Deal or No Deal

I don't know what I was thinking, but I thought that it would be fun to camp out at our local mall all night to audition for the TV show Deal or No Deal. I didn't think it was a big deal, after all I have camped out all night many times for concert tickets and had a great time. However, that was at least 15 years ago. My friend Amy and I, met at the mall at 10 PM. The line officially opened at noon that day. When we arrived, we were told that we were numbers 998 and 999. We set up our chairs and snacks and proceeded to sit and wait. Did I mention that it was very cold and extremely windy as a cold front was moving through. The weather caster said that there might be a passing shower until midnight but them we would be in the clearing. As the night approached, we thought we were in the clear as it had not rained at all.

I decided to get in my car and drive across the street to purchase a drink and use the restroom since we couldn't go into the mall. I thought this was a good idea, but the caffeine kept me up all night while everyone else slept. When I returned it had gotten much colder and so windy I had to cover my head with a blanket and wrap myself in a comforter. It was still freezing. We were just very happy that it was not raining.

I am a rules person and the rules were, you get in line and stay in line until it is your turn. Some people started going to their cars and sleeping. I couldn't believe it. This would have never been allowed when camping for sports or concert tickets. Some people even left and went home to sleep for a while. By this time, we had been told that the line was over a mile long and people were still coming. I found out later that there were 4000 people in line. I was quite perturbed by this point. Around 6 am Amy went and got us a biscuit and something to drink. Then it started raining. It was slow at first but then it soon turned into a downpour. There was standing water everywhere and it was about 42 degrees and windy. Even with an umbrella, there wasn't a dry spot on us.

The auditions were supposed to start at 10am. At 7:00 someone from Deal or No Deal came by with a bull horn and said, "Go, Run!" I couldn't believe it. Where we were at in line was almost all the way around the mall. People picked up what they could carry and ran! I had a chair, a queen size comforter, a bag with 3 20 oz. drinks and dominoes, a folder with our applications, my purse and a large umbrella. Some how I picked all of that stuff up and ran. The water was standing everywhere and each time you stepped you got more wet. Amy and I were separated. When we reached where the line stopped, we got back together. It was then that I realized our cars were still on the other side of the mall and we couldn't take any of this stuff into the mall with us. I left Amy in line and ran, still carrying all of my stuff all the way back around the mall. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I had to hurry because up in front of where Amy was standing there were baricades and I knew if I didn't get back in line quick, I wouldn't be able to get back into line. I dumped all of my soaking wet stuff into the car and drove around to where she was. Then I went to get her stuff and put it in the car and got back in line. Little did I know that we would continue to stand there from 8 to 11:30. By this time it was so cold and I was so wet that I couldn't use my fingers to hold the umbrella. They did not work anymore. My feet were so cold that they went back and forth from killing me to being numb.

Finally, it was our turn. We were herded into the mall and placed into lines. Another line! This one moved quickly however. Then we were taken to tables in groups of 10. There were 10 tables set up. It was very loud in there and you could barely hear what the directions were. Basically, this young maybe 20 year old with a stop watch said, "You have 20 seconds to tell me about yourself, Go". We had been told by others that did not make it, not to say anything about the show, just talk about yourself. I thought that I did great, but a man that said,"My name is Ken and I am a broker. I want to kick the bankers butt" got throught to the next level. I couldn't believe it. I was funny and made them laugh which is what they wanted, but I didn't make it. Did I really stand in line in the rain and cold for 14 hours for this? I must have.

Note to self. This was not fun. Do not do again. Buy a lottery ticket on the way home. I would like to go and take a nap, but Carolina plays at 8 pm to get into the final 4 and we are going to Paige's house to watch. Wish me luck, maybe I will be warm by then.



For some reason the videos will not link to this page, so go to http://youtube.com/user/friendsmiling66 to view the 3 videos. Enjoy.