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It’s Kevin Jonas like you’ve never seen him before. In the year since the Jonas Brothers decided to go their separate ways, the elder statesman of the group has kept busy with various projects in the tech world, on the home renovation front and, of course, on television, including a recent cameo on the Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Now his post-JoBros life will bring him to Celebrity Apprentice, where he’ll compete against the likes of Kate Gosselin, Ian Ziering, Vivica A. Fox, Geraldo Rivera, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Leeza Gibbons, Lorenzo Lamas and Gilbert Gottfried, among others.
But it’ll take more than that who’s who of celebrities to get the 27-year-old worried.
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“It’s been quite an interesting process,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “They call it the Celebrity Apprentice diet. So when we start working on the show, instantly you start to lose weight because the amount of work is grueling. But it is so much fun and I’m just blown away that I’ve gotten the opportunity to be apart of it, a show I’ve been a fan of for a long time.
“I learned a lot about myself,” he adds. “I think you’ll see a different side of me than in the past, a little more abrupt with my words because I didn’t want to put up with anything. Business is business and that’s the way it is.”
Don’t get Jonas wrong. Despite possessing the will to perhaps go all the way, he knows he’s got some stiff competition to knock out first.
“You know a couple of the guys are really, really competitive,” he says. “Ian Ziering is really competitive, Geraldo, [there are] a couple of the women that are amazing. Leeza Gibbons; she’s incredibly poised, a really great competitor. Honestly, I’m in it to win it and we’ll see what happens.”
With that being said, he definitely has a game plan to rise up the ranks and represent for his charity, Convoy of Hope. If all goes right, by 2015 he may be a member of the show’s Hall of Fame, joining past winners including Piers Morgan, Bret Michaels, John Rich and the late Joan Rivers.
“I think you have to play every opportunity,” he says. “I’m not just gonna coast. I’m a risk taker early on in my life; that’s who I am as a person. I think people will able to see that I’ll be working very diligently, that I am always doing the best I can. I just want to do whatever it takes to do the best I can.”
But that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been time for bromance to bloom. “I really got along with Ian Ziering and Lorenzo Lamas as well,” he reveals. “Those guys are incredible. Johnny Damon as well. We’ve been hanging out. We’ve gone to a couple cigar bars after work to hang out, to decompress from the long day, even though you’re tired you still need to come down from it all.”
The show is set to premiere on Sunday, Jan. 4 on NBC. And Jonas admits he’s been enjoying his work on reality TV, which includes his prior two-season stint on E!’s Married To Jonas and a cameo on DIY Network’s Man Caves.
“Its kind of something that’s happening kind of naturally, but I like it,” he says. “It’s funny. There are these little moments that are happening every once and a while. You know I’m working on a couple other projects as well. And it’s just been a lot of fun. Things are good. TV’s always been a big part of my life and I’m excited that I’ve been able to do these things and now have a couple other things in development and we’ll just continue to make good, entertaining content.”
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