Fun at an Open Casting Call for Survivor

If you have what it takes to Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast, you were at BARONA RESORT & CASINO on Sat. June 13th where CBS 8 held open auditions for SURVIVOR!

I was there to chat with all the Survivor hopefuls. I remember when….I was on that side of the line and would have loved to have met a Survivor. So I volunteer my time and get out and meet and greet.

Jerri from Survivor Australia and Jenna from Borneo and both were on All Stars were also there. It was a lot of fun spending the day with them and they are an absolute kick. It was great hearing their experiences, their opinions and all about their games.

I decided to spend the night on the sidewalk with all the early bird hopefuls as that was something I had not done in all the years of trying out. So, I took a sleeping bag and took a place in line. I got there about 9pm Friday, talked for about 19 hrs, stood for about 12hrs,sat for 6hrs and slept for 45mins. and joined about 100 people all having such fun. Survivor Steve was once again first in line having arrived on Thursday morning !!!! and from then on others arrived early Friday morning and on. The air was electric with everyone sharing stories of their attempts. People sitting re doing and re doing their applications The first person I met was ” a Gillian Look Alike” who came up to me saying people had been asking her for her autograph. Funny. Judge that for yourself. There were chairs and sleeping bags and people all along the sidewalk that snaked around the bend and onto the other side. It still is the weirdest thing for me for people to know who I am and want their photos taken with me and for me to sign autographs. I am more than happy to do it, it is great fun and I remember being in their shoes.

There is such a variety of people all with hopes and dreams and stories. People who have tried out for every Survivor as I did and others there for the first time. Some in dress up, some with props, many just themselves but everyone with a hope and a dream. Richard Allyn from News 8 at 11pm did a few bits on the crowd so some of the hopefuls got to see themselves whooping and hollering on TV. CBS 8 San Diego was well represented and they are great.

Carlo Cecchetto was there half of Saturday and was excellent with the crowd asking fun questions.Craig McKee and Marcella Lee then took over and were also fun.

My buddy Mike Watson was one of the Interview photographers and he was great. I feel a huge part of my selection was his input from my audition interview at Liberty Station. Thanks Mike, great to see you again.

Donna and Barry along with many other Channel 8 folk worked their butts of making the day happen. Barona decorated everything adding to the great atmosphere and many of their staff also added to a flawless day. Sadly about 10 people were turned away as we just ran out of time. Those folk had mostly arrived after 1pm that day. Lesson to all…..come early.
Good luck to you all. Someone from this Audition will be on the other side of the line next year. Believe it.

You can see photos of the event at http://www.facebook.com/GillianLarson

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