I am SO mad at myself about the Biggest Loser audition

I am so mad at myself about the Biggest Loser audition because I actually thought about not going. My fried Hal asked me three weeks ago if I was going to go to one of the Biggest Loser open casting calls, and my response was, “no, why bother.” Then Holland Striplin, one of the casting directors, sent me the VIP pass for the casting call. Like I’ve mentioned in the past, the VIP pass just meant I could bypass the long line to get into the casting call. Also, Holland was the person that I worked with for the last video audition that I did for an ABC weight loss show. She remembered me from that, and sent me the VIP pass.

I did not get called back for a second interview at this past weekend’s season 10 Biggest Loser open casting call in Nashville, TN, but I had an incredible time with some fantastic people. Here’s the whole story:

The Weekend Started with a Bang

I left the house at 3am Saturday morning to go pick up Hal. First, I stopped by my office to so I could print out my VIP pass and print out my picture that we need to turn in (boy did I wait ’till the last minute). So, then I left my office and got onto Highway 65 in Hoover, AL at Highway 31. As I drove on to the on-ramp, I noticed a van driving the wrong way up the Hwy. 65 exit-ramp. I thought, “that moron’s gonna kill somebody.” They soon realized that they were driving the wrong way and turned around. However, this story does not end here.

I got onto Hwy 65 and I was eager to get to Momma G’s (Hal’s Deli) to pick  him up. I glance in my rear-view mirror and saw that same moron going way too fast on the curve at the top of the on-ramp, and then it happened: the person lost control of their vehicle and did a 360 on the interstate. There were other cars on the road, but fortunately no one got hit, nor did the vehicle hit the wall.

I turned on the rear flasher of my lightbar and called 911. After the incident, this vehicle drove really, really slow, which I was relieved to see. I would imagine that the 360 sobered them up pretty quickly and they might have been scared by my lightbar because I was a good distance in front of them.

I was already late to pickup Hal so I didn’t slow down to get behind the vehicle for a tag number, nor did the 911 operator request that I do that. I gave the police a general description and location of the vehicle and figured if these people kept driving wrecklessly, the police would easily find them. It might have been their lucky night of not killing someone else or themselves and not going to jail.

The Drive to Nashville

After witnessing the moron on the interstate, my adrenaline was pumping. I stopped by Momma G’s to pickup Hal, and of course I told him what just happened.

The reason we met at Momma G’s is that Hal knew Holland Striplin (the BL casting director) in college (Auburn University, boooo!) One of the hang outs in Auburn is Momma Goldberg’s Deli, and after graduating, Hal decided to open a couple of locations in Birmingham, AL with his business partner, so Hal  made a bunch of Momma’s Love sandwiches for Holland and her friends from Auburn that were visiting her in Nashville.

Hal and I had a good drive up to Nashville. He introduced me to some road trip traditions such as the game Punch Bug, where you punch the other person on the arm when you see a VW Bug and then yell out the color of the car. Also, I learned that for good luck, you lift your feet off the floor while traveling over a state line.

We also practiced answering audition  questions during the drive, which helped me to feel more confident about the audition.

The Audition

We made it to Dave & Buster’s at 8:30am, parked, and I texted a few people that wanted to meet up at the audition. We all met in the parking lot and proceeded to the entrance. Holland came out to meet with the crowd and came and spoke to us. She took Hal back inside with the sandwiches. My buddies and I got into the VIP line and filled out our applications.

As we waited in line, I had to bring out a few fat jokes because there’s just too many big boned folks there, including myself, to not joke around. As we talked with the lovely local lady working with the Biggest Loser casting staff, I just had to joke about the fire exits.  I wondered, if there was a fire, how us slow fat people would get out. There’s so many people in here, and Lord knows we can’t run. I said, the people in the middle of the building are screwed. Then low and behold the fire alarm went off. I guess someone triggered it as a joke. One of the D&B staff members came and turned off the alarm.

My other joke was that Holland is like a celebrity for fat people, and I found out later that Hal told her my joke, and fortunately she laughed.

Now the audition, we were in a group of 20, and we were sat down at a U shaped table. Brandon was our casting director, and he was cool. We all got to introduce ourselves and say where we were from, our age, how much weight we need to lose, and occupation. Brandon went first, and he only needs to lose 13 pounds (show off). I went second, and yes, as usual I was the biggest person in our group. I said that I need to lose 320 pounds.

Once everyone completed their intro, he asked us “Why are children in America so obese?” There was a brief, 5 minute group discussion, and the whole objective was to have your voice heard. I didn’t contribute much, I did get one little sentence in, my buddy Ted that was sitting next to me contributed a lot. He’s a teacher and had first hand experience with why children in America were so obese. I didn’t even think of children being in the question, and I was incredibly tired.

Honestly, I wasn’t bummed out about the audition. I really kept the attitude that this audition was just like buying a lottery ticket. If I win the lottery, GREAT! If I don’t, next chance I get, I’ll buy another ticket.

Incredible People

As a result of the Biggest Loser audition and my blog, I met up with some incredible people. I met up with Sam from North Carolina, Ted from Nashville, and Leonard from Mississippi. Both Ted and Leonard had a VIP pass also. All three of those guys have children and are teachers. Also, I ran into Kristie from Birmingham. I had been emailing with her from my blog. Finally, at the audition I met Liz from season 8 of the show:

Liz from Biggest Loser season 8 and I at the season 10 open casting call in Nashville, TN

What I Learned from Liz

Liz told us that when the contestants and herself first met at the Biggest Loser Ranch, they sat down in the kitchen area and met each other and discussed how they got there. Everybody except Liz tried out multiple times for Biggest Loser. Liz said that she was hoping to avoid the question because she got on first try.

So, like Winston Churchill said: Never, Never, Never Give Up!

Cock of the Walk

What the heck is that you say? It’s the name of the restaurant that Sam, Leonard, Leonard’s friends, Hal, and myself ate at Saturday night. I ate like I was on a road trip this past weekend. Meaning I ate a lot of tasty junk food.

The restaurant was awesome. They serve seafood and one of their specialty items is flip bread. Which is corn bread served in a small cast iron skillet. The waiter or waitress will flip the bread at your table, thus the name flip bread. Everything was excellent including the fried pickles. It was the last meet up with my new friends minus Ted. The one regret that I have is not taking any pictures of me with the guys. I was just more concerned with having a good time with my new friends than taking photos.

Saturday Night

After dinner, Hal and I went back to our room, and we were about to go to bed when Hal said, “Stephen, I can’t let you come to Nashville without seeing Broadway.” There is a cluster of Country bars on Broadway in Nashville, and they are famous because a lot of country-western singers have been discovered there.

The experience was awesome. We went to a bar called the Full Moon Saloon and watched a couple of different bands perform. Also, the bars were extremely crowded because of the SEC basketball tournament. There were a ton of Kentucky Wildcat fans, and they love their Wildcats!

Strangely enough, I got to meet another reality TV person that appeared on a different reality show: Nashville Star. Jewels Hanson was on Nashville Star last season. Honestly, I didn’t know who she was because I’d never seen the show, but I have heard of the show, just never watched it.

She was really sweet and talked to us for a long time. Hal had on his Auburn hat (boo) and I had on a burgundy polo shirt that made it appear that I was a MSU fan (boo). When she came up to the bar she asked us about what team we’re for, and I said the we weren’t here for the tournament, instead we’re here for the Biggest Loser auditions, and she was really nice to say she was proud that I was getting out and doing something about my weight.

Jewels Hanson and I

Tomorrow, I’ll have some videos up from the bands at Full Moon Saloon.

Summary

Like I posted on Facebook earlier, if you need to lose more than 100 pounds, you MUST go to a Biggest Loser audition. My biggest piece of advice is not to stress out about the audition. When you buy a powerball ticket, do you sit and stress about winning the lottery. No! But, you do buy a ticket just for the opportunity to win. Get out and enjoy life! Don’t sit at home and feel sorry for yourself! That is something else I learned from Liz. Liz got fed up with her husband not wanting to do anything, and after being on the Biggest Loser, she had the courage to tell him, “Look, I want to go out and do things, and if you don’t snap out of this, I’m gone” By the way, that was a summary, not an actual quote.One of the things that Liz wanted to do was to take Ball Room Dancing lessons. I believe she got her wish.

My point is that you need to participate in life. Just because you need to lose some weight, DOES NOT mean that you can’t have friends, and that you can’t have a good time. If your friends or family tell you otherwise, you need to get away from them and find new friends!!

Motivation

Ah, I guess I lied about the above section being the summary – I am so motivated now to lose weight. I really want to be on the Biggest Loser, but I choose to not stress about getting on there. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. Today I’m eating well, drinking my water, and have my exercise scheduled tonight. Danny’s first run in his Couch to 5k group is tonight, and I am going to video his pep talk. You’re going to LOVE IT. After the talk, I’m going to get my walk in. I may even walk the dreaded hill from last year.

Finally, (I promise) I will have some videos up tomorrow from the bands playing in Nashville!! Thank you to everyone who sent me words of encouragement, and also thank you to those that went to the auditions and let me know you were going. Also, I want to send a very special thank you to Hal Craig: Thank you Hal, and yes, I am tearing up right now. This weekend would not have been as special as it was without you. I am truly honored and blessed to have a friend such as yourself, and I thank your lovely wife and daughter for the opportunity to hang out with you for the weekend.

I am not the Biggest Loser, but I am THE BIGGEST WINNER!!!!

Attention Talladega Superspeedway: I hope your ready because Big Stephen is a coming! Look out!