from www.wsj.com – Dave Levine, 41, has an unusual business model. The Los Angeles-based entrepreneur, who has a stripper pole in his living room, has built a $10 million-a-year sex-toy empire.

And that’s not the unusual part.

For the past two years, Levine—known as “Sex Toy Dave” — has been using television dating competitions such as “The Millionaire Matchmaker” as a way to build his business. “This is a unique marketing strategy,” Levine said in an interview with Speakeasy.

Unfortunately his most recent branding boondoggle, on VH-1’s “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” was cut short after just three episodes because one of the other contestants, Ryan Jenkins, became a prime suspect in a murder investigation.

Jenkins, a 32-year-old who said his net worth was $2.5 million, was found dead yesterday in a motel room in British Columbia a few days after the body of his ex-wife, a stripper named Jasmine Fiore, was discovered in a dumpster without any fingers or teeth. (She was identified by the serial number on her breast implants.)

Levine is contractually forbidden to talk about what happened on the show. He declined to comment on whether Jenkins ultimately won the heart of Megan Hauserman, a blond gold-digger who last appeared on “The Rock of Love” starring aging hair-band rocker Bret Michaels. (She got kicked off the show but apparently made an impression on its producers.)

Given that Jenkins married Fiore on March 18th, and “Megan Wants a Millionaire” wrapped filming on March 30, he could not have been the winner. VH-1 spokesman Scott Acord confirmed via email that Jenkins did not win the show, and said that it has been cancelled, anyway. Another upcoming VH-1 show called “I Love Money 3,” in which Jenkins also appeared, has similarly been cancelled.

Below, Dave Levine talks with us about his experiences in the wild world of reality television.

Wall Street Journal: Given that reality television is part of your business model, are you disappointed now that the “Megan” show has been cancelled?

That pretty much goes without saying. Wait, this is really The Wall Street Journal? I didn’t know that The Wall Street Journal covers reality shows.

We do. We have a blog called Speakeasy that covers arts and entertainment.

What’s your name again?

Rachel Dodes. Go ahead and Google me.

Hmmm, [as he Googles me] yes, you are a reporter for Wall Street Journal. Yeah, OK. Here’s the thing. I think it could work, if we talk about this as “Here’s a guy with a unique marketing strategy to be on reality shows to market my business.” You can mention the shows I have been on. This can’t just be about “Megan Wants a Millionaire.”

Okay, so let’s talk about the shows you’ve been on.

I did season one of “The Millionaire Matchmaker.” It was a popular episode. They asked me back, and I did season two. My episode debuted in March. It was just on again last weekend.

Did you find a match?

I don’t do the shows to meet The One. But my expectation isn’t that I am going to find true love. I didn’t have to pay Patti [Stanger, the “Millionaire Matchmaker”] to do the show. My whole thing is, “This will be fun. I will be open-minded about it.” Meanwhile I am in front of millions of people for free marketing my name, Sex Toy Dave.

VH-1 said you had a net worth of $9.5 million. Is this accurate?

I found the $9.5 a bit generous. I told them my revenue was a little under $10 million. I have a portfolio of stocks. I have a great house. I own the domain sextoy.com.

So how did you get involved in reality shows?

I’ve been selling adult products on the internet for 15 years. I moved out to Hollywood. I bought a house up in the hills. I started throwing these parties. I have a stripper pole in my living room. So I threw these parties, and…people started calling me “Sex Toy Dave.” My parties got so big I had to stop having them. I started going out. People were like, “You’re Sex Toy Dave!”

Everybody knows me. Then this lesbian girl was casting for a lesbian dating show…and [she knew a casting guy for “Millionaire Matchmaker.”] The casting guy was like “Do you know any millionaires?” and she said, “You gotta call Sex Toy Dave.” That’s how it got started.

They thought I was different. Most of the other guys [on “The Millionaire Matchmaker”] were in real estate.

How did you get on the “Megan” show?

[After filming “The Millionaire Matchmaker”] I got a call from [the producers of] “Megan Wants a Millionaire.” I always thought I would never do one of these shows where you have to go live in a house. But then 51 Minds, the production company, they do a lot of shows. I thought, if I do well on this show, maybe I can get my own show! They give shows to people who have no accomplishments.

How long was the filming?

They haven’t shown the episode when I get kicked off. I am not supposed to talk about anything in a future episode. I can’t say. They would kill me.

What did they tell you?

It says postponed on VH1.com [Ed: the site now confirms the show has been cancelled]. I am supposed to have a meeting with someone to find out what the hell’s going on. I read on the Internet that it’s cancelled.

Have you been in touch with Megan?

Yes. You know, I don’t know.

Are you friends with her?

I don’t know what I can talk about.

What did you think of Ryan Jenkins on the show? What were your interactions with him like?

It takes a certain personality to do a reality show. They are looking for eccentric people. People ask me, “Do you think he was crazy?” If someone asked, “Do you think Sex Toy Dave is crazy?” You might say, “Yeah, he’s pretty f—ing crazy.” But I don’t do bad things. I hang upside down from a stripper pole. There’s a difference between eccentric—someone who speaks their mind in front of a camera—and to take a leap from that and to say that someone would kill someone…is just nothing that I never, you know, thought.

So you wouldn’t say you were friends with him on the show?

When you say “friends,” I am friends with everybody and nobody is my friend. I have a few real friends from Boston. I have a couple of friends in Hollywood who are real friends. When I walk out to a bar I know everybody and everybody is my best friend. Do you know what I am saying? So yeah, Ryan was a friend. It’s cool. I am friends with everybody.

So you never had any altercations with him or anything?

I don’t have altercations with anybody. When you do these shows…these people are all nuts. I know I am dealing with these eccentric kooky characters.

Was Ryan Jenkins the kookiest? Or did he not even rank among the top 3?

No. No. Not the kookiest. When I have done reality shows, almost everyone I met has been eccentric, wild, not normal, often combative, making arguments. Patti the Matchmaker to me was far more angry than anybody [on “Megan Wants a Millionaire”]. There were some fights on the show [even] on the first episode. We arrived, and there was Garth the Plumber, who grabbed the piggy bank out of Joe’s hand and smashed it. Meanwhile, Ryan was making out with Megan. So who was the craziest person? I don’t know.

What have you learned from this whole experience?

First of all, I love doing reality shows. For me, it’s good marketing. I also remind myself that I didn’t do anything wrong here. This guy is crazy. But that’s not me. Yes, I was on the show with this guy. But you know, I didn’t do the casting. I didn’t select this guy. I didn’t kill anybody.

Does it creep you out that you were living in a house with someone who was probably a murderer?

Oh, believe me, before I sign a contract I am going to be more careful about deals I make and what I am getting into. In general, this is a business thing, and I am learning as I go. At the beginning you have certain opportunities. There are a lot of creepy people out there. But bottom line is, I have learned about this process. Now that I have done a few shows, I can start to be a little bit more selective and careful regarding contracts and deals I make regarding shows. Hopefully that will help me get involved in better shows.

Would you ever go on another one of these types of shows where you live in a house?

I believe I am a good character because I have a character. The “Sex Toy Dave” [character] was created before I did these shows. And if that character is developed, I am open to it. If it’s just, for example, “The Amazing Race.” It’s a great show. But I wouldn’t develop my lifestyle, my business on it. It would be just me running around. It’s not as good for me business or marketing wise. I am looking for things where my business and my lifestyle is more integrated in the show. If I had my own dating show that required me living in a house…I would do that! I would have some control of the situation. I would have my own room!

Can we expect to see you in anything coming up?

I have a few things. There’s about a thousand people who will say, “You can have your own show! I will be your producer!” I don’t want to get too specific because I am tied in to VH-1. I believe that reality shows are a great marketing vehicle for me. It’s been a good experience. Sure, some of the karma from this show is not what I am looking for. But I do believe that I would like, in the future, to continue doing reality shows. Hopefully I can do shows that will get better. Not to say the things I have done in the past are bad.