I never thought I would do this even though my nieces have been begging me to go on a Reality TV Show. But when BB had it's open casting call at the Arena Steakhouse on Staten Island (which is only a 5-10 minute drive from where I work) I figured "what the heck" and decided to show up.

Anyone else on these Boards ever go to an Open Casting Call?

I'd be curious to know.

• RE: Never say..."Never",jbug, 01:04 PM, 06-18-13
  • RE: Never say..."Never",Aruba, 08:30 PM, 06-18-13
    • RE: Never say..."Never",jbug, 10:49 AM, 06-19-13
      • RE: Never say..."Never",Aruba, 07:34 AM, 06-20-13
    • RE: Never say..."Never",krismiss2us, 09:34 PM, 06-23-13
      • RE: Never say..."Never",Aruba, 05:57 PM, 06-24-13
    • RE: Never say..."Never",michel, 02:25 PM, 06-24-13
      • RE: Never say..."Never",Aruba, 06:09 PM, 06-24-13
• RE: Never say..."Never",tribephyl, 03:57 PM, 06-18-13
  • RE: Never say..."Never",jbug, 10:50 AM, 06-19-13
• RE: Never say..."Never",kidflash212, 10:50 AM, 06-19-13
  • RE: Never say..."Never",jbug, 10:52 AM, 06-19-13
  • RE: Never say..."Never",ARnutz, 11:06 AM, 07-01-13
    • RE: Never say..."Never",Snidget, 07:41 PM, 07-01-13
• RE: Never say..."Never",earthlinkbab, 01:03 PM, 06-20-13
• RE: Never say..."Never",Colonel Zoidberg, 06:17 PM, 07-01-13

so...
what happened?
spill the beans!

I'm cool sharing my experience with fellow posters; so here goes...

The open casting call was conducted from 7:30pm - 9:30pm. I left my office at 4:30 and arrived at the Arena Steakhouse before 5:00. When I got there and announced I was here for the BB casting, they gave me a number (16) and told me to wait inside. I sat among other hopefuls where most of us grabbed something to eat and had a few drinks.

At around 7:00 they stated anyone with numbers 1-50 could stay inside and the rest had to line up outside in numerical order. My guess about 150-200 people had already showed up. It was a cold evening, so I was glad I got there early.

They lined up the 50 of us in numerical order and in groups of five we walked up to a casting station where an individual was handed the applications we completed earlier upon our arrival.

My group of five consisted of: myself, a fellow in his 40s who came to bring his daughter and had no intention of auditioning but got coaxed into doing so anyway, a very young kid...couldn't have been more than 20 or 21, a soccermom type probably in her late 30s, and a pretty boy I would guess was in his late 20s/early 30s and had a face that could have graced the cover of GQ magazine.

Although I did not have a "prepared" statement because I thought a rehearsed speech would be a kiss of death in this type of selection process, I intended to play the age card by stating something to the effect there have been very few HGs over 50 and I would like to be one of them and have the distinction of being the oldest winner ever.

In my group my name was randomly chosen first, and we were told WITHOUT referencing our age, religion, nationality, etc. explain why you would be a good HG and a potential winner. WELL, talk about getting your wings clipped right from the get go, but hey, I was cool with it and quickly used another angle of being a former semi-pro athlete and a recent MBA graduate with a perfect 4.0 GPA to earn my degree possessing a unique blend of brains and athleticism to give me an advantage over the other HGs.

I was then asked to look at the others and choose the person I would vote off first. I chuckled and stated I'm normally not that shallow to vote out someone based totally on looks and appearance (especially given the fact that the others had not even spoken a single word yet) but I played their game and pointed to the 21-year old. When asked why, I said that age has been BY FAR the greatest divide in all of Reality TV. And with the young usually targeting the older, I figured to beat the youngster to the punch and get him out early.

The 21-year old was asked what he thought about that. He said that I was right in saying age has been the greatest divide in Reality Shows. The moderator replied, "Then I guess you would vote him out first?" He sorta look toward the floor and said, "No." When asked why, he answered that he is gay and thought I was "kinda hot" so he wouldn't want me out of the House that quickly.

Naturally this brought laughter from the others. I took it in stride and thanked him for the compliment...meanwhile I was thinking; DAMN, why couldn't that have been Christina from Survivor One World auditioning for this BB season??!! LOL.
Actually I was little surprised he wasn't gravitating more toward Pretty Boy. Although pretty boy had handsome facial features, he did have a whimpy-like body.

Anyways, each was given an opportunity to state why they would be a perfect HG, why they would win, and who they would vote out first. The 40-year old said he would vote off Pretty Boy because he would probably have the "in" with the female HGs and would want to eliminate that element early on. Pretty Boy countered by saying he would vote off the 40-year old because he has him pegged as a floater and that's the type of HG he dislikes the most. My potential showmance (ha-ha) also said he would vote off the 40-year old because he did not seem like someone he could work with or align with.

When the soccermom was asked who she would vote off she immediately pointed her finger my way. When asked why, she replied because he's a threat who will dominate all the competitions. When I was asked to respond I smiled and said, "Her mama raised no dummy..." (because I probably would dominate the competitions.) **More Laughter**
Of course the REAL reason I was smiling was because I was thinking...HMMMM, it sure didn't take long for the Anti-Darwin Snydrome to rear it's ugly head in this audition. LMAO

This whole process took less than 10 minutes. We were then asked to get together for a group photo. When they clicked the picture we were told if we get a callback in a couple weeks that's a good thing. If not, try again next year and thanks for coming. Not surprisingly, I didn't get a callback.

That was pretty much it. When I walked out people were still lined up outside. I would have been bummed if a traveled a great distance for just a few minutes of chat while competing with the others to talk. Even though I did have to pay $12 to cross the Outerbridge Crossing into Staten Island, it was only about 10 minutes out of my way so overall I was not totally disappointed in going and it was a neat experience.

That was great! Wonder what they look for since you didn't get a call back?

My niece went once to a Biggest Loser thing. It was pretty much the same way - groups of 5 questioned together.
A guy she was in the group with did get called and was on a few seasons ago.

That was great! Wonder what they look for since you didn't get a call back?

I would suspect they had the theme for the upcoming season planned before the open casting calls. So the individuals they choose would have to fit that theme already in place.

As for what they look for?...going by recent history CBS has been looking and focusing on returning players as unfortunate as that may be. That's one of the main reasons I have tailed off watching recent seasons and participating on these Boards.

Waiting eagerly for a season with ALL newcomers and not former losers trying to make the most of their second, third, fourth, etc. chances.

you are sooooo lucky...i'd love to try out for bb or survivor

I'd really love to try out for Survivor. I'm much more of a fan of Survivor than BB. But it's been ages since they had open casting calls for Survivor. Or if they have I haven't seen any in my area.

Very interesting. I would have loved to see you on the show. I can see you now flirting your way to the end with all the pretty boys and girls around!!!!

I don't know, Michel. I'm sure you've seen the cast for this Season. NO WAY I'd be able to come anywhere close in the "looks" department with these hamsters...so the "flirting" strategy would be out the window for me. And there's not even a single HG 40...never mind 50! I don't think for even $500,000 would any of those 20-something beauties want a showmance with a dude old enough to be their father. YUCK!!! LOL

On the positive side it looks as if we have a season with all first timers. So I may be more involved in the Boards for this season. I have to admit I miss having a forum where I can unleash my sarcasm and satire.

I did, for Survivor 3. Went to the cattle-call at the hollywood studio. Arrived at 1:00am in the morning, there were already about 30 people in line in front of me. By 7:00am the line extended completely around the block and lapped over itself. (My guess is somewhere near 2000 peeps. But who knows.) When the line began to move we were directed to another line, where we filled out a small application and got a number. Then stood in another line while we waited for our turn to speak to a camera. They pretty much just say...You have 60 seconds, tell the camera why you think you would be good for Survivor.
Then the little red light goes on.

*stares blankly*
*babbles a bit*
*giggles*
*realization of complete awkwardness*

Okay, thank you. Good Luck. NEXT!

go again!

Never actually went to one. Came close to going to an Amazing Race open call in NJ but deciding on a partner was harder than one would think.

I have 2 nephews who I have tried to talk into going for TAR for years. They would be the perfect redneck team. And could win it if they didn't fall because of one of the many pitfalls (taxi's double u-turns,etc.)
Both are fit and very very smart. Not just redneck smart either!

Pick me. Pick me!

Our schtick could be, "internet friends who never met but grew up and lived about 2 blocks or so from each other"

I've been 2 Patched!
Do you think they could fit that on our caption?