|
Monday 6th March
After the great day out I had at last years' London auditions, I dragged a friend along to Wembley yesterday morning to experience this years' Big Brother try-outs.
We arrived at the conference centre shortly after 9am. I did a quick count, and estimated there were about 400 people in the queue. The first groups of wannabees were seen at 9.15am, and after last year, I was expecting a wait of up to 4 hours. However, there were up to 9 producers talking to a group of 10 people at any one time, so the queue moved remarkably quickly. Far too quickly for my liking really, as I was anticipating using the queue time to deliberate what to say, and what aspects of my character I thought would appeal to the producers.
The vast majority of the auditionees were under 30. For the second year running, there were actually very few obvious nutcases auditioning. Of the people in the queue (which seemed to remain around 400 people strong throughout the morning), I could see no more than 15 people dressed up. One guy was dressed in a 70s disco outfit, and he managed to dance for the entire 90 minutes he spent queuing , with the aid of a CD player blasting out cheesy 70s choons. I'm pleased (?) to report that Anthony II made it through to the diary room stage. Other auditionees dressed up included a bumble bee, a ballerina, and a sheikh.
I made it to the front of the queue at 10.40am. We lined up behind a tape to talk to the producer - a very friendly young woman called Louise. She explained we had a minute to tell her and the rest of the group anything about us we thought they might like to hear. She asked if there were any volunteers to go first, so yours truly stuck up her hand, and I made my way to the front of the group to launch into my monologue.
Last year, the producer had interrupted every few seconds with questions, which got on my wick, but this year, I was able to deliver my speech with minimum stoppage!
When my minute was up, I was asked who I'd evict out of the group. I said it was difficult to pick someone given that I was the first to speak, but chose a girl I had been chatting to in the queue - purely because she was absolutely stunning!
In my group, there was also a severely disabled guy, who was in a wheelchair and who required the aid of a helper to interpret his hand gestures, as his speech was very limited. He told the group that it would be a huge challenge, being in the house, and that he wanted to represent disabled people.
After everyone had spoken, the producer went to one side with a second producer (who appeared just after I had finished talking!) to make their decision. Those that got chosen to go through to the next round were the disabled guy, my friend, the friend of the gorgeous girl (who from now on, I shall refer to as "S!"), and a guy that looked like he belonged in Blazin Squad.
Wishing our friends luck, myself and "S" decided that given the other two could be ages, we would queue again, and have another shot. Whilst chatting to her again in the queue, it didnt surprise me to hear that she is the girlfriend of a well known Radio DJ and TV presenter! The queue moved as quickly as before, and audition number two occurred just after midday. There were only two blokes in my second group - one that thought these were the X factor auditions, and the other that I "evicted" for being rather dull and boring. (Sorry, but he was...)
Other than that - what a brilliant group! Given that my friend had got through on the basis that she'd told the producer that she'd slept with a member of a boyband, I thought I too would play the "I've also been involved with a celebrity" card (which is no lie.. haha!) It still didn't work though unfortunately!!
On first impressions, I really liked all the people put through in my second group, and would have no objections to seeing them in the house - two very bubbly young sisters from South London, a Beyonce-a-like, "S", and a lesbian who wanted to "be the first lesbian representee since Anna in BB1". She'd obviously chosen to forget about Kitten.....
Whilst I wasn't surprised I didn't get through (after all - only about 25 - 30% of people do), I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed - not because I crave fame or I actually want to appear on the show, but because I wanted to experience further stages of the auditions from a fans point of view.
I will have to live those out through my friend, who has made it through to the 3rd round, as had to go back on Thursday afternoon for a lengthier chat with the producers. On being chosen from the original group, she had a polaroid photograph taken, had to fill in a short form, then did her one minute spiel to the diary room.
After being told she had made it through this round, she was taken to a room where she had to fill in a 35 page questionnaire about herself, which took nearly 3 hours. One of the questions on this questionnaire is "Name 3 things your Mother doesn't know about you!"
Once again though - a great day out, and a brilliant atmosphere. At one point, over the tannoy came "This is Big Brother!" *Cue a cheer from the queue* "Please carry on with what you are doing!"
Nice touch!
The proceedings were mercifully indoors, and very well organised.
The camera crew from BBLB were out in force, as were all the executive producers. I'll repeat what I said to the boss, Phil Edgar Jones, on the way out: "Good luck with the show. I'll be watching!"
Nicki.
|
