Is that the way it works for you? You burn off all this energy in the gym every day and then the rest of the time you try to be more peaceful.

Yeah I think so.

You've got a lot of energy Joel.

I do have a lot of energy, I'm a very high-energy person all of the time. (laughs)

What was the selection process like for the Calvin Klein contract?

I have to say I love him. I think he's done astounding things for advertising in general, and for male models in particular. The first person I met over at CK was Caroline Bissette, she's just a wonderful human being, just absolutely glowing. So much more beautiful in person than in pictures, you just can't fathom her spirit from the images — just spectacular. So she took a liking to me right away. I didn't get the show my first season in New York but I did get booked the next season. That's the first time I met Calvin Klein — he likes to handpick the models along with his stylist. You go up to the building where they have all their clothes and try them on and Calvin Klein looks at you to see how the clothes fit.

It may seem obvious, but I'm not sure everyone realizes what's involved. In other words, after they decide your face fits the image of the campaign, they still have to see you physically in the clothes before making a final decision?

Absolutely. For the designers their passion is the clothes, and they want someone to make their clothes look good. That's why there are some guys that are better suited to runway and some guys better for print.

When you're there in the studio trying on the clothes to get the job, what's it's like? Do you talk?

I'm sure they'd rather you don't (laughs). Especially around Calvin because he's very intense, and focused. He's very passionate about the clothes. Occasionally he'll joke around with his raspy voice, but really you should just smile and look pretty. (laughs)

After he decided you were the one, were you involved in the negotiation?

No, it was pretty much between my agent and the people at Calvin Klein. I guess they thought "Wow! We want him to be our entire image." It was a fully exclusive contract, which has advantages and disadvantages as to how my career developed.

What kind of restrictions?

I was fully exclusive for advertising for one year, although I was allowed to do shows and I could do editorial. I could also do catalogue, but usually only in CK clothes. At that point I bought a house in Iowa and based myself there. Because of the exclusivity, there wasn't much other work I could accept so there was no point staying in New York. I wouldn't say I was burnt out exactly, but life had become a complete whirlwind, so it was really refreshing to go back to Iowa, kind of relax and have a semi-retirement at twenty.

Why had it been such a whirlwind for you?

I don't really know, I just attribute it to youth and naivete. It's such a weird business. Unless you have some kind of previous experience you can't make sense of it. Especially when you're used to putting things in very black and white categories of right and wrong, and then you're thrown into this crazy abstract world full of flamboyant, dysfunctional personalities. And there was a lot of travel — one year alone I was on over one hundred flights.

Also there was a lot of media exposure, which I wasn't used to at all. Especially because of the controversy surrounding the underwear ad — it was very sexual. I looked quite young in the pictures and it came out right after the controversial CK Jean campaign that used shirtless teenagers doing cheesy test shots. Extremists were already watching him by that point and even the underwear ad, which was clearly of an adult male, was pulled after a month.

I love the industry now because it's just fun — it's like the circus or the rodeo. But at that point it was overwhelming for me, because I was the center of a lot of attention.