way back in, like, june i had responded to a casting call for a new show on the game show network - because i still felt like i needed redemption from my first (losing) game show appearance. it was for some sort of word game, and when they asked me for a teammate i knew just who i wanted to play with. it took just one text to my friend weezermonkey, who said yes immediately. i gave her contact information to the casting producer, answered some questions and then we were set for a joint interview via zoom.
for the background, they wanted a clean, quiet and well-lit room with us dressed and camera ready. i put makeup on my face for the first time in ages and propped my laptop up in the gym with a blank wall behind me. super professional setup, no?
the interview went pretty well, i thought. we spent almost an hour talking to one of the producers, answering questions about how we knew each other (haha), what we did when we hung out, what we'd do with the prize money if we won. and then he gave us a quick overview of how to play the game and we went through a few mock rounds. it was fun, and i felt pretty confident that we'd do well if we were chosen to play on the show.
it took a few more weeks before we heard back from the network, and this time they wanted us to provide them with some wardrobe options that we'd bring should we get a taping date. it proved to be a little harder than you'd think for me to come up with 3-5 options - they wanted bright colors, no big prints, no black or white, no logos. you know...something that would look good on camera. i managed to scrounge up a few different dresses, snapped some selfies that i'm not sharing because i looked kind of a hot mess in them, and sent them on over.
and wouldn't you know it - less than a week later we heard from them again, this time telling us that we'd been selected as finalists with a date to tape the show a few weeks later. i was a little surprised to find myself not only excited but also really anxious about the whole thing. sheesh. and then we were given instructions to come to the studio to get tested for covid within 48 hours of our tape date. since the studio is out in culver city, we decided to make an afternoon of it and scheduled our tests together so we could grab lunch afterwards.
it was a little weird to pull up to a studio again, especially knowing that i'd be back a few days later to actually go inside and film a show.
the testing site was right in the parking structure, and it was a quick and easy process. weemo had already scouted out the area for the best place to have lunch and we headed over to the platform shopping center to enjoy a meal together, something we hadn't done in a very long time. it was really nice to hang out with her and just get caught up and chat in person after so many months of separation. we had a little time to kill before the restaurant opened, so we stopped in at the boba guys for a drink.
we were able to grab a table outside at roberta's for some delicious NY-style pizza. the umbrella we sat under was red, so it cast a really weird light on everything we ordered. oh well. we started out with a lovely prosciutto plate, which was super delicious despite its rather odd appearance in this picture.
and then we each ordered a pizza to share. she went with the "bee sting" - a unique-sounding combination of tomato, mozzarella, and soppressata...with chili, basil and honey (hence the name). you wouldn't think that honey belonged on a pizza, but i (even WITH my weaksauce tolerance for any level of spice) was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. like, my mouth is watering just remembering how good the flavor was. and now i want to go back.
mine was called "cheezus christ," which i'll admit was partially why i ordered it. but it was also really tasty - several different kinds of cheese topped with fresh cracked black pepper and a cream sauce. very indulgent and worth every calorie.
we were originally scheduled to check in for our taping at 6:30am on a monday morning. i toyed with the idea of staying in a nearby hotel just to make it a little easier on myself, but ultimately decided that the drive at that hour wouldn't be bad at all.
and then the day before we were notified that our call time was pushed back to 9:00. talk about a double-edged sword - not the ass crack of dawn after all, but right in the middle of rush hour traffic. ugh. but it was fine. i gave myself plenty of time to get through the freeways and pulled into the studio right when i needed to get there.
it was a pretty long day of doing a lot of sitting around and hanging out, which we were prepared for. we met with some of the other contestants for practice rounds, had snacks, ate lunch, got hair and makeup done, and then headed over to the set to sit and watch the first few teams of contestants play the game while we waited for our turn to play.
unfortunately, it was not to be. since it was literally the first day of taping this brand new show, there were quite a few hiccups during the first couple of tapings. and it was probably around 4:00, after a bathroom break, that we learned from the casting manager that the rest of the day had been cancelled. SUCH a bummer. we gathered up our stuff, hopped into a golf cart for a ride back to the parking structure, and headed home. WOMP WOMP.
even worse? we never did get a single selfie together. d-oh! i guess it'd been such a long day and we were both really tired...which sounds funny since we didn't actually do much. but for me at least, having to be "on" for hours on end - peppy, cheerful, excited, blah blah blah - especially after months of mostly being home with just my family around me was utterly exhausting. the bright side was that i got to spend a lot of time with my friend, and hey - it's a story to tell, right?
(you know i had to take at least one selfie because i had a full face of makeup on)
and back home, i snapped one more in my full outfit, just for shits and giggles.
so yeah, my game show losing streak continues. i didn't get my shot at redemption. and after the level of anxiety i was feeling that day...well, who knows? maybe i never will. but hey, it won't be through lack of trying. heh.
a couple of months ago, i got an email from one of those seat-filling companies that offers free tickets for show tapings. they had a bunch of priority seating tickets available for "the price is right," which are kind of awesome because they guarantee you a spot in the audience. a few of the dates happened to fall during the week that i knew MIL would be around, and so i hit up my co-leader to see if she was free. she's always up for game show shenanigans, and we marked our calendars.
contestant hopefuls for that show always come up with the cheesiest, cutest, silliest t-shirts to wear for their appearance. of course, we totally procrastinated and didn't end up putting anything together until the night before. of course. and here's a confession: neither of us had actually watched the show in years and years. like, not since bob barker was still the host. heh. and after perusing some ideas online, i proposed that we create a simple design that would look like a presidential candidate logo using the names of the show host and announcer - drew carey and george gray. one trip to target to get basic matching tees, a quick session with the die-cutter and heat press, and we were ready.
our call time was at 8:30, and the show is taped at television city (right next to the grove). because you never know what traffic is going to look like on a monday morning, we headed out super early. we managed to arrive just before 8, and found a parking spot pretty easily.
as we made our way out of the parking structure and around the back side of the farmers market, we joined other folks heading to the same place - they were pretty easy to spot because they were all dressed like we were. heh. and the line was already down the street.
it wasn't a very long wait for us, as we flashed those priority tickets and were handed cards with our line placement numbers. after showing our IDs, we got to join a second, much shorter line not too far away.
from there we were moved to a holding area, where we were seated in numerical order according to our purple cards and filled out confidentiality/release forms.
and off to one side there was a little shop selling souvenir tees and postcards and things like that. i figured we'd hit it up a little later.
staffers were making their way down the line to give us those famous yellow name tags, take our forms and check our IDs. turns out that they wouldn't use nicknames on the tags - only legal names as listed on your ID. i didn't know that, but whatever, we were at the price is right!
but then when the guy who was taking the forms scanned mine and noticed that i'd recently been a contestant on another show less than a year ago, he looked up at me and said "um, i'm sorry, but you'll be ineligible to be a contestant today." and obviously, that went for both of us. WOMP WOMP.
he handed us a giant magic marker and instructed us to mark a big ol' X on our placement numbers, effectively rendering us pretty much useless except as audience members cheering on the contestants on the stage.
but i tried to cheer us up - there are 325 audience members in each taping. only 9 are chosen for contestants' row, and of those, only 6 actually make it onstage. not to mention, that immediately took the pressure off of us - no jumping and screaming and spirit fingers were required of us anymore. and so we could just sit back, relax, and look around at the others and make predictions as to who might be chosen.
a little later, we were on the move again - this time, to take a souvenir "green screen" photo. this took us right past the restroom and that little shop, which was only available at that time. we wouldn't be allowed to come back to this area later. but since we weren't getting the full experience this time around, i decided i didn't need any t-shirts or magnets or anything like that.
wanna see our green screen photo? it made us look like we'd actually made it onstage, which we had to settle for since i knew we wouldn't get to take pictures inside the studio.
after taking our photos, we moved to this area where they took about 20 people at a time to talk to the producers. this is where you have to turn it on - enthusiasm, jumping, cheering, jazz hands, the whole nine. of course, because of the big X through our numbers, they said a brief hello to us and moved on down the line. WOMP WOMP.
from there, we went through the metal detectors, handed in our phones to security, and sat down to wait a bit longer. there was food for purchase, more restrooms, and a couple of show reels to get everyone all excited and warmed up. at about 11:45, they finally took us into the studio.
i'm sure you've watched the show at least once, right? well, that studio is tiny compared to how they make it look on tv. the audience is really small, and the stage is not much bigger than, say, a stage in a high school auditorium. but it's bright and colorful and there's a DJ playing music to get everyone up and dancing and riled up. they placed us in the third row, right in the middle behind contestant's row - so we were super excited because we knew we'd get at least little face time on tv.
the announcer, george gray, came out first to talk to the audience and give us the lowdown on what to expect. he was really funny and personable, and then he brought out drew carey. they make a great team, playing off of each other and ad-libbing constantly. it was so much fun, and the time went by really fast.
if you're ever in the area, you should definitely go to a taping! it's so much fun, and although they tell you you'll be there for at least five hours, it doesn't feel like that long. everyone is excited and friendly and hopeful, and it's just a really fun environment to be in.
and hey - if you happen to be bored on december 26th...turn on "the price is right"! let me know if you see us!
warning: this is going to be a lengthy post, because - well, you'll see. and i want to remember every detail of this day forEVAH, because it was totally a bucket list item!
okay, so despite the producers' repeated reminders that they couldn't guarantee that we'd get to tape an episode of "celebrity name game," we did. we totally squealed and jumped up and down and freaked the eff out when we got the email, and then immediately switched gears to "what will we wear??" heh, of course. the crazy call time of 6am was a little cringeworthy, especially since we needed to be ready to walk onto a stage the moment we arrived. hair and makeup is not my strong suit, and when i'm half asleep? fuhgeddaboutit.
because my body is somewhat used to getting up at ungodly hours for races and things, the wake up call ended up not being too brutal. plus, since i'd gotten lashes done again (yay!) and my hair was up in pin curls from a perfectly timed hair appointment, half my work was already pretty much done. and so i managed to get myself dressed and ready with time to spare.
this, of course, meant a stop at starbucks first - thank god for their stupid early hours.
we pulled up to the studio gate about 25 minutes before we were actually due to check in.
after making our way through the maze of studio buildings, we found the garage we'd been instructed to park in. we sat there for a while, chatting nervously and wondering how the day would go. and then when it was time to go in, we left our phones behind as we'd been instructed, grabbed our stuff and headed out. this, of course, means that there aren't many pictures in this post. oh, well. we did manage to remember to grab one "before" selfie, though:
except that there was no one to meet us, as we'd been told. we stood there and smiled awkwardly at passers-by who eyed us as they shuffled off to work, and then finally my co-leader decided to go back upstairs to call and make sure we hadn't screwed anything up.
of course, while she was up there one of the PAs finally showed up to escort us to where we needed to go. another team of contestants had arrived by then too, and we just kind of smiled at each other and waited for further instructions.
the studio building we entered looked old and crusty, and i wondered what other shows had been filmed in it over the years. we stepped into an elevator the took us a few floors below ground, and then the waiting began.
first order of business: wardrobe. the garment bag full of my alternate outfit options went on a rack marked with our names, and then we sat down to wait our turn. i noticed a lady standing off to the side who was perfectly put together and just oozed confidence, and it wasn't hard to figure out who was in charge. and then she glanced in our direction and waved a hand around towards us, murmuring to her assistant. as she passed us, she turned and said "i don't even need to look at what else you two brought. you're PERFECT." score for us! i'm pretty sure we beamed with pride as everyone else in the room looked over at us before following her into the wardrobe area.
having received our stamp of approval, the PAs had us change into the comfy clothes we'd brought so that our on-air ensembles could be steamed and freshened up. we were offered breakfast burritos and beverages and then led into a curtained-off room next to where hair and makeup was set up. our pictures were taped to a pole outside, and inside there was a table, several chairs and a couple of board games. that was it. no books or magazines were allowed, and it was up to us to figure out how to keep ourselves occupied until the next thing.
but because it's us, it wasn't hard to stay entertained. we've been known to kill hours just sitting and chatting, and not having my phone wasn't as difficult as i'd expected. i mean, you know...that thing is like a third arm for me. i guess the anticipation and anxiety over what would happen next helped a lot to keep me distracted, and i didn't even miss it.
we were brought into another room just down the hall with a bunch of other contestants, where the producers did a silly little dance and introduced themselves. it was nice to meet the ones we'd been talking to over the last couple of weeks, and they were super friendly. we went over all of the rules of the game and what to expect for each round, and there was one guy sitting in the back who kept asking the dumbest, most random questions ever. is it really bad that my mind immediately went to "please let them be our opponents!"?? because it did. i'm not even sorry.
after every rule had been explained and every question had been answered, they broke us up into several groups to do a practice game. wanna guess who we got paired up with? muahahahahaha.
we went over where we would be sitting, what order we'd be playing the rounds in, where to stand, what to expect from craig ferguson (the host of the show). there was a lot of squealing, jumping up and down, jazz hands, spirit fingers - pretty much everything you'd expect from a gameshow. it was so much fun, and i loved it. we completely wiped the floor with that other team, by the way. and we were PUMPED.
then back to our little corner we went, and waited a while longer until they finally came back for us to go through some touchup on our hair and makeup. i'm just gonna say it - i was pretty proud of my skillz when all she had to do was refresh a bit of eyeliner and blush, add a little under eye concealer and finish off with some lip gloss. as for hair, a few pieces were pinned away from my face and a couple of strands were touched up with the iron and i was good to go. we were sent back to wardrobe to get our show outfits back on, and then a bunch of us were led up to the studio to get a feel for what it was like and see where we'd be taping. i was a little startled to see that one of the PAs was putting on a parka, gloves and a beanie. they'd warned us that it was going to be cold up there, but i wasn't really prepared for how freaking frigid it really was when we got there. it must have been 40 degrees in there, and my teeth were chattering and i couldn't feel my fingers and toes. holy crap. anyway, we watched a set of contestants go through a mock game, and i started getting really excited.
we were led back downstairs to change back into our comfy clothes (i guess maybe they wanted to see our show outfits onstage with the lights and everything?), and then the real waiting started. it was weird - we'd been told that we were scheduled to be on the first episode of the day, but we sat around for a good long time with no one coming in to give us any updates.
it turns out that our opponents had been booted from the show, because random questions dude got busted with his cell phone. even after repeated reminders and requests to make sure that phones were left in the car, he still thought it was a good idea to bring that shit. and it cost him his chance to be on the show. it was pretty annoying, because since we were supposed to be first to tape we would've been outta there a lot earlier than we'd anticipated. and this meant that we were going to be paired with a whole different team, so it wasn't going to be as easy breezy as we'd convinced ourselves it'd be. damn.
after awhile, we were pulled into the room down the hall again to do another mock game with the new team we were going to be playing against. and this time, it was clear that we'd met our match. they were good, and our confidence deflated just a little bit. it wasn't too long after that we found ourselves heading back to wardrobe, touching up hair and makeup again, and then going upstairs to the studio again. this time, we were the ones playing a round of the game on the stage...in front of a live audience. it was all very overwhelming and daunting and scary as hell, and all i could do was hope and pray that i'd be able to remember everything i needed to on top of being perky and smiling and jumpy and peppy, plus be able to actually play the damn game.
we went downstairs yet again, but our wait wasn't too long before we followed yet another PA back upstairs into the freezing studio. this time we were led into a tented area just off to the side of the studio audience, where we were wired up with a microphone and offered bottled water (with a straw, meant to be sipped while leaning forward just a bit in case of spillage). we were both too nervous to do anything but crack jokes and admire our name tags (which we didn't get to keep). and then...it was show time. ACK.
we took our places on the couch as we'd been instructed, and then craig ferguson came out and the game began. the show aired yesterday (which is why i'm finally able to share this), so i have a bunch of screen grabs i can share since you likely didn't see the show.
they did a quick introduction of all four of us before turning to the other team, who jumped up and did a little silly banter with craig. there was a lot of clapping and "woohoo!!"ing, like all good game show contestants should do.
this was our opposing team. they were really nice, but like i said...definitely a better match for us than the other team. and keri reminded me so much of molly shannon! totally her twin, right?
they played their first round with their celebrity...rick fox, former laker and current actor. you may remember me spotting him at the laker game i posted about last week. and then it was our turn to jump up off of the couch and chat a little with our host.
the way we'd rehearsed it, i was to answer when craig asked us how we knew each other. too bad i got completely tongue-tied and totally mangled my words. this was the one moment i was most dreading seeing on air. ugh.
i finally managed to get it out, explaining that we're girl scout troop leaders. look, GSUSA, we taught craig ferguson the girl scout sign!
our celebrity was the very dreamy and very french gilles marini. you might remember him from "dancing with the stars," "switched at birth" (which the old lady and i watch religiously), or perhaps from the first "sex and the city" movie. anyway, he came out and gave hello hugs to all three of us.
and look...he flashed that GS sign too!
the first round had our celebrity in the middle, acting as the clue giver for both of us. this was my first one:
i can't stop laughing at this. derpy derp derp.
my partner's first one was much sexier.
we managed to get four correct answers, giving us:
as we went to commercial break, gilles high-fived us both.
between rounds, we got makeup and hair touchups as needed, along with offers of that bottled water. our producer came out to give us a pep talk and tell us we were doing a great job, with reminders to stay animated while still having fun. one thing i'd been concerned about was how sweaty i get - especially when i'm nervous or excited or just plain scared out of my mind. i suppose this is something they've dealt with before, and maybe that's part of the reason it's like the frozen freaking tundra in there.
round two saw us swapping celebs, which put me on the couch directly next to mr. foxy himself. i was definitely not complaining.
oh look, jazz hands!
and then even more excitement when craig asked who the clue giver was going to be.
we got first pick of the categories:
while my partner blurted out "STRIPES!" i caught onto the clue rick was giving me and shouted out "no! gray or grey!"
oh, man. what the hell was i thinking during this blur of a half hour??
now, i have the entire show saved on my DVR. but i have no idea how i'd transfer it so that i can share it here for all the world to see. luckily, the show decided to post a quick clip on youtube and share it on twitter.
check it out:
at the end of that round, we were doing pretty well...and winning.
and then it was time for craig to be the clue giver. dun dun dunnnnnn. i got to go first.
and then my co-leader stepped up and listened to craig's clue. the category was "brothers and sisters," and he started it off with "this...is a shit band." and somehow, she managed to guess: the jonas brothers. womp womp.
here i was telling him "that's terrible!!" and he shrugged his shoulders and said "what, like it's not true?" awwww. sorry, joe/nick/kevin. i tried.
the goal during round 3 was to get to $3,000 before the other team in order to get to the final round and play for the grand prize of $20K. we were feeling pretty good right about here.
but then it all went to shit. i missed my next two answers - i'd gotten all discombobulated and forgot the category. if i'd kept it in mind while craig was giving his clues and hit that buzzer as soon as i knew the answer like i should have, we would have advanced. not to mention, the value of each answer went up with each turn. and so, instead...
we CHOKED. and as craig gave the clues for the last question, i knew we were sunk. i know my co-leader, and i know she has no idea who the coen brothers are.
but the other team did, and so that was that. game over. and our only consolation prizes were goodbye hugs from our hunky celebs. gilles turned to me with a sorrowful face and with that fabulous french accent said "i'm so sorry, baby" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. SWOON.
as soon as i got my hug from rick, a PA we hadn't seen before came up and escorted us towards a different tent way in the back of the studio. inside were our bags, tagged with our names on them, and our sad little water bottles with our initials written on the caps.
the PA had left us to change out of our show outfits, which also gave us just enough time to listen to our opponents play their final round. i couldn't really make out what was being said, but i knew that every DING! meant that they were powering through the answers. i counted each one, and just before we left that tent we heard it go off a tenth time, which meant that they'd won the $20K. and we decided that although we were pretty bitter about not having gotten that far, we'd really liked keri and melissa and dug RULL DEEP to find happiness for their win.
we asked the PA if there was a restroom we could use, but she wasn't particularly helpful. and she showed us right out the side door and dumped us out of that studio very unceremoniously, right next to the trash cans. talk about kicking us while we were down, man. once we were officially losers, that's exactly how they treated us. i get it, i suppose, but damn. that was the shit icing on top of our loser cake.
we consoled ourselves a little with lunch at porto's. it helped, but just a tiny bit.
when i checked my twitter feed, i noticed that rick had tweeted about the show. i decided to respond, and was rewarded a few minutes later when i saw that he'd "liked" my post. yay!
back at home, i finally drank that damn bottle of water.
and then after the show aired yesterday, good ol' foxy liked a few more tweets i posted about it.
so by now, my co-leader and i have had several weeks to get over the humiliating loss. and we've been at that point where we can laugh about it for a while now. but i gotta say, watching the show on tv brought back ALL THE FEELINGS. not to mention, the fire is lit under both of our asses to find another game show and hopefully get a little redemption. but you know what - we had such a great time through the whole process: trying out (not just once but twice!), the anxiety of waiting for that email, shopping for the perfect outfits (plus several options), hanging out at the studio, meeting our celebrities, playing the game. it was a blast from beginning to end, and let me tell you...i won't ever be that person who watches a game show and says "oh, that's super easy, i would TOTALLY win at that!" because while you can be really good at the game itself, there is so much going on during that taping, and it can be a real mind fuck if you aren't prepared for it.
i sure hope we can find something else to play. got any ideas? we're open!
