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After observing last years auditions in Birmingham, and being another year old and wiser (I am now the grand old age of 20), I decided to audition for BB6 at Londons Excel centre yesterday.
Knowing the amount of people wanting to audition would easily run into the hundreds, perhaps thousands, we had every intention of arriving early, to try and beat the queues. However, a slightly late night out in London meant that we didn't arrive at the Excel centre until 10.30am, an hour and a half after auditions had begun. Much to our relief, the auditions were being held inside the centre - a very good job, considering how cold it was outside.
Arriving at the auditions, there were approximately 600-700 people waiting in the queue.
For the next 4 hours, we stood chatting in the queue, talking to a number of other people there to audition. Past series of Big Brother, and reality TV shows in general seemed to be a main theme amongst the conversations. At times, the queue seemed a little subdued. There were very few people dressed up for the auditions, and a distinct lack of attention seekers! There were a few exceptions though. One man came as a bride, but he never made it as far as the audition, as he had to get back to work in Stoke on Trent for 6pm! A couple of girls turned up in bikinis, and one or two people brought props or posters with them.
The elderly lady that some of you may have seen been shown auditioning on last years launch show was back again, complete with the poster "If Maureen can do it, then so can I!", referring to Maureen Rees' appearance on Back to Reality. (We think!)
Every so often, somebody would take up their place in the centre of the room, and decide they wanted their 5 minutes of fame, by encouraging the crowds to do a mexican wave, performing a stunt, or yes, getting (almost) naked.
One of these people was a rather gobby lady going by the name of Shaz. If any of you watch Wife Swap, you will remember her from the last series of that - the single Mother with the son who refused to get a job. I had the misfortune of encountering her at the National TV Awards last October, and there she was again yesterday, generally making an idiot of herself. Unfortunately, she progressed through to the Diary Room stage.
We reached the front of the queue at about 3.30pm, and headed over in a group of 8 people to our researcher. He explained that he just wanted a brief chat with each of us, to find out who we were, what we lliked / disliked, what kind of people we liked / disliked, why we should be in the Big Brother house. He did not want us to prove how mad we were, he just wanted to "learn a bit about yourselves." He emphasised that if he didn't put us through, it wasn't because he didn't like us, but it would be because we were not right for the series - "but that doesn't mean to say that you won't be right for next series, or you weren't right for the last."
I was the 7th person to speak, and by the time he had got to me, I had realised just how good this guy was at his job - he knew exactly what to ask. Rather than allowing you to launch into a bit of a monologue about yourself, which as a fairly chatty person, I was planning to do, he would listen to you for about 20 seconds, and then interrupt. He would pick up on one of the first things you said, and the conversation centred around that, with you then having to fend off his questions.
I introduced myself to him, and the rest of the group, and explained that I was at the auditions, because until recently, I have been quite shy, but have realised in the past couple of years that it's actually a lot more enjoyable being a more confident and exeburant person. I explained that I was undoubtedly one of the youngest people there, and almost definitely the shortest, yet I did not feel intimidated by those people much older than myself, whereas I would have been a couple of years ago.
Fatal mistake. To test whether I was intimidated by the situation, he conducted the rest of the chat standing extremely close to me, and looking into my eyes at all times! At first, I continued to fend off his (rather nosy!) questions, staring back at him. He had previously mentioned his lack of height, something I also suffer with, and had berated another man for not looking at him when he was speaking to him. I made a joke that I'd have no problem looking into his eyes, being a fellow shorty. Whilst the rest of the group were amused, Mr. Researcher was not!!
As the interrogation continued, I cracked. I got the giggles, and lost any sense of articulacy that I might have had up until then.
I fluffed my way through the rest of it, until he moved on to the final person in the group. One of the questions for this guy was who out the group he would least like to spend time with out the other 7. He chose a girl who spoke 3rd, explaining that she was "like a million other girls."
He told us all he was off to get his stamp, which no doubt doubled up as an opportunity to think about who, if anyone, he would put through. I was expecting the girl next to me to go through, who seemed quite confident, chatty, and who appeared to be fully aware of the type of person she was, and the sort of people she dislikes. She also had quite a controversial job as a BioMedical Researcher - which involved killing the animals that had been tested on for cosmetic products and the like.
He arrived back with his stamp, then informed us that he would not be putting anyone from our group through. Nobody in the group in front of, or behind us was put through either.
In groups we had seen before, either 1 or 2 people from the group progressed to the next stage, which involved sitting in a mini diary room, and speaking into a camera about yourself for a minute. (Something I think I would have fared better at, than having to answer questions you were unprepared for.)
So that was that. I had never expected to go any further than the first stage, being so young. I had gone to the auditions purely for the experience, and I am very glad it's something that I can say I have done now. In all honesty, the thought of being on Big Brother is a horrendous one. Along with having to cope with living, cooped up in a house with 11 strangers, having to contend with negative press, and the stress that it must cause, I would be unable to watch it on the TV!! I am far too much of a fan to let that happen!
Nicki
Last edited by nicki on 14 Apr 05, 19:54, edited 1 time in total.
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