Billy Peck says he spent three days in bed feeling “crushed” after he was mercilessly branded “New York’s Most Undateable Man” following a blind-date feature in Time Out New York that went viral.
The aspiring actor — who also works in the hospitality industry — was lambasted online for appearing to scold his Time Out set-up, a Condé Nast employee named Alyssa Marino, with quips that she “didn’t have the goods” and “annoyed the s–t out of me.”
Peck claims he was misquoted (Time Out stands by the story), and says social-media users told him “to kill himself” and “I bet your mother wishes she’d aborted you” after the story appeared in June.
But he says supporters — including Andy Cohen, host of revived dating show “Love Connection” — also reached out. “[Cohen’s] like, ‘If a million people saw the article, 10 or 15 million will see ‘Love Connection,’ and they’ll see the real you,’ ” Peck, 24, who appeared on the show, told us.
He says he reached out to Marino online to apologize, but also because he was disappointed by her response to the brouhaha.
“I said, ‘You know, I think you know that the person sitting there at the table with you was not who they’re portraying, and had the shoe been on the other foot I would have defended you tirelessly,’” he told us. “She didn’t respond. But a few days later she sent me a video of her dancing in the club with a bunch of men with the caption, ‘Sweaty AF!’ ”
Peck says Time Out made him seem “arrogant” and “insensitive.” But, “Part of going through this situation was taking a good look at myself in the mirror and realizing parts where [Time Out] were not right — which there were many — and saying, ‘I know who I am,’ and parts that I maybe had to take a look at and say, ‘You know, maybe [they’re true].’ ”
Either way, Peck says, “My personal belief on love is this: We live in a world where people settle a lot. And I refuse to do that, specifically in the love category.”