13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |Columbus man enjoys 'ambush makeover'

Columbus man enjoys 'ambush makeover'

Jennie Runevitch/Eyewitness News

Columbus - A retired Army pilot from Columbus, Indiana, received an ambush makeover Wednesday morning from the Today Show.

He hadn't cut or shaved his hair in five years.

The look started in 2003 when Joe Green retired.

"The facial hair was what got me," said Joe's wife, Shirley. "The white beard here and the white mustache and he would bring it out to the side and do all this stuff you know."

Those long locks earned him a nickname.

"I did. I looked an awful lot like Santa," Joe said. "Put a red costume on and I would have been Santa."

But Joe's hair never grew on his wife.

"No! How are you going to kiss him? There's no place," Shirley said.

After years of pleading for a shave, the Greens' daughter wrote the Today Show for their Ambush Makeover contest.

"She said my mom won't kiss my dad because he has this beard," Joe explained.

Joe was contacted by Today Show producers and felt sure he had a shot. They called him Friday to say he was still in the running.

"So Monday I got up at 4:30 am, jumped in the shower, got ready and...nothing! Then Tuesday, same thing," Joe said.

After two days of preparing, Joe thought he hadn't won. He didn't expect anyone to come to his door.

But Wednesday morning..."I was sound asleep in my flannel pajamas and it's 'bam bam bam' on the door and they're ringing the bell," he said. "They got me. They ambushed me!"

Professional stylists gave him the works and the amazing transformation was unveiled on national television.

This 69-year-old was suddenly a new man.

"They started out with my beard...and I cried," Joe said. "He had his troopers cut my hair and put a little bit of color in it."

"Oh, I love it. When I saw him, he really looked good," Shirley said. "Yep. He just looked in the mirror and saw himself and what was it you said? I'm handsome?"

"I said, 'oh my God, I'm really handsome'!"

Joe admits the new look feels a lot different.

"I used to pull on my beard and twirl my mustache and now, there's nothing there," he explained.

But he says the beard is gone for good - and his wife finally got that kiss.