Beauty and the Geek Australia host Sophie Monk has slammed rumours that some of the 2022 cast were paid actors.

Allegations about this year’s geeks started to emerge as eagle-eyed BATG fans discovered older social media photos, where the male cast appeared more conventionally attractive.

Early fan favourite Michael Gebicki was also flagged as potentially being a paid actor (rather than a real contestant) because he works as a children’s entertainer and kinda looks like R-Pattz

Beauty and the Geek Australia host Sophie Monk has slammed rumours that some of the 2022 cast were paid actors. Source: Instagram

“The boys would be so flattered to hear that [people think they’re actors],” Sophie told Now to Love.

“Someone even asked me if we geek them up more, and I’ve watched their audition tapes, if anything they are less geeked up in the promo!”

Paid Actor Rumours Sparked After Beauty and the Geek Contestants Cleaned Up Well In Older Instagram Photos

Alexander Waters, Mike Gambaro and Michael were three targets for the circulating “paid actor” rumours. Here’s why we reckon they’re just as geeky as they say:

Michael Gebicki

Michael has been front and centre of the paid actor rumours, thanks to his profession and his alleged likeness to Batman, Robert Pattinson.

At children’s parties, Michael often plays Spider-Man, Captain America or Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.

Shaggy notoriously has a bit of scruff, Captain America has a beard in later movies, and since nobody’s comparing Michael to Tom Holland, we’ll assume he’s a masked Spider-Man. That means it’s likely his beard is just for his day job rather than part of a conspiracy.

One of the photos many are using as proof is a rather dashing shot of Michael in March 2019 with his shirt off. Most fail to mention the next Instagram pic, posted a few weeks later.

Michael can be seen cosplaying Hidan from Naruto, a popular anime and Shōnen-jump manga. Don’t know what any of that means? Maybe that’s ’cause you’re not a geek!

It seems far more likely that Michael does some acting in his part-time, or maybe he applied to be on the show for love AND an IMDB credit? Either way, we don’t think Beauty and the Geek is just a paid job for this cast member.

Alexander Waters

Maths teacher Alexander was also put into the spotlight as a potential actor, having grown his beard out a bit.

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The photo used as proof is dated as “a week before [his] final teaching placement” and posted in May. Since Beauty and the Geek was filmed near the start of the year, could the pic actually be his post-makeover look?

If not, is it really so hard to believe Alexander got a haircut to make a good impression with the private school he was placed with? And don’t even get us started on the maths-related Spider-Man quote he used in the post!

Mike Gambaro

Meanwhile, fans believed Mike could be a paid actor because he had grown out his beard since last Halloween. Uhm, the fact he dressed up in a personalised Ghostbusters costume kind of proves the whole geek thing, no?

ghostbusters mike beauty and the geek
Mike Gambaro dressed up in a personalised Ghostbusters costume for Halloween in 2021. Source: Instagram

While the Halloween pic has since been deleted, Mike has several photos of him dressed as Spider-Man, as well as a behind-the-camera snap tagged at “Disney Studios” from 2019.

But since he was a minor then, we’re gonna take a wild stab and say it was a school film and TV assignment, rather than him being a secret child star.

Besides, are we the only ones who have noticed a trend of early 20-somethings growing dodgy AF beards? If an unkempt beard is sus, every second dude at a college campus is a paid actor!

Want even more goss? Listen to episode 202 of the So Dramatic! podcast with Megan Pustetto below!

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