Michael Wayne Duke of CMT's "Party Down South 2" brought reality home Saturday morning when he was charged with DUI after crashing his truck into a guardrail on Interstate 16.

The reality show star from Bulloch County was only slightly injured but said he realizes it could have been worse.

"I'm not gonna sugarcoat it," he said Monday in a telephone interview with the Statesboro Herald. "It was a poor judgment call."

He said he had been visiting with friends, with whom he ate dinner and drank a few beers, when another friend called and invited him to go to River Street in Savannah. He did, where consumed more alcohol - a few beers and then a few mixed drinks, he said.

Georgia State Patrol Trooper Johnathan Malone said Duke claimed he "fell asleep" while driving home from Savannah around 4:25 a.m. and left the roadway near exit number 127 on Interstate 16, where he was traveling in the westbound right lane. He struck a guardrail with his 1997 Chevrolet S10 pickup and suffered "scrapes and bruises," Duke said.

Duke said he blew .09 when Malone field tested him at the scene of the crash. The limit for driving under the influence of alcohol is .08 in Georgia.

Malone said Monday that he didn't know Duke was a celebrity, as he does not watch "Party Down South 2." He said Duke did not volunteer that information and was "very cooperative."

Duke, 23, of Twin Forks Road, was taken to the Bulloch County Jail and charged with DUI, failure to maintain lane and a seatbelt violation. He later posted bond.

A volunteer firefighter and pest control technician when he was invited to appear on "Party Down South 2," Duke said in a 2014 interview for an article in Connect Statesboro magazine that he applied for the part as a lark.

"I was watching the show one night and thought, 'I can do this,'" he said.

He applied online and was shocked when he got a call to meet the casting crew on Tybee Island. A few weeks later, he flew to Los Angeles for a second interview.

"I thought, there is no way they are going to pick a guy from Statesboro," he said. "It was a wild hair that turned into the chance of a lifetime."

The show on CMT is all about partying, Southern style: drinking, mud bogging, riding dirt roads, hunting and fishing, sports, and just about anything a country girl or guy does every day for fun, he said.

Those things are right up Duke's alley, and he said he got the part as a cast member by just being himself.

"They asked me what I like to do, what I am known for. Basically, I'm just a Bulloch County guy," he said. "I like to hunt and fish, ride four-wheelers, play in the mud, ride dirt roads, just hang out with the local boys and have a good time."

Duke said Monday that he will continue to enjoy himself as he always has but will not repeat the mistake of getting behind the wheel when intoxicated.

"I knew I'd had one drink too many," he said.

To fans of the rowdy, party-hearty reality show, he had this advice: "Take it from me: If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. Don't think you are bulletproof."

Herald reporter Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.