Mayor Wonders if He Will Be a Date Survivor

Was it a date that will live in infamy?

Redondo Beach Mayor Greg Hill is waiting to learn whether he’s dropped a bomb on his political career by appearing on the sex-themed TV show “Blind Date.”

The 44-year-old bachelor was depicted romancing a Redondo Beach woman over drinks, dinner and drums on an episode of the nationally syndicated program that aired Wednesday.

The show is known for its humorous use of cartoons and pop-up balloons that supposedly show what couples are thinking as they banter during their videotaped first date.

This week’s show was the second reality TV program in which Hill has appeared recently. In March he competed with two other men for the affection of a 47-year-old divorcee -- and her grown children -- in an NBC show called “Meet My Kids.”

Hill, a financial consultant who is serving his second four-year term as mayor, beat out an Army reservist and an artist to win a trip to Hawaii with Barbara Haegele, an administrative assistant. Her three sons picked Hill for the tropical date with mom.

But the show, which included scenes of Hill and Haegele in bathing suits and applying mud to each other at a spa, caused jaws to drop in Redondo Beach. The Rev. Chris Cannon, pastor of King’s Harbor Church and a friend of Hill, complained in the Daily Breeze that the show was an undignified setting for the mayor.

Cannon was away at a religious conference and unavailable Thursday to comment on the new show. But Hill said the minister called him to apologize for the earlier criticism. He said others have also risen to his defense.

“I gave some brief opening remarks Sunday at the Easter sunrise service, and afterward a guy came up and gave me a tape of the first show,” he said. “I think people realize it’s entertainment, not reality.”

According to Hill, he was recruited for both shows by producers who met him last year at the Redondo Beach Lobster Fest. On a lark, he agreed to participate. “All I said was, ‘No hot tub scenes!’ I specifically requested that.”

Hill, whose seven-year marriage ended in 1989 and who has no children, said he feels his “Blind Date” episode turned out well, although he was disappointed that editors removed several Redondo Beach businesses that he and contestant Rezda Berens visited.

He said the show’s producers tried but failed to coach Berens “to find a way to get me into some kind of embarrassing conversation. The little commentaries in the balloons were totally made up,” he said.

Hill said he has not collected on his trip to Hawaii from the first show. That’s because campaign contribution laws may prevent him from doing so.

“I haven’t announced it yet, but I’m going to be a candidate for state Assembly. I’m a Republican, although no one would believe it if I told them. What kind of self-respecting Republican would do what I do? I say I’m just a normal guy.”

Berens, a former model who works as a mortgage processor, said Thursday that she doubts the show will hurt his political career: “It’s not risque by any stretch of the imagination.”

Still, the producers used racy labels printed on the screen to poke and jab at stuffy Republican conservatism, political favors and campaign contributions during the couple’s segment.

“There were some pretty good lines in the show. I’m sure they will haunt me,” Hill said. “I thought the show was funny. But I can tell you I’ll be getting criticized for it.”

Advance publicity for “Blind Date” indicated that Hill’s episode was to air Thursday afternoon. But critics who had their VCRs whirring in hopes of catching the mayor make a fool out of himself found themselves watching another courting couple, instead.

“I got calls asking, ‘Why weren’t you on? Can’t you even get the time straight? And by the way, it’s horrible what you’re doing,’ ” Hill said with a laugh.

Although the episode will be rerun, officials of the show said Thursday that the next date for Hill’s “Blind Date” hasn’t been announced. For the mayor, that may be blind luck.