loser and Beauty & The Geek. I’m grateful that it has turned out the way it has. All I wanted was to make shows I liked & would watch.

RC: Your latest project, Age of Love, premieres tonight on NBC. Tell us a little about how you came up with the concept.
JD: Coming up with the concept was interesting. You know if you have kids, you get one weekend night out with the other couples. The men would sit on one side of the table talking & the women would sit on the other. I usually sat with the women, which my wife could never figure out. But women read the magazines & cry on the phone with their friends about Grey’s Anatomy. They’re part of pop culture. They were talking about how famous older women were dating younger men & I said that they couldn’t get a younger guy. They attacked me! I thought, “Ok I have something here, I don’t know what it is but I have something.”

RC: How much was your bachelor, tennis star Mark Philippousis, told going into filming of Age Of Love?
JD: Nothing. He was told he was going to meet young, beautiful women. That was a half-lie, some of them weren’t young. You could see the panic on his face when he started to meet the older women. I told the crew, “Nobody stops taping.” I didn’t want to stop & give him time to panic.

RC: Were the women also in the dark?
JD: The women were told that this was a show about empowerment & strength & also, to show how amazing they are.

RC: Was anyone upset after finding out the whole story? Do you try to pick people who are more like to go with the flow?

JD: We try to make good tv with great characters. I couldn't predict how people are going to react.

RC: All My Children’s (and Mr. Ripa) Mark Consuelos will be our host for Age Of Love. What does he bring to the table as a host?
JD: Mark’s a great guy, great charisma, positive energy … I can’t believe nobody snatched him up yet to host. People feel very relaxed & at ease around him.

RC: Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind?
JD: Endurance is in its 6th year and been nominated the last 4 for Best Kids Show. I love the show & this is my 20th straight year hosting. On the other hand, when producing, you dno’t have to worry about how you look or what you’re going to say. You get lost in the story. If I could do both forever, I would.

RC: What can we look forward to on tonight’s premiere episode of Age of Love?
JD: I think the best part of the show is the comedy. Yes, it’s a love story but in this genre, there’s usually not a lot of comedy. We have 2 different age groups pitted against each other. Tonight you’ll see Mark meet the 40 year olds & the panic he goes through. He’ll start to date them & just as he begins to have an open mind, we bring in the 20 year olds.

RC: Have you learned any lessons from working on this show?

JD: Yes, definitely. These 20 year olds can’t imagine what Mark would want with a bunch of 40 year olds and the 40 year olds can’t imagine what he’d want with a group of 20 year olds! I guess if I wasn’t doing this, I’d be a therapist or study social behavior because I just find this so interesting.

Age of Love debuts tonight on NBC at 9pm EST

Get your Age of Love links at sirlinksalot.net!