I’VE MADE NEW FRIENDS, I HAVE NO DOUBT.....
DID THE SALSA, THE CAN CAN, A BIT OF TAI CHE.....
JUST HOPE MY BODY WASN’T TOO WOBBLY!!!!
It’s hard to know where to start this week,
It was audition time in London for the forthcoming Iceland TV adverts. Me and some lucky others were summoned to London to strut our stuff for the advertising agencies.
Rob and I were invited to stay overnight on Friday with the Iceland team in a top London Hotel. That in itself was an exciting experience for us as our normal holidays generally involve tents or caravans and lots of children! Saturday morning came very quickly and after a lovely breakfast we were on our way to casting studios to prepare for screen tests.
First stop was hair and makeup. As I walked in I recognised Charlene, one of the other 7 finalists already having her makeup done. She greeted me warmly and we started chatting and she said it was her birthday. I think it’s one she will remember! She was so down to earth and friendly I started thinking this is going to be a good day and nowhere near as stressful as the first auditions when we were all strangers. Soon Lizzie, another finalist, and Amira arrived too and again I felt very at ease as we were all soon chatting as if we had known each other for a long time.Perhaps we were chatting too much as I did not notice at first what was happening to my hair. When I looked back at the mirror my first thought was that I had turned into Margaret Thatcher! I didn’t want to offend the hair lady so I politely asked if she really thought it looked better like that. She looked unsure and answered “well you are supposed to look like a mum!” Perhaps my expectations that she could turn me into a Claudia Schiffer lookalike were unrealistic, I admit that, but on the other hand I wasn’t ready just yet to be Margaret Thatcher either! In the end we compromised and put my hair up as that meant I still recognised myself as me.
Next stop was wardrobe where the lady who measured me made my day by saying my waist measurement was 26”. My dream didn’t last long though as I thought it through, and had a vision of being given a skirt I could only fit one leg into so had to ask her to do it again and see if she had made a mistake, which sadly she had.
The first part of the audition involved the four of us sitting round a table having a general chat whilst being filmed and a panel of people watching and writing notes. I have no idea what they were writing but found it quite easy to forget they were there. Somehow we got onto the subject of me going to Glastonbury this year and a device I had recently purchased designed to allow ladies to spend less time looking for toilets and manage the situation more like men do (can’t wait to try it out!). When I remembered we were being filmed I kept trying to change the subject but it just kept coming back as they were all interested in how it worked. Not sure it was what they wanted to capture on camera though!
We then were given more specific lines to put into the conversation and this became harder, especially when I had to say “I’m thinking of painting my living room red what you think?” Anyway we got through that bit by laughing a lot and then found we had to pretend we were doing Tai chi for the next part which was even funnier. Lizzie and I both said we wished we had spent more time on our Wii fits as balance has never been a strong point of mine. When we had to do “the monkey” position at the end I looked like a tree that had just been felled as I slowly started leaning until I expected someone to shout “TIMBER” and toppled like a skittle.
The next part was even more fun as we went to a dance room with a big long table of people at the end just like in the Flash dance film. Unfortunately any similarity to Flash dance ended there. We had been given a dance teacher and tutu style skirts with leggings underneath. I kept having a vision of myself as the ballet dancing hippos and elephants in the Disney film Fantasia!The dance instructors were amazing and got us all doing a bit of salsa followed by the can can. The whole thing was filmed so am keeping fingers crossed it doesn’t end up on You Tube as most of the time I was pulling my leggings back up and re arranging my bra! They were much kinder than Simon Cowell though and said that we all looked good but without video evidence I’m still not convinced. When I recreated the routine for the boys at home they just stared at me with sympathetic faces! One thing is certain though, it was good fun and I think we all helped each other get through it.
By this point any worries I had about embarrassment had all gone, so when they asked us if we were prepared to each sing something I thought well I have nothing left to lose!
Charlene, Lizzie and Amira weren’t keen to sing either, but like me were all prepared to give it a shot. I thought they all sounded fantastic. I couldn’t think of many songs that I know the words to, usually when I sing at home in private it’s along with the music and you make up the words you can’t hear properly; I’m still convinced in Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” she sings “young girl with eyes like potatoes” Anyway, the only song that came to mind was “You are my Sunshine” as I used to sing it to both the boys as babies and strangely it used to stop them crying! Think it has the opposite effect on adults though and makes them cry! I warned them it would be awful, and it was, but they kindly pretended it wasn’t. Never mind I felt very proud of myself for even doing it!
We summed up the whole experience later when the four of us sat and had a final chat before making our way home. Lizzie and I both said whatever happens next it’s just amazing to do something so out of the ordinary. We all have our busy lives and routines but how often do you get to stick a tutu on and dance around like a lunatic in front of judges?! Life is for living and even if you feel you might make a fool of yourself, just give it a shot sometimes and you might be surprised at just how much fun it is.
Next stop for me Glastonbury. I wonder if my new dance moves will impress the crowds there…
Ellie x
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