SOTD: OneRepublic "Good Life"
To many, my obsession with Big Brother is probably borderline insane. But what most of you don't know is that I have watched this show since the very first season and have even gone through the casting process three times over the course of the last twelve years!
The first season premiered the summer before I went away to college. My mom and I were hooked all summer and when I moved away that fall, we would call each other and watch it together over the phone long distance. As any mother/daughter relationship goes, there were times when we had little or nothing to say to each other, but we kept these phone dates and if nothing else, Big Brother was our topic for conversation. This ritual continued with each year I lived away from home and even now, we look forward to the beginning of July more because we know the house guests have been chosen and are moving in than we do for the holiday on the 4th!
The first time I applied to be on the show was a fluke. I was working with J. Crew at West Town Mall in Knoxville in the Spring of 2003. The production team had set up shop outside the store to hold an open casting call. I had half an hour for lunch and nothing to do, so I filled out an application and sat down with a producer for a brief on-camera interview. I didn't hear back that season, so I assumed that my dreams of becoming one of the hamsters picked to have my every move recorded within the confines of the BB house were pretty much over. But low and behold, out of the blue, around the end of March 2004, I received a phone call from the casting directors and they had not forgotten about me. I didn't know this at the time, but the twist for that season would be Project DNA: Do Not Assume, and based on the information I had provided on my application a year earlier, I was looking like a good candidate for one of their DNA related twists. For several weeks I continued to conduct phone interviews with the casting department and eventually my options for the Summer of 2004 began to take an interesting shape.
I was working on my first year of graduate school at the time, and not knowing that BB would come calling, I had signed up to spend my summer in Paris, France participating in a study abroad program designed around the concept of communication in global business markets. In fact, our trip was set to begin with a flight out of America on the 4th of July.
So as May approached and I continued to receive phone calls to request more information related to possibly being cast on the upcoming season of BB, I was starting to think that perhaps instead of heading across the pond for the summer, I might be traveling to the left coast and I began to get really excited. It was Mother's Day weekend when I got the call that sent me over the edge. I got a call that Saturday from a guy on the casting team, once again requesting additional information and following up on other statements from my application. But this time, before he hung up, he said, "...if there is anything that you've shared with us that might come out on national television, that your family is not aware of, this would be a good time to fill them in." The following day, Mother's Day, I called my mother and filled her in on every possible thing that might be upsetting if she had heard about it for the first time with the rest of America. (Since I was not cast, and so far, have still not been cast, I will spare you the juicy details. Just know that to this day, I refer to this as the year I ruined Mother's Day.)
I received one last call from the casting associates for that season around the beginning of June. It was still unclear if I would be heading to LA for the final interviews, but I was told if I didn't hear from them within the next week, I could assume I would not be joining the cast that season. A week passed and I bought my flight to Paris. Coincidentally, on the same day that I flew to Europe for my summer abroad, the chosen house guests were entering the BB house to start the season.
A few years later, I submitted another application. I had become a really big fan of the show and due to the writer's strike, BB had a special Spring edition. I didn't get the application in time to be considered for that season, but a few months later (March 2008), out of the blue, I got a call from the casting directors asking if I would be interested in possibly being considered for the upcoming summer season. They asked me to submit another application and video before April 1st.
Once again, I begin to feel a rush of excitement at the possibility and began working on what would become over 20 pages of application. I spent days thinking about the video submission and eventually ended up filming the entire thing in one take while sitting on the counter top of a fake set in the empty studios at my office. On March 31st, I shipped all the materials overnight to the casting department. I received one follow up email and then nothing more. Once again, my dreams were shattered.
I am determined to play this game. I have not applied for either of the last two seasons. Mostly because I put on some extra weight after my move to Atlanta last year and I didn't feel comfortable with myself enough to really go for it. However, that weight is starting to come off, more and more with each passing month and I fully expect I will be ready to try again for next season. I don't want to be on the show because I want to be famous or for the 'celebrity' of it. I want to be on the show to play the game! Each year, when I watch at home, I am envious of the people who are chosen to participate. I always believe I would play the mental game better and the actual physical games seem like so much fun, I just really want to be a part of it all; one of the chosen few.
So, you see, what might seem obsessive to some is simply my dream waiting to come true!
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