Jill and I had to be at the studio at 9.15am.. I discovered that the first train out of Audley End is at 7.47 which left just about enough time. Luckily I bought my ticket the day before because the ticket office was empty and the waiting room is locked. Poor people who have to work on a Sunday.One advantage of starting so early was that I didn't have time to get nervous. On the train I listened to movie review podcast I like which pretty much took my mind off things but I was thinking. Hereafter with Matt Damon, I must remember that if Matt Damon comes up as a question.
I got to the BBC just about on time and we were all taken to the green room. The BBC TV centre is huge. Corridor after corridor and other than going to the loo I'm not sure I'd have been able to find my way back. Once we got to the green room the nerves were beginning to kick in a little. They started out reading and 10 page document explaining the rules and, harnessing the spirit of my 13 year old self, I managed not to listen to them. When they had finished after half an hour I said to Jill. They're pretty much the same aren't they? Only to find they were a little different and she had to explain the changes to me. Still she knew what she was getting when she chose me as a team mate. I hate reading game rules and usually get Trev or Kieran to explain them to me. She just had to fulfill that role.
One rule I did listen to was that you must disclose if you knew another contestant. Strangely enough I did. On the basis that I always seem to be bumping into people I know. It turned out that the brother of one of Erin's school friends was a fellow contestant. However we weren't to be on the same show and they considered it not too close a connection so no drastic actions was necessary.
Rather excitingly one of the other contestants had been on Bullseye many moons ago. It was a pretty naff quiz show that Trev and I were a bit obsessed with. It would be two friends on it and they could win things like a motor boat, which you always thought - how are they going to split that?. Anyway this bloke went on with his brother in law and they won a caravan. At the time his brother in law was 18 with no car and the the contestant only had a Lada which was barely capable of getting itself up a hill let alone towing anything. So apparently they sold it.
After the rule reading it was time for hair and make up and I have to say this is one of the most exciting things of the day. They had told us that they wouldn't make us up and I had put a little bit on. However the make up girl that I had obviously decided that I was to be her blank canvas. She worked on me for half an hour. She put individual false eye lashes on with tweezers. At the end I was totally evoking the spirit of Cleopatra. Here is a picture of what I looked like when I got home.
Meanwhile my friends and family were gathering to support me. They had put no limit on the amount of people I could invite so I invited pretty much everyone on my Xmas card list who was in the country. Apparently nobody else had this idea and they were rather surprised by the large proportion of the audience made up of Carters/ Martins and Saffron Walden massive but actually please because it would have been rather empty without them. Many thanks to them for coming. Here are some of Trev's pictures of them at the BBC. Apparently they had to do much ooing and clapping and laughting and were exhausted at the end of it.
Then it was off to the studio for the floor manager to go through the ropes. It was here that I was really getting nervous and there is something about me being nervous that I stop listening. Luckily Jill isn't similarly affected so I could ask her about anything I had missed.
After that we went to get changed. Wardrobe had decided which of our 5 outfits were most suitable and had ironed them to perfection.
Then is was SHOWTIME!
Fear was setting in now and thought I am going to giggle idiotically or start gabbling like a loon. However, these people do know what they are doing. They took us to a room adjacent to the studio (where they used to film Top of the Pops) where they would mike us up and touch up our make up. It was now that the production team started to come and chat with us and it had the calming effect necessary. When we went into the studio I was relieved to see that I could see the audience but because of the lights couldn't make eye contact so was less likely to giggle.
The production team stayed with us and kept us talking and I found that the nerves did calm down. The two stars Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman both chatted with us. Apparently Alexander's uncle lives in Saffron Walden and Richard Osman came from Billaricay originally. (Honestly being from Essex is a bit like being from an ostracized group - all day we had people telling us that Essex was lovely really and they all knew people from Essex.)
Anyway the show went on and we didn't make idiots of ourselves. I found that the nerves did stay under control and I did relax. I do now have a lot of respect for people who do well in really hard quiz shows because it is hard not to blank on questions to which you should really know the answers. I did make a few mistakes but nothing catastrophic. It was very exciting when between rounds the make up people came and touch up our make up. Like being a real star. Just before the final I managed to spill water on my top so they had to lead me off and blow dry me.
It was all great fun and a real learning experience. Totally exhausting.
We didn't win the jackpot but the boy I new in the green room won it in the show after ours. So it goes to show Essex rules.
