The Fairy Tale
On Friday, I travelled to Toronto to participate in a Canadian reality tv show. It's basically a gay dating show. Take The Dating Game, with a dash of Elmidate and mix with Blind Date, and you've got Fairy Tale (yes that is what it is called).
I was set to be one of three contestants vying to go on a date with the main character. I arrived on set early and met the host and all the crew, and with my two "competitors" when they arrived. One was a Canada Post clerk who builds roller coasters out of Kinex and loves Madonna. He was 25. The other was a former Canada Post clerk, who now works at Body Body and builds doll houses in his spare time. He was 30-something. Both were wearing typical tight shorty short sleeved t-shirts. I wore a brown t-shirt underneath a long sleeved looser fitting snazzy shirt from American Eagle.
The way the show works, is each of the three contestants gets 45 seconds "to pitch" themself to the main guy. We were all a tad nervous, and then they brought in the main guy. I almost pissed myself - as I totally recognized him. I wish I could give the full background on him between us, but space does not permit. Basically, you just need to know his name is Rob and he is best friends with Andréa's cousin. I have never met him but almost 2 years ago, we chatted regularily on MSN and exchanged photos.
Anyhow, when the time came to make his selection for who he wanted to go on the date with, he selected me (there really was no contest). When we first started talking, he was like "how do I know you?" He thought I had done porn, but I filled him in our connection and he totally remembered. This connection really eased us and allowed us to just have a fun time with it. I knew right away his motives for doing the show were the same as mine: to just have fun with it.
I really don't want to reveal too much of the date itself, because you'll be able to see it all go down at the end of February (I'll be having a viewing party). We went fencing, and then out to dinner at the sketchiest place they could have taken us. Afterwards, Rob invited me back to his loft as his roommate was hosting a party. Nothing outlandish happened. I was down with the makings of a flu, so I definately didn't want to intiate any lip-locking. Please note, the only reason I would have engaged in lip-locking is simply because it'd make for great tv.
Speaking of which, after this expierence I don't know that Reality TV should be called Reality TV. I definately think I much prefer something like Fairy Tale to be classified as Unscripted Drama. Most of our time was spent preparing for sound checks or lighting checks. it was just not realistic in the least bit. One thing is for certain, the sound and lighting crew are really unsung heros when it comes to unscripted tv programs, and probably all tv programs.
I now can say I have done "Reality TV."