Known as one of the leaders in the house, Gus Smyrnios is capturing attention from viewers all over for his participation in the MTV show, “Floribama Shore.” Seen as one of the “sensitive” ones in the group, Gus is a self proclaimed “what you see is what you get” type of guy. He’s a role model to the others for fitness and nutrition. So many are curious about who Gus is and what he’s all about.
He sat down with Feeling the Vibe for an exclusive interview. Find out what his biggest surprise about being on Floribama Shore was, where he was living before he hit reality fame, and how his closest friends describe him, plus so much more!
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Q&A with Gus Smyrnios from ‘Floribama Shore’
The Last
The last thing I bought was – A new pair of Beats headphones because we are in the gym a lot.
The last person I texted was – My little sister. She recently started a new school so I texted to check up on her.
The last food I ate was – I’m on a really strict diet right now so it was chicken and spinach
My first car was – A regular pickup truck, I think it was a Ford Ranger
I had my first kiss at age – 16, I was late to that. I was picked on by my friends at that time.
What was the biggest surprise about being on ‘Floribama Shore?‘
The whole experience in general! I never saw myself going down that route. Most of the cast applied to be on the show. I didn’t apply. Instead, I received a message on Facebook and was super surprised to be thrown into the loop of it. They contacted me 2-3 weeks before we started filming.
Did you get comfortable in front of the cameras quickly?
Yes, I tried. It’s a bit of a shock when you’re thrown into it and the cameras are there 24/7. You go to bed, and the cameras follow you. You walk into the bathroom and they’re walking towards you. It took all of us about a week to adjust, then you almost forget they are even there.
How long does filming last?
We filmed season one in a month and a half. With the second season, we had to film 24 episodes. It lasted about 3 months.
If you had to do it all over again, would you be on Floribama Shore?
Yes for sure! I wasn’t in a great situation when Floribama found me. I was living on my buddy’s couch at the time. I will always be grateful to them.
Do you have siblings?
I’m the oldest of 4 kids. I’m 23. I have a sister Hannah who is 21, she still lives in Florida. I have a brother named Seth who’s a senior in high school. I have another younger sister who is 16. She lives with my mom in Kentucky.
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You’re big into physical fitness. How did all that start out for you?
Growing up I was always a little chunky so I was always getting picked on for that. My dad was hard on me to be in certain shape. For whatever reason, I never took it seriously. After I broke up with a girl I had been dating from 16-19, I realized something. If I want to date a certain type of girl, I’m probably going to have to get in shape. I started working out, and then it branched out from there.
I went hard at it for 6-7 months and lost about 50 to 60 pounds. I graduated high school at 225 pounds. After that, I started getting a little bit of attention. I started dating another girl who was doing small town modeling and I would go on shoots with her. One of her agents was there and said she liked my look and asked if I’d do a shoot with her one day.
She submitted the pictures to the different agencies. I started uploading the pictures from that shoot to my social media. That’s when the production company from MTV contacted me.
What is your weekly workout routine like?
Right now, it’s a process because we are training for a show we are going to do in 2-3 weeks. Jeremiah and I are on the same routine now. We get up at 6:30 every morning and do 45 minutes of cardio followed by a 20 minute stretch of an ab workout. Then we have our meals timed out. We have to eat at exactly the same time. We eat 3 meals by 2pm. Then we go back to the gym and train on those muscles that we need to target. It could be legs, chest, back and shoulders. It’s two gym sessions every day. There’s no cheating on the meals! We have to weigh out every ounce of food that we eat. I do miss my fried chicken and mac & cheese though!
I actually gained 15 pounds while we were filming season two of Floribama Shore and I wasn’t happy about that. You will see as the episodes start progressing.
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We understand you recently moved out to Arizona with Jeremiah. Is this for the show you were talking about earlier?
It’s not really for the show. We were working with a nutrition company called Fit Strong Supplements that’s based out of Scottsdale. We signed on as the sponsored athletes for the company. We need to be out here to help run everything, fill the orders, and attend events.
How did you become a romance novel cover model?
That happened right before the show as well. A book publisher company saw my comp card and asked if I’d be interested. I did a couple shoots before I left to film season one of ‘Floribama Shore.‘
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice would probably come from my mom or dad. They told me no matter what life throws at you, never get too down on yourself. It’s all about the timing that God has set in motion for you.
How would your friends describe you?
They would say I’m the one who is super talkative. A lot of viewers don’t realize the way the show is edited but I’m always hyper. When we’re not filming the show, I’m the one in the friend’s group who everyone is trying to keep calm and quiet. However, since I’m the responsible one out of the people we have in the house on ‘Floribama Shore,’ it’s hard to tell that. Everybody is super crazy in the house.
When I was going into the beach house, I anticipated being one of the more rambunctious ones getting into trouble. I realized, wow I have nothing on these people! I better step up my game in making sure everyone else is good.
The perfect night out is..
Since I don’t have a family of my own yet, my perfect night out is going out on the town with my boys. I would also love to go camping. I would take 5 or 6 buddies and go camping for a night or so.
Can you cook?
I actually can cook. The only people that cooked in that beach house were myself and Jeremiah. Our roommates would have starved if it wasn’t for us. They would have been eating pizza rolls and Hot Pockets every night. We cooked full course meals for the whole house.
What’s your specialty?
Jeremiah and I are really good on the grill. We will grill out anything; chicken, steak, ribs. Give us anything and we will chef out something out there.
What projects are you working on now?
Ever since we stopped filming, I came out here and went full force into this fitness project. I have some side projects I’m working on as well but I can’t talk about them yet.
Are you going to be making any appearances?
In about 3 weeks, my schedule will clear up and I will be going to North Carolina, Michigan, and Chicago.
Catch Gus and the rest of the cast on ‘Floribama Shore‘ Monday evenings on MTV at 10pm EST.
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Courtney Rose is an Entertainment Writer at Feeling the Vibe Magazine based in New York. Pop culture and rom-com obsessed. Studied Journalism and is up to date on all the latest entertainment news. For tips or comments, email me at Courtney@feelingthevibe.com