LAKE STEVENS — He’s the buff dad who made global headlines for chopping 80 truckloads of firewood with his hunky twin sons to give to people in need.
Hollywood also wanted a piece of Shane McDaniel, an eligible 47-year-old father of six.
McDaniel was featured on Tuesday’s Steve Harvey’s show in a segment called “Date the Woodchopping Dad!”
“Shane and his twin sons have sparked the flame of humanity in their cold, rugged town outside of Seattle,” Harvey told the live audience. “Vowing to heat their ’hood, they chop and donate wood to those who can’t afford it.”
Twins Henry and Harrison, 21, wanted to find their busy dad a girlfriend.
“He’s always kind of been like a ‘Mr. Mom’ to us. We want him to be happy,” Harrison said on the show.
There were three bachelorettes:
Hailey, an actress and TV reporter originally from the South.
Jessi, a California deejay and dancer/performer.
And Carly, a Lake Stevens yoga instructor.
On the show, McDaniel asked what a perfect first date would be. Carly said kayaking or hiking. The other two candidates mentioned skydiving.
McDaniel, known for his daredevil water stunts on Lake Stevens, and his sons huddled to pick the winner.
“It was unanimous,” he told Harvey.
They chose Carly Norwood, the nimble yoga goddess.
“The yoga had me from hello,” McDaniel said after the show. He started doing yoga in November to ease his aches from splitting logs.
Carly Norwood, a 35-year-old yoga teacher from Lake Stevens, was chosen by Shane McDaniel and his twin sons for a date during a segment on Steve Harvey’s TV talk show. (Ian Terry / Herald file)
“When it really comes down to it, it’s all in the eyes.”
Norwood, 35, thought it was a scam when Steve Harvey’s people contacted her three weeks ago to be on a dating episode with the woodchopper. She’d seen many posts about McDaniel on social media but hadn’t met him in person. The two live about a mile apart.
Harvey’s producers wanted a yoga person to add to the mix of possible mates and contacted a Snohomish instructor, who suggested Norwood, owner of Catalyst Yoga.
Norwood teaches YogoMosa at Everett’s Bluewater Organic Distilling and on paddleboards. She does a weekly yoga class (without cocktails) at the gym in the Frontier building where The Daily Herald office is housed. She was on the cover of the Herald’s Washington North Coast magazine in 2016.
Two weeks ago, the mother of two daughters was flown to L.A. for the whirlwind paid trip, with an extra “$200 for my time,” she said.
Her plane landed late at night. “A chauffeur picked me up holding my name. It was the whole Hollywood deal,” she said.
It was kind of like the old “Dating Game” TV show from the past. (Steve Harvey)
The next day was seven hours at the TV studio. “They kept the bachelorettes separate from Shane and the boys. They didn’t want us to cross paths. Once we were in hair and makeup we weren’t allowed to leave without an escort. They would walkie-talkie and make sure the hallway was clear.”
After the show, Norwood and McDaniel chatted briefly in the green room, then went their separate ways. She got a few hours of sleep in the hotel room before an early flight back to Washington to teach yoga at noon.
It took another week for the pair to finally meet up.
“We have such busy schedules,” she said.
Shane McDaniel relocates wood at his home Jan. 12, in Lake Stevens. His good deeds landed him on a dating show segment during the Steve Harvey talk show, where McDaniel and his twin sons chose from three eligible bachelorettes, including a woman from Lake Stevens. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
McDaniel owns Norm’s Market, a keg and bottle shop where he has chopping sessions with volunteers for constant donations of firewood, which he delivers.
He gets lots of flirty comments from women on his Facebook posts, but was more focused on logs than love.
It was Norwood’s first date since her recent divorce after being married for 15 years. She moved from Everett to Lake Stevens seven months ago.
She showed her daughters news clips of McDaniel for their approval. He was in a recent People magazine.
“The 10 year-old was on board,” Norwood said. “My 8-year-old wasn’t interested in any of this. She looked over my shoulder the other day and said, ‘Um, why are you texting Shane? Do you have a crush on him?’ I said, ‘Actually, yeah, I do.’ And she goes, ‘Ewww.’”
The couple’s first date was last Thursday at L.J.’s Bistro & Bar in Lake Stevens. “We talked until 1:30 a.m.”
On the second date this week, “We just hung out at my house,” she said.
He’s flying to Dallas on Thursday for a photo shoot for Frito-Lay, another gig from his new firewood fame. His face could end up on a bag of Lay’s potato chips or in commercials.
So Valentine’s Day will be spent apart.
“We were going to do a polar bear plunge in the lake then sit in the hot tub and he was going to make me dinner,” she said.
They are rescheduling it for this weekend. There won’t be any cameras or crowds this time.
Woodchopping yoga might be next.
Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.
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