"I thought it was a great show. . . . Why the rest of America didn't open their arms up and welcome David Smith is beyond me, because it was the same damn show," he said.

Well, Evan, maybe that was it. Maybe it bombed because it was exactly the same show.

"I just don't think you can duplicate things twice," he did redundantly acknowledge.

And, he hinted, maybe Smith, the second "Joe Millionaire," just couldn't live up to the first.

"One of the reasons I've had such a good time is America has embraced me and accepted me," he said. "And they've kind of named me the original Joe Millionaire, and I don't think anybody else wanted to see anybody take that title."

And he's smart enough to ride this gravy train as far as it will take him.

Ah, well. Marriott knows he'll go down as at least a footnote in television history.

"If there's anything . . . I think I'll die and that's what'll be on, you know, my stone, would be, 'He was the original Joe Millionaire,' " he said.

Say goodnight, Evan.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com