Well, that was exciting and nerve racking! I actually didn't anticipate being featured so heavily in the first show. I was nervous about how I was going to look physically, but outside of a few barf-worthy shots, it actually wasn't that bad.
It's funny, in television, how something like reality can be portrayed in so many different ways. Take, for instance, the "fight" between Brent and Laura. Because I was a team lead I was able to really see both sides, where both parties were being a bit over-eager, or maybe trying to squeeze their way into the lead role, but if they would've just sat down in the beginning and actually voted on a team lead, like we did in the advertising MARKETING team, then it would've gone over much more smoothly.
There definitely were a lot of trials involved in the set up of that event, but we had FOUR DAYS to pull it all together and I am certain, without a doubt, that it went off hitch-free for the mostpart! And yes, most of the "hitches" we came across, seemed to be put upon us by production. Everyone was prepared for what was to come and we had our gloves on ready to fight from the get-go! Not fight each other, but fight to win!
I did feel like the show was really fast-paced, probably too much so. It just zoomed so fast through every part you barely had time to settle into a scene and what was going on. Even the nominations were zoomed past. Hubs was pretty annoyed that they got his last name wrong, especially since we re-shot it again with the proper last name and they STILL used mine. Poor guy!
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| Day ONE of filming. |
That payday loan situation was REALLY difficult to talk about. Hubs and I had actually agreed beforehand that we weren't going to mention it. We didn't want people we know or love to think we are that irresponsible with our money, but between being out of work while I had Cash and our really difficult closing situation with our builder, it just happened. There wasn't anything we could do because every week we just dug ourselves in deeper. It was such a difficult situation and something we didn't talk about with anyone we knew, we just kept hoping it would solve itself somehow, some sort of windfall would come and help us climb out of the hole.
And, it sort of did. I know that sounds bad, because nobody (usually) has a reality TV show that forces them to organize a ginormous yard sale in five days and allows them to sell $850 worth of stuff they're not using in their homes, but I do have to say that if you're in some sort of increasingly difficult debt situation, you NEED to do something about it. We sold things that meant SO much to us. Hubs' drum kit, guitars, CD's, records, baby toys and clothes... but we didn't need any of that stuff more than we needed a roof over our heads and if selling things we thought meant something to us meant ridding ourselves of that debt then it was a great decision. So if you're facing increasing debt, take a look around and get rid of things you don't need, even if it's hard. It WILL be worth it in the end!
One thing that REALLY bugged me was EVERY week that we had an event to promote the production team kept calling it the "Advertising" team... it became one of my biggest pet peeves! Advertising is when you BUY advertising in media, like for instance a commercial or a billboard. It costs money and it's not really that difficult to accomplish. Marketing, on the other hand, is using everything from social media to grass roots/traditional marketing methods to word of mouth to help promote an event, brand or product. What I DO is marketing, and I'm damn good at it! (Did you SEE all of those people who went to the sale? How many yard sales have you seen that sold almost $80K in one day?!) Every week they'd say "And who wants to be on the Advertising team?!" and I'd say "MARKETING! It's MARKETING!!!!!!" but lo and behold, lol.
I have to say that seeing all of these people that I now love so dearly, remembering back to the days not too long ago when we didn't know each other. All standing under the crane (yes it was a crane, not a helicopter! haha!) looking up at the sky, exchanging email addresses when we found out what our challenge would be, sitting around judging each other silently, figuring out everyone's "stories"... it feels like thousands of weeks have gone by since then. The time has gone quickly, our tans have all faded (sigh) and in return we've gained the most amazing group of friends one could imagine. We're all really there for each other. The camera crews have gone home, but what they left in their wake cannot be described in a paragraph. We are all bonded together by this truly unique and memorable experience. We all share a community, stores, schools, workplaces, roads and friends. Most of us didn't know each other before this all started, some of us (ahem) didn't know anybody. But now, more of us than not can truly say how grateful and proud we are to have become the Million Dollar Neighborhood.
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watching the episode with many of our nearest and dearest MDNers!
me lookin' a fool, of course! |
My favourite thing about tonight's episode wasn't seeing my face plastered in almost every segment (what the hell was that about anyway?! lol geez!) but the fact that we spent it watching with several of the families who we participated in the show with. Many of our now closest friends. We laughed, we cried (Rhonda!) and we snarled along with it, probably even more so than most people could understand.
Thanks so much for watching Episode One, Season 2 of Million Dollar Neighborhood with me! You can tune back in next week on OWN Canada at 8pm EST (Sunday night) for Episode 2! Wait 'til you see what we got to drive in! ;)
