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In reply to the discussion: 3 Strange But True Facts About Me. [View all]IdaBriggs
(10,559 posts)It was "favor for a friend" time -- my friend is a "ghost hunter" by hobby, and she had been recruited as part of the "technical" team for a (cable?) ghost hunting show.
I love my friend dearly, but being publicly seen as a "psychic on a ghost hunting show" was probably not going to enhance my credibility quotient on the whole "preemie growth project" thing, and it isn't something that was going to enhance my resume in IT world, either. I agreed to do it if my identity was masked with make-up, and we ended up making me as "opposite" me as we could.
They put a wig on me, darkened my skin, and did a few other things, and seriously, I did *NOT* look like myself. It was really kind of cool.
I don't want to give away any secrets, but yes, there were some planned lines. (Shocking!) I was prepped and ready to go, but child care was an issue - so I asked for the hotels we were going to be staying at during filming so I could bring my mother-in-law to watch the kids when we were out and about (which they didn't have a week before filming was scheduled to begin - big clue!).
That was when they decided to fire me because I "obviously wasn't taking it seriously enough" by wanting to have the kids at the hotel. Like I said, they were right.
I felt a little guilty, but from what I learned later, it was a true blessing in disguise; there were production issues and some infighting about rights between the producer and the director, and I don't even know if it ended up airing. It was still a fun experience (I am not a ghost hunter person, so I learned some stuff about how they do what they do, which was interesting), and I have a couple of pictures of me in make-up that are pretty interesting.
My friend appreciated the effort, and I got points for being gracious about being booted off the project.
And now, it is one of those funny stories, because seriously, how many people can say they were fired from being an African-American psychic on a ghost hunting show before filming began (especially when they look like me) because they weren't taking it "seriously" enough?