Got a coupleemails from potential contestants that
auditioned and thought i would share them. A great time was had by…. most, and of course there are always
stories behind the story which is behind the story , and of course the stories behind the making of the
story….make sure to readall the emails to get the full effect 🙂
First, thanks for sandi andmartha for making sure things were done right 🙂
Turns out Laura was right on. Its amazing how many emails I have received telling me how
greata time people had at the auditions,with the omnipresent “oh by the way” .
Email #1
You mentioned a week or so ago that you’d like
feedback from any who attended auditions for The Benefactor. I did not audition, rather I accompanied a
friend…she’s a female, was going alone, and I love to observe people. There was nothing at stake for me but a
chance to observe a new experience and how it works. I don’t even watch those reality shows!
After our 3 hour drive we reached Dallas and
Eddie Deen’s around 7:00ish
. We were the second people there, after Artemis and his dog
who had arrived around
5:00.
We came to refer to him as “Number 1 and dog”. The parking attendant told us the facility was booked with 2
parties and would not be available until
midnight.
The excitement was high so we said, “Great! We can have a real dinner” and come back later. We were
prepared with food, drink just in case we had to eat on the streets of downtown
Dallas.
A plan was plotted to come up with something
to provide my friend with a “hook” to improve her chances in the selection process. After a few hours at
Kinko’s we were ready to organize the whole event…at least until the real organizers got there the next
morning. It is our nature to organize things since that is what we do in our work each day…we organize
children, teachers, books, parents…it’s exhausting… we love it. I have discovered, through experience, the
nature of most people is to find comfort and security in knowing there is organization…someone in charge.
We returned to Eddie’s around
10:30pmready
to meet a crowd waiting to get into the parking lot and to begin our scheme. Only #1 and his dog were there and
the parking lot had only a few cars left over from the parties. We settled into our perfect parking spot and
finalized the details of our plot. As people slowly began to show up we informed them that at
midnightwe
would begin to distribute numbers to auditioners as they arrive, to indicate the order in which they would enter
at
9:00.
No one questioned us, probably because of our official looking nametags we had designed.
There were a couple of people who came
before
midnight,
and as the night progressed a few more each hour showed up. Some walked up, some drove, some were dropped
by taxi straight from the airport. There were a few who brought their party with them. But everyone was
nice…really nice and considerate…an interesting setting. We spoke to everyone who came, even if briefly,
because the word spread that all must get a number from the “ticket ladies”. As you know, everyone has a story
and many were shared as we became a “benefactor family” for the hours we were there together in the dark. There
were some who were in serious need of the million dollars up for grabs; most were there for sheer fun and
excitement! We shared food, information, speculation, chairs, support and the thrill of possibilities to
come. Wish you could have been there (unnoticed) to see everyday, good people looking for something fun to add
to their life experiences.
Only one of the “family” had done this
audition thing before, and even he was a novice. You know who I’m speaking of… Chris McKeever. A regular,
nice guy…definitely one of the “family”. I hope he was given a fair chance at his filming; he would be liked by
the public if he was selected for The Benefactor. BTW, I had read his blog and yours and didn’t see anything
wrong with him being a reality show “groupie”…after all it was his time, effort and money.
At around
4:00amgreater
numbers began to arrive, and by
6:00there
was a steady stream. Everyone came for their ticket. Near
7:30we
began to call out numbers and line people up in orderly fashion. There were almost 200 people by that
time. We had prepared 210 tickets which had been completely distributed by
8:00amand
those who came after just found their place at the end of the line. We asked several “family’ members if they
would mind giving a plug for the “ticket ladies”. They still thought we were legit and Martha still needed her
“hook”. When the real people finally took over everyone was happily waiting in numerical order to
enter!
What fun we had… and I think we actually
helped everyone there…you, Eddie’s people, casting crew, security guys, and especially the first 210 members of our
new “family”!! This is one reality show I won’t miss!!!
Now for the 2nd Email , with a twist as all reality shows should have
!
Mark,
My name is Laura and I attended the Dallas audition to support my boyfriend who was trying out. I hesitated writing
you but I will regret it if I don’t email you and fill you in. I’m not a sports fan and not from Texas so I
didn’t know much about you until this weekend. There were many fans of yours in line…you seem like a genuine fun
guy.
The reason I am writing you is because you have one obsessed fan and I think you should know about it. We were
approached in line by a guy name Chris McKeever. He walked up to everyone and gave them a copy of your blog entries.
He then asked for all of our email addresses “so he could stay in touch with people if they made it to the next
round”. Turns out, he had ulterior motives…
I received an email from him yesterday requesting that I send you an email “recommending that he gets picked for your
show”. He told me what to write and how to write it-he told me to tell you how much fun I had in line and to ramble
on about stuff but to drop his name nonchalantly to not make it obvious that I was promoting him.
What I find tacky is that he did this to many in line. I read this morning that you posted and email from one of the
number galsI believe her name is Sandi. Her email was rehearsed by him and I would like to suggest that you don’t
take Chris McKeever serious.
He is such a damn fake and it makes my skin crawl. What he won’t tell you is that he has auditioned for The Real
World, Survivor, Big Brother, and Paradise Hotel!!! He was bragging to us in line that he had a friend from college
that worked with casting agencies and they always got him in front of the casting director for these type of shows.
And, he was complaining that he doesn’t have any inside edge for your show.
I just thought you’d like to know the truth behind this guy. He’s a true scam artist and good at it.
Thanks so much,
Laura
California
and by the way, I did have an absolute blast hanging around the audition. I wanted to try out but cannot make the
time commitment. Have fun with your show!
Email#3
Mark,
It was so wild to see my friend’s email on your blog. Thank you…it made her day!
Remember when you came out of Eddie Deen’s, jumped on the table with the bullhorn? Do you remember seeing the
nice, orderly line. Well…that is because of my friend, Sandi(wrote the email you posted) and I decided there needed
to be some order to the tryouts.
We came up with the idea to give out numbers to the people audtioning. We even made realistic name badges to wear.
It made the night go so smooth and people weren’t about being in line or pushing to get in the morning. We had people
eating out of our hand..they offered us drinks…got us food…we had the power…the ones with the numbers!
I did the little hoax to show that I would be great material for the Benefactor. I can think on my feet and work
well with groups…well hundreds in a group! I talked about what I did the night before with numbering on my video
tryout. I’m #203.
I must say I had an absolutely wonderful time Friday night and Saturday.
It was a blast! I can’t believe we duped everyone, even the casting director, Nikki thanked us for organzing the
line! She thought we worked for ABC Temp Company.
