Couch Potato: Mark Steines

It's not often I  sit around and talk the reporter biz. So it was way cool that Entertainment Tonight co-anchor Mark Steines, who's worked just about every red carpet out there, stopped by the OK! office to chat. I was surprised to learn the 13-year ET vet loves to spend just as much time with his personal camera as he does in front of the lens. “I’m a shutterbug through and through,” Mark declared. “I have my own light kit and I shoot in my mother-in-law’s kindergarten class during the weekends, she has this enormous space.” Mark takes pictures of family, friends and struggling L.A. actors trying to break into the biz. “I shoot headshots for my manager’s clients who are actors who can’t afford to pay,” he revealed. "I don’t care, I’ll do them for free.”

Mark, who just inked a new multiyear deal with ET, admitted he still gets nervous when he's wielding the mic. “You’re about to talk to Julia Roberts, and you’ve only got 90 seconds to make your moment special and unique,” he said. “Sometimes you find your tongue around your shoes thinking, ‘That's not the way I wanted it to come out!'” While he’s always on the lookout for a good story, one place he doesn’t fish for information is his sons’ school grounds. “You look around, and there’s Camryn Manheim or Maria Bello, and I’m thinking I can’t even ask what’s going on in their careers right now. It’s so not a working environment.”

Mark also revealed how he was in the running to be the new host of The Price Is Right. Even though the job went to comedian Drew Carey, Mark will never forget his game show test run. “People from my home town had come to be in the audience to support me,” he shared. Mark’s also got the coolest memento to remember the event. “One of the guys in the audience, while he was waiting in line, got everyone to sign a t-shirt for me.”

It’s worth? Priceless.

Entertainment Tonight airs Mondays through Fridays, check local listings.