Is this real life?!

Wow. Wow wow wow is all I can say. This past week has been QUITE an adventure!

Let's start with last Monday night (6/21). So being the geek that I am, I'm just browsing the internet and go to this American Idol/SYTYCD message board I like to go to for show spoilers and other info, and come across a posting saying something along the lines of free tickets to this week's tapings of SYTYCD. So I click as freaking fast as I could and contact the guy, who actually runs a SYTYCD website (sytycdism.com), and he gives me his tickets because he wasn't able to attend this week. UM HELLO. Too freaking easy. He just emails them to me and I print them off. Really? Really. K great.

So Wednesday (6/23) gets here and I get off work at 12. So right after work I hail a cab and go to CBS studios, which is actually right behind my apartment, and as I pull up in the cab to get in the wait line, these three girls are getting out of their car. So they're like "hey, we have a friend!" and we start talking immediately, and they even had an extra lawn chair for me to sit in, haha! So yeah...we're definitely the first four people in line, and they automatically adopt me into their group. So fun! Eventually more people show up, and we were under the impression that since we were first in line we would be first to get in to the studio. Ohhh no.

Once the staff checked us all in, we were put into a holding area where we go through metal detectors and the whole shebang, and then they have people with headsets on directing you to certain benches. Now, these girls I was with were totally precious, but they were in their late 20s/early 30s and all had babies at home. I was in work clothes and know for a fact that by this time of the day I looked awful, since I had been up since 4:30 am! So we were first put on what we nicknamed the "fugly bench". Hahaha omg it was seriously hilarious. We were sitting there as all these little teeny boppers in mini dresses walked right past us, even though we had been in line since 12:30, and were directed to the "pretty bench". The girls are taking it pretty well, and they keep saying to me "you're so hot, we're so sorry you got stuck with us! Go over there NOW and get a good seat, you shouldn't be over here!" I was literally cracking up because I seriously didn't care, but they felt SO BAD and felt responsible for us getting put on the old people bench. See, how they do it is they put the youngin's and nicely dressed people up front because that's who you're going to see on camera, and they also want the target demographic to be shown. So all of the adults are put in the back because well...life just ain't fair. BUT then we got upgraded to one of the first benches because more older people showed up, hehehe. Once we got into the studio, we actually didn't have that bad of a spot. We were about in the middle of the "pit" area. At one point Cat Deeley was announcing from the audience and she was RIGHT NEXT TO ME. Ugh she is so wonderful. She would interact with the audience and talk to the people around her – she seriously seems so genuinely nice. Love herrrr.

Being there for LIVE performance show was so awesome – just feeling the energy and excitement was such a great experience. One downside was I couldn’t really see the actual action on the stage because people’s big ol’ heads were blocking my view…AND stupid me forgot to set the DVR to record the show! Ay yi yi. Oh well, it was still AH-MAZING!!! Oh, and a lot of past contestants were there watching like Legacy, Chelsie Hightower, and Neil was in the audience since he didn’t dance that week. And I got to see all the choreographers as well. TRAVIS!TYCE!AHHHH. Amazeballs.

Well, once the show was over it was about 7 and I had RSVP’d to go to a taping of The Soup at work, which began at 7:15! So the girls I met ever so graciously offered me a ride to E! and I got there right in time! I met up with Bianca, the other intern for E! News Now AND fellow Theta sister, and her friend (also a Theta) and her friend’s sister. Let me just say…I’ve never found Joel McHale that attractive, but in person…whole other story. We were all like swooning over him. And omg he is HILARIOUS. There was this one part where he had to say “Icelandic glacier” and he could NOT GET IT. I swear they re-shot like 15 times and he messed up every time. And he was also SO NICE. He signed autographs and took pictures with everyone at the very end, so we hung back so we could be the last ones haha. Such a cool guy! After the taping Bianca and I took her friends up to our department and showed them around and we watched Melana Scantlin (one of the “talent” who shoots the standups for our online news clips, and who is also the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet) shoot a news segment. We also dorkily took pictures and snooped around Giuliana’s office (not inside! Ha, just outside). So after that Bianca took me home and I realized I had been up since 4:30 and the exhaustion hit me. So I hit the sack!

Thursday…SYTYCD taping = whoooole other story. While Wednesday’s experience was AWESOME, Thursday was INSANE. Like…couldn’t have asked for more. I learned my lesson the day before and got up, showered, did my hair and dressed very nicely. I like to call the look I was rockin’ on this day “The Kardashian”. I had a semi-middle part going on and everything. Blazer, skinny jeans, black top…totally Kim. Haha but anyways, I also took a note from the previous day and showed up later so I didn’t have to wait in line quite as long. By the time I got there, I was in the middle-ish of the line (instead of, oh you know, fourth). I was behind this really good-looking couple and then behind me were these ANNOYING girls who just…ugh. I now know EXACTLY what a Valley Girl is, let’s just say that. But alas, karma came around to get them when the girl who checks the audience guests in busted them for having open toed shoes on and told them to run to Goodwill to get some different shoes (you can’t wear anything but closed toed flats to the tapings because you stand the whole time and if you get stepped on my camera crew or break your ankle it’s a liability). Well naturally, these girls were OFFENDED at the thought of buying shoes from Goodwill, but they went anyway. (I’ll be honest, the thought of wearing used clothes freaks me out…a lot. Especially shoes. But if I had to wear some used shoes to go to a taping of SYTYCD, I would wear some from a freaking homeless man. Come on now!) Anywho, they came back and “didn’t find anything”, so they gave up their spot in line and I met this girl and her mom who were very nice, and I ended up sitting with the girl and chatting with her for the rest of the day. She was Team Billy, and as we all know I’m totally Team Kent, so it was fun to have a spaz out partner whenever either of them waved to us/took the stage.

So finally we get up to the infamous holding area, where they decide what “bench” you belong on, and I hear the woman on the headset say “put the couple on bench 1” (the couple in line in front of me). So I watch her point them toward bench 1…the “pretty people” bench, reserved for those they want to be seen on camera/in the front, and then, as if in slow motion, she looks at me, points her magical finger and utters the words “follow them”. Me? Follow the bench 1 couple? AHHHHH. I mean, not only was I going to be like, FRONT ROW, but I was officially deemed a camera-ready, hand-picked audience member! Definite confidence boost, hahaha! ;)

So I sit on the bench next to Brangelina 2.0, and my friend from the line outside came and sat beside me. Then these two gay guys…probably in high school/probably still in the closet…sat beside us and we bonded over Justin Bieber. It was good times. So finally we get in the studio and there I am, like 2nd row (sadly they put all the short 13 year olds in front so they could see), RIGHT NEXT to the judge’s table. Commence freak out. When they introduced Adam, Mia and Nigel, I was like…drooling at them. And then Adam waved to meee! Ahh, and during the show Mia and I kept looking at each other and when Jose was announced safe he was like so shocked and it was so sweet, so Mia looked over at me and like caught my eye and did a little nose/shoulder scrunch as if she were saying “he’s so cute!”. I loved watching the judges’ reactions. Mia DEFINITELY loves Jose, like she would not stop smiling at him when he was on stage. And she definitely voted against Cristina because I saw after she did her solo she was writing a note to Adam and at the end drew a BIG X. So clearly she was cut, haha.

What I love about this show and being able to experience it live is that the judges, and CAT especially, genuinely love and care for these dancers. The judges constantly smiled at them and watched their every move when they were on stage. They watched the beginning group dance (which was taped separately, along with that Debi Nova girl’s performance – which I got to see done twice hehe) and clapped for them and told them they all did so good. And Cat would just hug them after their solos and would chat with them during commercial, seriously SO SWEET. I just got such a different vibe than when I was at the American Idol taping. The judges left during every commercial break, Ryan Seacrest (love him to death, don’t get me wrong) just hung out backstage, kinda as if he was hiding and didn’t interact with the audience AT ALL, the contestants were kept backstage, etc. It just felt so manufactured and disconnected. However, when I went we were at the Nokia instead of the usual CBS soundstage because it was the finale, so it could have just been different that particular night.

Anywho, once the show started they began to announce the contestants safe/bottom 3 right off the bat. My little Kenty Poo was first to be announced safe, and once the contestants are announced safe, they stand in front of the judges table…aka RIGHT NEXT TO ME! So Kent comes down the stairs and I catch his eye and give him this dorky thumbs up and huge smile, and he returns the thumbs up and mouths “thank you so much” to me. Well that night while I rewatched it (I remembered to DVR it this time) THEY SHOW HIM DOING THAT!!! I will forever have that memory documented. AH, so so great. During the rest of the show I managed to get smiles and waves from Billy and Alex, too. Hehehehe and not to brag, but I would look over at the contestants a bunch just to see what they were doing/how they interacted with each other and I would notice Kent looking RIGHT AT ME then he’d like look away when he saw me looking. It’s love. We’re dating. No big deal. Hehehehe.

Sadly, the taping came to an end and as I was walking out of the studio, Comfort was standing on the edge of the stage talking to some people, so I called her name and threw up the IV REAL sign and she did it back and laughed! Dallas representtttt. Ha, and then once I got outside I saw Kent’s dad and we chatted for a bit. Thought about giving him my number to relay to Kent, but even I decided that was too far. ;) Basically…going to those tapings and being in the presence of such genius and personal inspiration were DEFINITELY some of the best experiences OF MY LIFE. But do not fear…the insanity of this week continued. Stay tuned for my next blog! :)