There’s this funky bloggy chic friend of mine. You might know her? Danielle from Keeping Up With The Holsbys? Yeah, how could you not, right?
We haven’t known each other long but I’ve decided she’s landed at an opportune time in my life; to give me a firm nudge to cross the borders of bravery (and crazy).
I mean, geez. She even got me to take my kit off for the interwebz. But that’s another story.
With less than 48 hours before the actual shooting, she sends an email to say that a production company she knows is looking to do a pilot for a reality TV game show and that they’re looking for people who are ‘larger than life’.
“They’ve asked me and now I’m asking you…” was her casual invite.
Of course I was flattered to be considered but I couldn’t help think that the ‘larger than life’ impression I made with Danielle was largely due to the numerous tequila shots we bonded over weeks earlier at the Kidspot launch party. Ahems.
Anywho.
I rocked up 10 minutes early at the designated area over in Circular Quay. (Keen, much?)
Discreetly spotting a small group of people with boom mics and cameras and slowly inch my way over to them.
Luckily, as one of the crew welcomed me with a big smile.
“Hi, you’re Grace?” one of the crew greeted me with a smile.
Thank god I didn’t look like a weirdo stalker for too long.
“We noticed you from afar and I thought it might be you! And if it hadn’t been you, we were going to ask you to join in, anyway!”
Naw, shucks!
“In fact, you kinda remind me of Kate Ceberano”
Ham. It. Up, baby!
Are these TV people always super full of bull…compliments?
Finally, it was my turn in the spotlight. I was “wired up” by a rather nervous audio and sound dude whose hands were shakey (and cold) as they carefully taped the mic under my top around the cleavage vicinity.
Then as they say in Hollywood:
“Lights, Camera, Fake Reality TV!”
My (Academy Award winning) role was an innocent bystander (lookin’ all intah-lekt-chewal and stuff) reading her Kindle when suddenly…the rest I’m sworn to secrecy!
But! Winning cash was involved! (Yay!) Fake, of course (Boo!)
So, while everything that cloudy Saturday morning was the make believe of the make believe, I realised that that was the quintessence of reality TV. If it did indeed depict real life, then it wouldn’t be classified as entertainment.
But hey, if I can be really shallow and pathetic for just a brief a minute: it was fun being on camera.
Returning to the real humdrum life of mamahood, that afternoon I went to Kmart to buy a present for an upcoming 4 year old’s birthday party.
Passing the biographies of famous people in the book section, I had to stop in my tracks and take a pic.
Can you see the eerie resemblance?
No, me neither…
Have you been on telly? Did it involve winning money? Fake? Real?
Joining Essentially Jess for IBOT