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Monday, June 18, 2012

Mormon Matchmaker

t all started back at the end of February. I got a call from my friend Kayleigh that I used to work with at Apx but we became good friends when we found each other's blogs and became blog buddies after we both were no longer at Apx. She called me to tell me that a girl that we used to work with at Apx was working on a Mormon dating project and asked me if I would be interested in helping out. I asked what I would be helping with exactly and she wasn't totally sure. A video thing about dating in Utah. I still wasn't exactly sure what she meant, but I said sure... why not. So she sent me a list of questions and told me to fill them out and send them to this lady along with my picture.

The questions were all about my dating experience, if I went through any hardships, talking about the importance of religion with dating, what my interests and hobbies were.... etc... I filled out the questions in the only way that I do. In GREAT detail. That is me... I'm a talker. I'm sure you figured that out from my blog. Anyway... I just opened up in my questions still not knowing what the heck it was really for. Then I sent it along with my picture. I got an email back right away from the lady I sent it to saying it looked great and thanks. I then forgot about it and went on with my life.

Maybe a week later I was at work when I received a phone call. My caller ID showed a 3 digit number on my phone. I thought to myself how strange that was and answered out of curiosity. It was a lady on the phone asking for me. Conversation went as follows:

Me: "Hello?"
Lady: "Hi, may I speak with Tracy?"
Me: "This is she"
Lady: "Hi Tracy, this is ___ from the Mormon Matchmaker Casting. We read your questionnaire and we think you would be a great candidate for the show. Can we set up an interview with you?"
Me: " Say What?"
Lady: "You filled the questions out in great detail, which we appreciate. We want to interview you for the show."
Me: "Wait, that questionnaire that I filled out was for a show? What kind of show?"
Lady: "A show on National television about Mormon dating."
Me: *starting to get nervous not knowing what I had signed up for* "Oh... where would the show take place? I don't know anything about this. What is the premise of the show? Is it like the Bachelor?"
Lady: "We are a casting agency in LA, but the show would be filmed in Utah. I can't tell you what station it will be on and I can't tell you much about the show. They can tell you more about it and any other questions you may have in your interview."
Me: "Ok"
Lady: "You really didn't know anything about this when you filled out your questions?"
Me: "Nope"
Lady: "Well.... would you still be willing to interview for it?"
Me: "Mmmm... Sure, why not."
Lady: "Alright, I like your attitude! You will need to have Skype and your interview will be over Skype with our casting director."

We then went on to set up the skype interview over the phone and I put it on my calendar. I'm not going to lie. I was nervous. If I would have known it was going to be for National television, I would have never agreed to it. I had no idea. My biggest fears (because I watch shows like the Bachelor) is that #1- they were going to make the church look bad on National TV. I know people are curious about our church more than ever.... I mean with Mitt Romney running for president and other Mormon celebrities... and then the Book of Mormon Musical came out on Broadway and more and more we are in the spotlit. We are a fad of people's curiosity that don't know anything about our church. I could totally see them setting up a show to make us look like weirdos because we date a little differently than everyone else (aka no sex before marriage) etc... #2- They were going to make me look stupid on national tv. I didn't want this. Not at all. I make fun of people on the Bachelor all of the time. I didn't want to be one of those people. Putting those fears aside, I decided that there is no harm in an interview and if anything else I just wanted to find out more about the show.

A week later it was time for my Skype Interview. I put on a cute outfit and fixed my hair and make up and waited. I waited for an hour for them to call. At first I thought they just changed their mind. I was ready to put my computer away when they finally called an hour later. They made sure everything was set up correctly and then it was time to interview with the casting director. At first he didn't like the lighting in the room so he made me walk around the kitchen until I was under the right lighting before we started our interview. This was important because I was going to be recorded. No pressure right? He wanted me looking into the camera and not at his picture on his screen... so he turned his off so all I could hear was his voice and I tried to remember to look at the top of my laptop as I spoke since that is where the camera was. Not going to lie... it was a little strange. Not a natural setting. So there I was in the middle of my kitchen talking to my computer. My hope was that my roommates were not going to come home in the middle of my interview and wonder what the heck was going on since I had not told hardly anyone what I was doing. The interview lasted about an hour. The questions they asked me were based off of how I answered my questionnaire. I would talk about something like having the peter pan syndrome and then he would ask me to say a statement of what I just talked about. Like look into the camera and say.... "My name is Tracy and I am passionate about music and looking for a guy that is passionate about music too" bla bla bla. I'm not a natural at that sort of thing, but at least I can laugh off my nervousness. I also discovered that being filmed or not, I have no problem talking. Ask me a question and I will talk away. Whether they are looking for that or not I don't know. The casting director thought it was great and said that he would be in touch with me. Again, not many of my questions were answered about the show. Just that it wasn't like the Bachelor where it is a lot of people dating one person and living in the same house. That was all I knew, so I was still curious about it all.

At this point I started to tell people. I told my BFF neighbor and he wished me luck on facebook and said he would have viewing parties if I made it on the show. Someone else said they would make shirts. I had a lot of people rooting for me to get on the show and thought I would be great to watch on tv and were very excited about the possibility. There were a few that thought it was a really bad idea because of possible humiliation. I didn't think I would give them any material to make me look stupid.... so more and more I was excited rather than nervous.

Next I got an email from the casting agency asking to add them on facebook so that they could go through my profile pictures. As soon as you hear this you start to think about all of the pictures you have used as your profile pictures and wondering if you look really good in all of them or whatever. I didn't really care too much throughout this whole process... I mean I didn't even realize I was signing up for it, so either way it went I didn't care, I was just going along for the ride and seeing what happened.

A couple of weeks later I got another email from the casting agency saying they were coming to SLC and wanted to set up a personal interview. At this point it is the end of March. I emailed back and told them what day and time would work best for me. I got a call later to confirm my interview and for them to tell me how to be camera ready. Don't wear solid black or white or loud prints. Fix up my hair and wear extra make up.... because my second interview was also going to be filmed. Then they told me I could bring a prop for my interview and to make sure to bring lots of personality and most importantly be myself. Because it is easy to be yourself talking to a complete stranger that is video taping you for the possibility of being on national television. No big deal.

Mid April I drove to SLC for my interview. It was a rainy day. I thought about things I could say in my interview not knowing what they were going to ask me or what exactly to expect. I got to the place that they were interviewing and had to sign a few papers that was basically signing over my life to be on National Television if I was picked. It started here. I was making the choice to actually do it if I get picked. I signed the papers and went in the back room. They had the camera all set up and had me sit in front of a while screen while they hooked me up to the mic. The prop that I chose to bring was a picture of me in a Salwar Kameez riding an elephant in India to show my love of traveling. I thought that I would be really nervous for this interview, that I would be nervous in front of the camera, but I wasn't at all. I was completely at ease. The guy interviewing me was super nice. We bonded over both knowing Katy Perry and how we both don't like listening to her. He asked me about what it was like to grow up in Santa Barbara (that is how that got brought up) and about how I almost got married and what happened with that and about a lot of the things I talked about in my first interview. My interview lasted about an hour and then it was over. I felt good about it. I was able to ask questions about the show. I found out it is going to be on Lifetime and I found out that there is an actual matchmaker who matches people up and then they video tape your dates. I asked them if they were going to make the church look bad and he said no way. He had learned so much by the end of all the interviews and thought we were such great people. In the interview he asked me what I thought a matchmaker could do for me. My answer: "Well, I obviously have not been able to figure it out on my own, so if she could help me out that would be great." He laughed and that concluded my interview.

I was surprised how well it went and how comfortable and fine I was with being video taped while being put on the spot. I thought to myself... I can do this. Not only did I think I could do it, I wanted to do it now. Think of the possibilities it could bring. Maybe I could actually meet someone from this. Wouldn't that be nice. Even though my attitude toward the whole thing had changed I had asked the guy how many people he was interviewing. He said 40. I asked him how many were going to be chosen in the end. He said probably 6. I knew my chances were slim. I do think that I have a fun personality and the fact that I was comfortable in front of the camera I think played in my favor and I do think that I am photogenic. However, I am sure he interviewed lots of people that fit that description and even more so. Either way I decided I was going to be fine with. Can't be too disappointed when you didn't even realize what you were signing up for to being with right? That night I went out to dinner for my roommates birthday. We were there kind of late and we saw a camera crew come in and set up for a show they were going to be filming there for Ballet West. I watched everything they did. I pictured myself going on with my day to day life and wondered if I could act normal like the camera's were not even there. I really think I could. But who really knows until your in the situation.

I wrote the agency about a month ago and asked them if they were going to let me know or not if I made it. They said they were still making their final decision but they would let me know only if I made it. Kind of frustrating. I wasn't going to blog about it until I knew for sure either way... but I am pretty sure that I was not chosen. If I am wrong I will let you know, but I am just assuming that I didn't have what they wanted for the Mormon Matchmaker. That is okay. Hopefully I will still find someone soon, but i still wanted to blog about this because it is a funny story either way. Who accidentally signs up to interview for a show on national television? Me. Story of my life. My life is weird. Weird things happen to me all the time. A lot of cool things and a lot of weird things. So... share them. It would have been fun to be on tv... but I guess it just wasn't in the cards for me. However, if anyone else wants to play matchmaker in my life... I wouldn't mind being set up on some dates. Just sayin.




5 comments:

Bre said...

how interesting! I'll have to watch to see when it airs...

flux biota. said...

I hope they call you back! it would be so cool to see you on my tv. I'd wave at the television and say

"HI TRACY!!!!!!!"

Dallas and Kirsten said...

Seriously tracy! You have the craziest things happen! I would have totally rooted for you and probably had a big group of my 'Bachelorette' girls over to watch :) How funny!

Lori said...

How come I didn't know any of this happened! Your life is non stop adventure and surprise :)

jamie hixon said...

This is so crazy. I feel like my life used to be like this, random stuff happening all the time. That is totally funny, and kind of awesome.