7 1/2 hours of Deal or No Deal
For those not aware, Deal or No Deal had open auditions here yesterday. They set up shop at one of the car dealerships in town. I was one of an estimated 8,000 people that showed up.
Auditions were scheduled to go from 9 am to 3 pm. We had planned to get there about 7, which is when the various pulications had said the doors would open. We overslept. Board Game Night at the Source went a little long. The alarm was set, but the snooze button.... oh how she mocks me.
So, we got there at 8:30. The temperature was hovering around 0-5 above. In anticipation of a long line, we had bundled up, thank heaven. The line stretched down the block and around the corner for about three hours. So, we finally got inside at 11:30. I should mention at this point that immediately before we entered the building, a woman with three children walked right in ahead of us. Security had nothing to say, as I guess there are rules about making kids wait outside. Once inside, there were concession stands. Hot dogs were $2, which is not bad. Two service bays and the service department lobby were converted into amusement park-style wraparound lines.
In the third and final room, the Casting Driector stood on a stepladder with a microphone and sound set-up and gave us some inspiration and information on what they were looking for. He told us that we would have 20 seconds in front of a junior producer and that we would be meeting them in groups of 10. The goal, then, was to stand out in your group of 10, to hopefully get a second interview for an additional 30 seconds. The gentleman then stated that the producers did NOT want to hear about where you're from and how much you love the show. He said "I know you love the show. Wanna know HOW I know? It's not that you're here. It's because I'm rich." He went on to say that our 20 seconds needed to be enthusiatic, happy and smiley. "This is not one of my other shows, Extreme Home Makeover. We don't want sob stories. We want happy stories." He mentioned that they were expecting between 5000 to 7000 people and were looking for about 8 to appear on the show. The woman who was on the show most recently (and walked away with $53000) attended a 12000 person audition 2 YEARS ago, and had 10 seconds to speak.
Well, after working our way through the final service bay and around the table, we all had the chance to make our 20 second impression. I pretty much fell down. I wanted to talk about my interests and interesting jobs, and I think I mentioned that. I talked about the Next Life Step, but neither Shelley nor I got the additional 30 seconds. Who did? Without sounding bitter, it was the woman who didn't have to wait in the cold for 3 hours. Her gaggle of kids went to a corner while she was at the table, and for her 20 seconds, she made sure the producer guy saw the three kids (one of them was hers, but she didn't mention that), played the Katrina Card, and did a little song and dance about a million bucks.
Anyway, we were summarily dismissed with "If we want you, we'll call," and hoofed it back to the car. We were lucky enough to find (free) parking about 3 blocks away. We then came home and ordered pizza.
It was fun. The people we were next to in line were all very cool. The kids were only slightly squirrelly for those 4 hours, and the operation was run as smoothly as possible.
If you want a shorter, better edited version of thse events, here is the NBC affiliate's story, and here is the Strib version.
Auditions were scheduled to go from 9 am to 3 pm. We had planned to get there about 7, which is when the various pulications had said the doors would open. We overslept. Board Game Night at the Source went a little long. The alarm was set, but the snooze button.... oh how she mocks me.
So, we got there at 8:30. The temperature was hovering around 0-5 above. In anticipation of a long line, we had bundled up, thank heaven. The line stretched down the block and around the corner for about three hours. So, we finally got inside at 11:30. I should mention at this point that immediately before we entered the building, a woman with three children walked right in ahead of us. Security had nothing to say, as I guess there are rules about making kids wait outside. Once inside, there were concession stands. Hot dogs were $2, which is not bad. Two service bays and the service department lobby were converted into amusement park-style wraparound lines.
In the third and final room, the Casting Driector stood on a stepladder with a microphone and sound set-up and gave us some inspiration and information on what they were looking for. He told us that we would have 20 seconds in front of a junior producer and that we would be meeting them in groups of 10. The goal, then, was to stand out in your group of 10, to hopefully get a second interview for an additional 30 seconds. The gentleman then stated that the producers did NOT want to hear about where you're from and how much you love the show. He said "I know you love the show. Wanna know HOW I know? It's not that you're here. It's because I'm rich." He went on to say that our 20 seconds needed to be enthusiatic, happy and smiley. "This is not one of my other shows, Extreme Home Makeover. We don't want sob stories. We want happy stories." He mentioned that they were expecting between 5000 to 7000 people and were looking for about 8 to appear on the show. The woman who was on the show most recently (and walked away with $53000) attended a 12000 person audition 2 YEARS ago, and had 10 seconds to speak.
Well, after working our way through the final service bay and around the table, we all had the chance to make our 20 second impression. I pretty much fell down. I wanted to talk about my interests and interesting jobs, and I think I mentioned that. I talked about the Next Life Step, but neither Shelley nor I got the additional 30 seconds. Who did? Without sounding bitter, it was the woman who didn't have to wait in the cold for 3 hours. Her gaggle of kids went to a corner while she was at the table, and for her 20 seconds, she made sure the producer guy saw the three kids (one of them was hers, but she didn't mention that), played the Katrina Card, and did a little song and dance about a million bucks.
Anyway, we were summarily dismissed with "If we want you, we'll call," and hoofed it back to the car. We were lucky enough to find (free) parking about 3 blocks away. We then came home and ordered pizza.
It was fun. The people we were next to in line were all very cool. The kids were only slightly squirrelly for those 4 hours, and the operation was run as smoothly as possible.
If you want a shorter, better edited version of thse events, here is the NBC affiliate's story, and here is the Strib version.