Tonight the reality TV show that I was part of filming in Sweden aired on Swedish TV. Talk about a wild ride! It was such a thrill to watch the show and to live tweet during the broadcast with fans of the show watching in Sweden! I've compiled a list of thoughts and answers to many questions I received from viewers, family and friends as they watched about things "behind the scenes."
-I have NO idea why there was no Skype response from me. Maybe it because of technical failure when they recorded it. Maybe it just wasn't that exciting. Maybe they figured there was enough of me in the rest of the episode. Whatever the reason, it was the question I got asked the most as people watched the premiere. No response could've been more dramatic and pageant-worthy as Laura's response, so I'm totally fine not being on there!
-The thing we learned early in filming a reality tv show is that there are so many takes of the same thing...mostly to get many different camera angles - and secondly because we probably mess up a lot. But I was reminded watching Episode 1 how LONG it actually took us to get off the plane, through immigration, get out bags and get OUT to where our relatives were standing. Each segment as we moved through the airport had to be shot multiple times. But it was really fun...especially because we were filming AND with this new group of people!
-Most of us were on the same flight from Newark, so it was fun to see who actually walked up to be part of the group! I did a pretty good job of guessing!
-When we walked out in Arrivals and saw the people standing there with our names, I don't think it originally registered with ANYONE in the cast that they were real relatives. In full disclosure, the first time we walked out, we actually walked right past them. HA! It's so embarrassing to write...but I just don't think any of us thought there would actually be people there to meet us. We felt like maybe they were "extras" hired to just stand with our names on a board. BOY were we wrong!
-We each only had about 2 minutes with our relative who was waiting there. That's not much time - especially when you're tired...in a new country...and don't speak the language. But we made it work! My relative, Nina, was such a good sport!
-Our walk around Sigtuna was so much fun. The crew really just filmed us as we wandered around, looking around the little town...and oft times, doing stupid things. That list included, but was not limited to: looking in windows (as you saw on the episode), drinking water from the lake, not knowing what garbage can was, trying on silly hats, and basically just being kind of loud Americans. But all of our walk around Sigtuna was completely the 5 of us experiencing it for ourselves...unprompted by the crew.
-The treasures in the koffert (trunk) were very exciting - but there were a couple of things we never really saw or used in the episode...one of which I thought for sure would show up because of our reactions to it. It was a box of Swedish candies...and as we all started tasting them, there were some serious feelings/reactions to the salted black licorice that Swedes like. Some of our group liked it - but to me, it was miserable. Some of the other candy was really good though.
-If you don't know, you need to know that my reaction to ABBA was 110% real and me. I have loved ABBA forever. There is just a happiness to their music that cannot be denied! As my friend, Judy Hut, messaged me about last night, I introduced her to ABBA back in like 1996. I've been loving them as long as I can remember loving music. The chance to go to the museum really was such a highlight for me. Not so much for Mike!
-The breakfast we had the morning after we arrived really did have some delicious food, as well! Swedes love vegetables and cheeses and granola and yogurt and hard boiled eggs - so there was a lot of delicious things. But I think focusing on the stuff that we deemed as gross just made better tv! Liver pate, pickled herring, "tube food" (different spreads that are in toothpaste-tube-looking containers) - not delicious stuff to most of us. I tried it all...just to say that I did. But I stuck close to the things I listed above as the "good stuff". OH! And there was a delicious porridge that we put lingonberry jam on, as well. Needless to say, we didn't walk away from that meal hungry. But I get it - the gross stuff was WAY more fun to focus on! Mike had so many great one liners about that stuff. "I just wanted it out of my mouth!"
-So while Becky went on her "special day" (as we took to calling it) we took the train into Stockholm and went to the 2 different museums. I will say...as far as that day goes, I think that my group TOTALLY won. We got the ABBA museum, we had a smaller group, and we had the most delicious lunch! Those meatballs and potatoes that we had were so delicious - and it was so nice to be with just a small group...even if Mike was STILL complaining about ABBA through lunch.
-I have said this before and I will say it again: I did not choose the groups to go to the museum. As we were on the train, the segment producer, Sebastian, took me aside and told me who would be going to ABBA. I'm sure they saw in me and Laura a goldmine of excitement for the museum, and in Mike they saw the "fish out of water" that played SO WELL! So although it looks like I did the choosing, it was from the higher powers! In truth, Laura, Shane and I had talked about the 3 of us needing to figure out how to go together!
-All that being said, MIKE had ABBA on his phone and played it for us ALL right after we got on the train. And then quickly tried to deflect that he just had it there for his daughters! That's why I said he needed to come out of the ABBA Closet.
-I did feel pretty "punny" when I threw out "ABBA good time!" at the train station. But after the 5th time of filming it, I felt LESS punny each time.
-When I talked on the episode about seeing Stockholm, I have NO IDEA why I talked about seeing it on a "Google screen." Do I mean COMPUTER screen? HAHA. Being on TV is weird.
-Some of the best "reality" that happened those first few days were moments in the beautiful house we were staying in! They filmed the scramble for rooms, but none of that really made it to the screen, which is fine. They didn't film Dianne hysterically trying to take a shower and only having cold water...and shouting through the house at Dawn and then at Shane to fix it for her....while she stood in the door in her towel. People...it was HYSTERICAL. Mike and I shut the door to our room and just laughed and laughed and laughed.
-FYI: We had a couple of periods of time with days off in Stockholm at various times during the filming. On our first set of days off, Mike and I went to the Vassa Museum and spent like 3 hours, with Shane, seeing the museum. So don't feel bad that we didn't get to go to it with the others. We actually got to spend a lot more time in the museum WITHOUT the cameras following the group around - and we talked about things after the museum that people who went on camera never got to see. So I feel like we got the best of both worlds!
-Swedish school day was one of the longest days on record! We had our Swedish school that you saw, and then we had an afternoon of lunch and press photo shoots and interviews, and then we had our first competition...the digging for our past competition from Episode 1, and then a fika after the competition to sit and eat treats and talk about the day. BUT - before the competition, we had to wait like 3 1/2 hours for THE FIRE! That's right - near our competition site, a generator they were using in filming burst into flames and burned down a barn. We had no idea this was going on - so we were all just sitting around in our team shirts WAITING to go....while fire trucks kept driving by. It really was a long day - and with Swedish summer days being SO long, it felt even LONGER! That being said - IT WAS SUCH AN EXCITING AND FUN DAY! I had a blast.
-Regarding the "alliance" - THERE WAS NO ALLIANCE! That conversation was the three of us being silly and laughing about the show being the kind of show where that would never work anyway! But of course it seems better to show us making an "alliance." HAHA. But it was fun to hear from other castmates about the alliance when they saw it on the episode.
-That talk with Shane, Laura and I outside was a fun idea - but it was marred by the ONE ZILLION mosquitoes that were present. It. Was. Ridiculous. So much of our conversation probably couldn't have been used on the episodes because we were slapping ourselves like CRAZY throughout it. What a memory. Swedish mosquitoes LOVE me.
-The team competition was so exciting. And surreal. And weird. When Anders said GO, and we all looked at the runic stone and started running down to the piles of dirt, I started laughing to myself (which I am glad didn't make it on screen) and thinking "WHAT are you doing running through a field in Sweden filming a TV show!?!?!"
-Our original plan of attack was this: me, John, Shane and Rebecca would find our names and then Dianne would just walk down and step on the last one. As you can see on the episode, it didn't work out QUITE like that, but it worked out.
-I remember a slight panic setting in as the yellow team started digging - but until I watched the episode, I didn't realize just HOW far ahead of us they were when they started digging! I mean, for all intents and purposes, they REALLY should've won! But John basically reached down in the earth and pulled his box out and we were on our way to a victory!
-SO THRILLED to have a win and not have to worry about going home just yet! My only real goal coming in to this whole thing was to NOT go home the first episode. That was it. I accomplished that goal - so it allowed me to find a new goal: stay as long as I can!!! We'll see how that works out!
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