"I applied for a scholarship to Harvard the first time and didn't get it, a Fulbright," he said. "It was the second time that I got it."
The same went for his bid to become student president at Auckland University.
"I fought that and lost to a better man. Didn't win the first time but won it the second time."
He was arrested as a child for stealing a Mars Bar from a supermarket – and ended up many years later as a Foodstuffs executive.
It is a similar theme for his pursuits in education.
"I was a big failure at school," he said. He was bottom of the class in schools Star of the Sea Catholic Primary, Howick Intermediate and Howick College.
"I spent a lot of my time in detention and I got suspended twice from Howick College – for stealing and pulling a moonie at the principal."
He described himself as the "Fonzie" of Howick College – popular for the wrong reasons.
"I was a pretty rough kid. I was aimless. My parents brought me up and raised me fantastically but for some reason I was just not clicking."
Overcoming bone cancer at the age of 15 transformed his approach to life. He qualified as a butcher then turned to study.
He must be one of the very few New Zealanders who has done courses at MIT in both Manukau (butchery) and Massachusetts (behavioural economics).
He did a master's thesis on the funding system for early childhood education in New Zealand and how to improve participation rates of Māori and Pacific children and has four degrees including one from Harvard University (near MIT, Boston).
The astonishing range of work for the 35-year-old bachelor includes not only boning carcasses but being employed as an economist at the OECD in Paris for three years.
"Everybody thought I was French because my name was Daniel Michael Bidois, then they discovered no – 'un peu'."
Bidois was adopted by Mike and Leah Bidois when he was 9 months old. His parents divorced when he was 9 and his mother later remarried.
He has his birth certificate but has not tried to track down his birth parents.
"I would love to find them one day but it is just having the time."
He has two older sisters and an older brother who all live in Auckland but he says he was the only one who went off the rails.
His birth mother was part Māori. Through his adopted father he is Ngāti Maniopoto and his marae is Te Kauae Marae near Waitomo Caves.
"My adoptive family is my family, that's all I have ever known … my family is my family."
Living abroad for seven years in Boston, Paris and Malaysia "made me so incredibly proud of being Māori."
"It made me incredibly proud of the upbringing I've had in Auckland and just how lucky we are, so I've come back home to contribute to that and make sure this continues to be a fantastic place to live and raise a family and grow."
He moved to a rented house in Northcote after his selection as National's candidate and now plans to buy a house.
"I want to raise a family, I want to get married and have kids, raise a family in what is a fantastic part of Auckland."
When it comes to priorities, Bidois is still very much reliant on the messaging produced for him during the election campaign, such as voting against the regional fuel tax legislation.
Others were to start building a comprehensive plan for transport in Northcote to bring all the stakeholders together to sort out priorities and to make sure Northcote got its fair share of services.
The official byelection results won't be declared until June 20 but Bidois will head to Wellington to join the National Party caucus on Tuesday where 55 colleagues will celebrate his success.
