Reinventing himself Maine native Doug Hall adds ‘reality TV star’ to impressive resume

Poor Doug Hall.

Since graduating from the University of Maine with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1981, Hall has gone on to become a world-class inventor. He’s the founder of the Eureka! Ranch in Cincinnati, which is credited with inventing or reinventing 18 products or services used in the average American home. He’s an author, lecturer and radio-show host.

Now, thanks to the ABC reality show “American Inventor,” in less than two months, “most people in the world know me as the guy in the Hawaiian shirt. I had no idea it was going to become something like this.”

Hall is one of four judges on “American Inventor,” along with advertising executive Ed Evangelista, master marketer Mary Lou Quinlan and British business mogul Peter Jones. Since January, they have passed judgment on more than 400 inventions.

The directness he learned while growing up in Maine hasn’t necessarily served him well on the show. The show’s creator, “American Idol” meanie Simon Cowell, called him “the most annoying man in America” while a critic called him “a short, balding troll.” (A boss at Proctor and Gamble, where he worked after UM, once referred to him as “a high-maintenance subordinant.”)

“It’s TV, and they edit it to make me look as mean as possible,” Hall said. “I’m the villain, even though I’m the one wearing the Hawaiian shirt.”

Still, since age 12, Hall has been the one presenting the ideas, and he knows what contestants want.

“I tell the honest truth, and that’s the best thing you can do for anybody,” he said. “That’s what they want to know. Still, the truth can be frustrating for people.”

The people that have stood out for Hall are “the ones who have invented something that already exists. They haven’t even done the basic research.”

On the show, Hall enjoys needling the towering Jones, most often the other negative voice. “I tell him and Simon that based on patents, that the U.S. is 20 times more innovative than the U.K., even though we have only five times as many people. We’ve got a rebel streak here. Over there, it’s ‘who do you know.’ Over here, it’s ‘what can you do for me.'”

Hall thought it was a joke when Cowell’s staff first called him.

“I told them, ‘This isn’t like that foolish singing show. These are real inventions,'” he said.

Hall’s Web site, doughall.com, has received a million hits since the show debuted March 16. His day-to-day life has changed because of “American Inventor.”

“I can’t wear my favorite shirts anymore, because I’m recognized all over the place,” he said. “A kid came up to me at church on Easter Sunday, looking for an autograph. It’s pretty bizarre.”

So how real is reality TV?

“Seventy percent of Americans don’t believe it, and the other 30 percent are wrong,” Hall said. “It’s based on real life, but all the boring parts are edited out and music is added for dramatic effect.”

A second edition of “American Inventor” seems likely, and Hall has other TV offers in England and Canada.

In the meantime, while most of the season has been taped, the last two episodes of “American Inventor,” on May 11 and 18, will be a combination of taped and live segments. Hall doesn’t know which of the final four will win, since the American public will select the winner of the $1 million prize.

“Tell everyone to vote for my candidate,” he said.