My Screen Debut!

THE TIME HAS COME TO JUMP AND SHOUT.....
THIS IS WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT.....
I’M IN AN ADVERT ON THE TELLY....
IT’S PIZZA NIGHT ROUND AT ELLIE’S!!

As I sit in my kitchen surrounded by a rice krispie breakfast explosion I wonder what the word “celebrity” really means. Whatever it is I feel sure that despite my first T.V appearance I am not one! Try as I might I just can’t imagine people like Beyonce or Davina McCall scraping cereal off the chairs and the floor every morning!

The next thought I have is that despite all that I am still very happy to be just me and wouldn’t want to swap places with anybody. Life is not all about celebrities, Iceland have given me and the other mum’s the chance to do something special, and show that normal ordinary people sometimes get to follow their dreams! I really hope that everyone watching our first adverts can identify with us as real people who deal with work, school runs, and getting cemented weetabix off breakfast bowls on a daily basis!

As most people know by now since I was very little I always wanted to be in an advert after seeing the “shake and vac” lady jumping around her sitting room with the hoover. I also used to amuse my friends on the school bus by memorising particular adverts and reinacting them on the way to school; the saddest part is that most of them I still remember: “drinka pinta milkaday”, “watch out! Watch out! There’s a Humphrey about” and “The twin Twix pack is the longer lasting snack” to name but a few! So you can imagine my excitement as the day of the first advert screening approached. I finally had my own advert!
 

Me and My Star Mum!

 All the family came round and we all sat patiently waiting for it to come on. Normally you might go to make a cup of tea when the adverts start, but this time we were watching avidly. Every time an advert started we sounded like people watching a firework display going “oooo, ahhh “and then “no not that one!” Sam and Luke enjoyed saying “oh look that’s you mum” to every single advert that came on including the annoying singing opera man, and the piece of cheese that goes for a swim, and an old lady in a stair lift!

Finally the moment came and I was there, on the screen, clutching my glass of watered down apple juice and having a pizza with Eve, Amira, Alissa, and Sue! Then I saw the words “pizza night at Ellie’s” come up on screen at the end and thought that is really me and I did it! 

Everyone was surprised to see me!


 It felt so surreal to see myself and my friends on T.V and we all laughed and clapped. I then had lots of nice messages sent through by text by people all saying they were proud of me. What was also really nice was the enthusiasm of the other “Iceland mums” who will be shown later in the big Christmas advert with all of us together. They all sent messages to us on facebook saying how well we had done.

There are four autumn adverts in total and I am in two of these but it is just as exciting seeing my friends in the other two. I still shout out to the boys “look there is Charlene, there is Alissa, and Eve, and Lizzie! I know them!” and they say “yes mum we know!”


They are all live on air now and I was even more excited to see the “dinner party at Eve’s” advert for two reasons. Firstly I get to hear my own voice in this one, and secondly Jason Donovan is our surprise waiter! The surprise you see on our faces when he comes in and says “hello ladies” is real because no one at Iceland had told us he would be there. We had practised that shot several times with another person being the waiter, then after a few takes we did the same thing again and there was Jason! We had time to have a chat with him after filming too and he seemed like a very down to earth nice person in real life. I never would have dreamed all those years ago watching neighbours and crying when “Scott” and “Charlene” got married that one day I would be meeting Jason and starring in a T.V advert with him! Life can be funny sometimes!

As if all that wasn’t enough excitement I also had a trip down to Bridgewater this week to attend one of Iceland’s employee meeting and to give a small talk on how it felt to have won the “new face of Iceland “competition. This is yet another time I have proved to myself that I really am capable of more than I thought. I didn’t know I could talk in front of a room full of people without going bright red and fainting or stuttering but I did!

That's me!

I even answered questions at the end. One of the questions they asked was “has your life changed a lot since winning this competition and now being on T.V?”

The answer to this question brings me back to the rice krispie explosion I described at the start, which is still waiting to be cleaned up as I write this. I have to say that rather than my life changing, it now feels more like I have a double life. My normal life continues exactly the same, the only difference is that I now get to go off and do extraordinary things as well. This whole experience and every new “mission” or “assignment” for Iceland is enhancing my life, but not changing it, and to be honest I wouldn’t want it any other way. When I left they said jokingly “do you have to rush back to do another store opening, or meet the queen or something” and I said “no, I just need to be back in time for the school run!”

Iceland picked me, and the other mum’s in the adverts because they recognised us as normal, average Iceland customers. We are all unique and different but all the heroes of our own families. I think rather than aspiring to be celebrities we should all take pride in who we are already and just let that shine through! I also think that applies to absolutely everyone whether or not you get to be on the T.V. We are all stars in our own families and in the end it’s always going to be their opinions that matter the most.

Thanks for reading

Ellie

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