Done With BNN TV Shoot

When I got up this morning to prepare for the TV shoot, I had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something was going to go wrong. As it turns out, I was right. Fortunately it wasn't a real disaster, just a silly communications breakdown :)

By the time Pieter and I arrived at the swimming pool in Almere-Stad where the shooting would take place I had tried to call my BNN contact twice, then again at the pool as the film crew hadn't arrived yet, plus I sent her a text message. No response, just her voicemail. As I didn't have any phone numbers of the other members of the team (director, host, etc.), I couldn't do anything except wait until I got a message from my contact. As it turned out, my contact had fallen ill, nobody had bothered to tell me, and thanks to the director's phone number included in the message I was able to contact her and find out that the film crew was at the wrong swimming pool, the one in Almere-Buiten. Oops.

By the time everyone made it to the right swimming pool we were running half an hour behind schedule. First we did a shoot at the pool itself, I swam a few laps with the host, Sophie, and then did the same interview three times because the first two locations they picked were less than ideal. Some of the questions got a bit more personal, or at least more physical, such as how I managed to conceal the fact that I have a penis while wearing a bikini. Cue questions about how well-endowed I may or may not be :P

My mother got kind of lost on her way to the swimming pool, and had to get a ride from a gentleman to arrive somewhat late. By the time we were done it was 1.30 PM. Despite the few glitches things generally did go well, and although I'm glad it's all over now I will kind of miss it. Maybe there'll be other shows which will express interest after this one airs, though :)

With the director I'll be emailing a bit on the MRI images, for their inclusion in the episode, but that's the only involvement I'll have from this point onwards until it airs on November 9th. It airs on the Dutch TV channel Nederland 3, around 8.25 PM. Just to repeat myself, the show is called 'Je zal het maar zijn'. Projected viewer count is expected to be close to half a million. I say we can improve on that record :D

I sent my BNN contact a text message earlier to inform her that things worked out after all, and wished her a speedy recovery. It's the least I can do :)

In other news, I got an email from the photography student, informing me that while she's in Paris for some photographer's convention thing, she showed some photos of me for her project to a fairly famous photographer. She got a very positive response, and will stay in touch with that photographer. I think it's awesome that I can play a role in such a success story as well. Making people happy is a great thing after all :)


Maya