The touring Weakest Link contestant search hit Seattle today. Showed up at the new downtown Hyatt at 11 am. Got a numbered tag and was told to return at 12. At that time I was herded, along with 134 other hopefuls, into a big luxurious meeting room.
A sometimes annoying standup-comic type who claimed his name was Seven presided over the cattle-call round. We all filled out the five-page applications while Seven asked each of us to publicly describe ouselves in the manner of the show’s opening (first name, age, occupation, hometown). There were lotsa would-be amateur comedians during this segment (one young secretarial type announced her occupation as “aspiring prostitute,” for instance). This segment ended with a 20-question trivia test. Seven read the questions aloud; we answered on the last page of our applications. I knew all but two.
After a 20-minute break, I was one of the 27 from the large group invited to a smaller upstairs meeting room. We had our Polaroids taken, had short interviews with a second (and more obnoxious) casting coordinator, and were put into four groups to, one group at a time, play a quick round of the game in front of a little video camcorder. Of my three questions, I only got one right, but tried to at least be entertainingly wrong on the other two.
We were told that this round was mainly to test our personalities and “chemistry” with other players, and that the final decision on whom (if anyone) would get plane tix to Beautiful Downtown Burbank would depend on what types they’re looking to mix-n’-match for any particular episode’s roster. Even then, 14 people would be flown in, with the producers choosing the 8 on-air players at the studio. The rest would be eligible for future call-backs.
Both facilitators mentioned this audition was for the network WL with the fetishistically-prim Anne Robinson, not the impending syndicated version. We were even told to talk back to the second MC as if he were Anne.
It was a pleasant enough way to kill three hours. I didn’t clam up on the camcorder, and remembered to smile and sass back when the male pseudo-Anne sassed me. I’m not obsessed with getting on the show, but it would be nice to get the trip and two free nights at the Sheraton-Universal.
