Mario Lopez had a “very awkward and uncomfortable” interview with Ben Affleck.
The ‘Saved by the Bell’ star, 49, said he “wasn’t prepared” for the job when he chatted to the ‘Gone Girl’ A-lister, 51, and said he had hastily scribbled down questions to ask him during their conversation.
He told Us Weekly: “One time when I interviewed Ben Affleck for a movie… I didn’t want to do it because I wasn’t prepared.
“And they said, ‘We don’t have anyone, you have to do it.’ I was like, ‘Oh, God.’
“(Ben) was looking at me (like), ‘You didn’t see this, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’”
Even though Mario said Ben was “cool” about the disastrous interview chat, the “Access Hollywood” host said he “felt very awkward and uncomfortable” because he knew Ben was aware of the situation.
He added: “(Ben) could see through me! And I’ll never forget that. And I was like, ‘Never again am I going to try to fake it.’”
Mario found fame playing jock A C Slater on the hit 1990s sitcom ‘Saved by the Bell’.
His TV hosting career kicked off after the comedy show ended in 1992, and he has since fronted shows including ‘The X Factor’ and ‘America’s Best Dance Crew’, and interviewed guests such as Taylor Swift, 33, and Brad Pitt, 59.
Ben is no stranger to his interviews going viral – including one from 2016 that turned him into a meme.
But he said he doesn’t take internet trends to heart, adding to the Los Angeles Times in 2022: “I got to a place where (the public perception) was so different from who I am that I just stopped reading and stopped caring.”
But Ben he started to change his mind when his three children – Violet, 17, Seraphina, 14, and Samuel 11, whom he had with his 51-year-old actress ex-wife Jennifer Garner – grew up.
He added: “As my kids got older and started seeing the Internet themselves, that’s the difficult part.”