After weeks of guessing, the millionaire was finally revealed during the Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer finale. Steven McBee, who is a farming CEO, is the show’s millionaire. He ended up falling for Calah Jackson, and the two of them are getting their happily ever after.
HollywoodLife got EXCLUSIVE scoop from Steven and Calah about keeping their relationship a secret while the show aired. They revealed how they met up in secret and strengthened their relationship. The couple is also moving in together! Is an engagement on the horizon? Steven and Calah talk about it all:
How difficult has it been to keep your relationship a secret since production wrapped?
Steven McBee: It’s been tough. I mean, the good thing is I live in the middle of nowhere, so we were able to sneak her up here on some trips. My nearest neighbor is five miles away. As long as we don’t leave my house, there was no concern. We had several trips like that. But I’ve never been in a situation where I’m with someone, and I can’t tell anyone or post about it. It has made it pretty tough, but we’ve been able to build our relationship. We’re glad we’re through all that and can now let the world know.
Calah Jackson: I feel the exact same. It has been a challenge in keeping it private. Obviously, it’s hard to have a normal relationship whenever you have to keep it private, you can’t be out in public, you can’t go out on dates. So I am very grateful that the show is finally over, and we’ll be able to go out and just have a real relationship.
What have been some of the things you both have done since the show has been airing to keep your relationship alive? How have you grown as a couple since you stopped filming the show?
Calah Jackson: I think we’ve grown so much more since filming started. It’s kind of hard to be vulnerable and open whenever you’re in that setting, because of all the cameras and just a weird, unusual setting. So since then, we’ve been FaceTiming every day, calling every day.
Steven McBee: And then whenever we’re in person, we’re big foodies. We’re cooking together. We’ve tried cooking all sorts of different meals. There’s only so much you can do when you can’t leave your house, so a lot of cooking, watching movies. We’ve been able to do some neat things around the house. Now that we’re able to go in public, we’re going to go venture out and go everywhere together.
Where’s the first place you’re going to go after the finale has aired?
Steven McBee: I have some very good restaurants, one Mexican joint down in Kansas City that has the best chicken nachos and margaritas. I’ve been telling her all about it, so we’re going to go down there immediately.
You two have recently moved in together. How has that been going for you both?
Steven McBee: Right now we’re living in this little town of Gallatin, Missouri. It’s a town of 1,700 people. We bought a house. We’re closing on it by the end of March. It’s actually in Kansas City. Realizing that there was no girl that was going to be okay with living where I currently live in the middle of nowhere… we’re going to have to be here for three weeks. I think you’ll handle it okay.
Calah Jackson: I’ll be able to handle it for three weeks. Full-time would be a little different, but I do like it up here. It’s nice. It’s a big change of pace for me. I’m from Dallas, so it’s a little different for me.
I guess you’re going to go full-tilt on decorating the new place?
Steven McBee: We are going to have a lot of moving. We just moved all of her stuff up from Dallas. We had to put it in one of my buildings to keep it there for three weeks until we move into my new house. It’s going to be a lot of moving crap around.
Calah Jackson: I told him only one pair of antlers can be in the new house.
Steven McBee: My decor is deer antlers on the wall.
You two went through quite the journey on the show. Looking back, was there a moment both of you knew you wanted to be together?
Steven McBee: I knew we had a great connection, but I think the solidifying moment where it was like okay, yeah, this is going to work is when Calah came to my hometown and met my family. I looked over and she was just razzing my brothers. They were giving it right back to her. They were playing beer pong. Right then I was like, okay, she fits with the family so well. This is it for sure.
Calah Jackson: Honestly, that is exactly when I knew as well. It just felt very natural and normal. I didn’t have to be on whenever I was with his family. It reminded me a lot of my own family. Obviously, we’d had a connection building up before then. A lot of those moments were not shown on the show to build suspense for the finale. After meeting his family, that’s when I definitely knew.
Is an engagement on the horizon?
Steven McBee: We’re going to play it by ear and just see how things go. We’re not going to rush into anything. We’ve never been people that have rushed into anything. Even watching the show, y’all can see how guarded Calah is, and then I was even guarded myself. We’re just not going to rush into anything and overjump the gun.
Steven, do you still keep in touch with Kurt Sowers?
Calah Jackson: Actually, this weekend we’re going back down to see him to celebrate the ending of Joe Millionaire. We’re still very good friends. We’ve been together every single weekend except for this previous weekend. Calah’s good friends with him too. He’s a great guy.
Steven, what is the advice you would give to the show’s next Joe Millionaire stars if the show comes back for a second season?
Steven McBee: I would say the hardest aspect of the show that I had to deal with was going into it. It really took me a while to open myself up to really feel and have those emotions of being able to fall for someone. I would say just go into it and try to really open yourself up from day one. Don’t let it take halfway through the show, or even until the last week of the show, before you really fall because you’re only there for a limited amount of time. There are a lot of connections that you have to try and work on. If you’re guarded or hold back in any way, it’s going to take a long time and you might miss out on the right person.