Biggest Loser Part III

So thankfully I didn't poop my pants standing in the line waiting to interview, especially since Angie had made it quite clear where her friendship line was drawn. We watched anxiously through the glass window as the two groups in front of us interviewed and then our time came. It appeared that we were going to be interviewing with Brandon, the non-Auburn casting director, so my attire for the day was all for not. When we got the clearance to enter the casting room they pulled the ole switch up on us and sent our group to Holland, the Auburn fan...the Lord is working things in our favor. YES! In a group setting you need to stand out and we are clearly dressed for success compared to all the people in our group. Holland introduces herself and explained how the interview was going to work. We all went around the table and introduced ourselves telling where we were from, how old we were and what we did for a living. Angie and I knew that this was our opportunity to shine because we both live and work on a college campus. What an opportunity to influence so many people if they cast us on the show! That's what we thought and so we weren't afraid to use that as our sales pitch. In our rehearsing I planned to say, "My name is KB Thomas, I'm from Pineville,Louisiana, I'm 32 years old and I am the Residence Life Director at a small liberal arts college. I play mom to 600 college students but I'd prefer to not look like I birthed them all." As everyone introduced themselves and it was getting around to my turn something in my gut told me to leave off the part about birthing all of them. In hindsight I regret not inserting my funny antic when I had the chance, but oh well. I was relieved, as was my stomach when Holland actually responded to my introduction with a "wow"..I thought,"yay, we stood out!" After all introducing ourselves she asked one question and the interviews were downhill from there. What was the one question...WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE ON THE BIGGEST LOSER? Again this was a popcorn style interview setting so you just had to jump in there and answer. Our 250lb friend from Thibodeaux was the first one off of the block and immediately had a meltdown as she explained that she was tired of being fat. She said she had been made fun of her whole life and as she continued to talk she was sitting amongst a group of obese people who were all making fun of her in their heads. She was interrupted by the next person and then the next and the next...all with the same answers which the casting directors have probably heard for years. "I've been overweight my whole life. My back hurts, my feet hurt, my clothes don't fit..." with each answer you could see Holland drift away and I felt like Angie and I were never going to get to pop into the conversation.One lady even said that her mom tells her that she was the only baby that ever got fat on breast milk. Finally Angie made a break for it and gave an answer that was different, unique..that stood out. A few more people spoke and then I sat up on the edge of my seat and went for it. "The reason I want to be on the Biggest Loser is because I have been a driven and successful woman at everything I have put my mind to for 32 years except controlling me weight. The only thing I have consistantly failed at is losing weight and I am ready to do something about it!" In that moment I was engaged with Holland and I felt like my answer was unique...but more importantly my struggle made sense. That wasn't just an answer to impress...it was honest and I don't like to fail. Not long after I got to answer the lady keeping time came by and said that time was up. My heart skipped a beat and my thoughts began to race....did Holland even notice my Auburn necklace? Did we stand out? I think she really liked us but who knows? AND THEN IT HAPPENED....someone asked her as we were leaving if she was from California and she said no that she was from Alabama and I seized the day and turned around and said WAR EAGLE!! She looked up at me and just smiled and I kept on walking, picked up my stuff and left the interview room.

Time to finally breathe...and go to the bathroom. Thank the Lord that is over but now the waiting game begins. I sat my stuff down with Angie and our chair friend and made a B line for the bathroom. As I was taking care of my business I hear a familiar voice from the stall next to me and realize that it is Holland, the casting director, and she is talking to someone on the phone. A normal person would probably be paranoid at this point that she would smell their "business" and would be mortified but all I am thinking is you need to hurry so that you meet up with her at the sink KB. So, I rush the process in order to get that one last chance at some face time with the casting director. I mean really...she needs to see the Auburn necklace, she needs to remember my face. Come on, Angie and I will make for great TV! I quickly hurry from the stall and slowly wash my hands and then soap and wash again and realize she is taking her time and I have rushed the process too much and now I can't just stand around or it is going to be obvious. I slowly walked out of the bathroom and stood near the door so I could conveniently walk beside her when she came out...oh the shame but it was game time! I met back up with Angie and we made a game plan to leave the mall and head for some lunch. Holland had told us during the interview that they would break at 2:00pm and make some call backs from the morning interview groups so we knew we needed to stay in town until at least 4:00pm.

So I've failed to mention at this point that at most of the open casting calls they usually bring back former contestants to mingle with the crowd. Angie had discovered that Abby from season 8 was going to be at the New Orleans casting call and I was just a wee bit excited. Abby is my favorite Biggest Loser contestant of all time. Every week I would cry watching her compete and hearing her story, she is truly an inspiration. Well we had gotten all the way through the line and finished our interview and were leaving the mall and still had not gotten to meet Abby so I was a little disappointed. Angie and I had gotten out of the mall and all the way down the sidewalk and I had asked her to stop so I could readjust all the stuff I was carrying and as I looked up I saw Abby walking towards us and I am ashamed to admit that I had a celebrity geek out moment. So shameful. Angie had her back to the sidewalk so she never saw her coming and it all happened so fast that I couldn't even stop myself. Abby was looking down at her phone texting when I saw her and realized who it was and I just yelled as though I saw a friend that I hadn't seen in ages.."ABBBBBBYYYY!!!" She looked up from her phone and looked at me very confused as if trying to figure out if or how she knew me because certainly the way I addressed her it was like we were long lost friends. At this point Angie turns around and surveys the situation and realizes what is going on as I am rambling like a mad woman. I don't know that I ever stopped to breathe as I am saying, "we didn't think we were going to get to meet you...we saw on your blog you were going to be here but we never saw you...you're my favorite contestant." Thankfully Angie stopped me long enough to introduce herself and me and tell her that we had just come from our interview and connect all the dots for her. Now that she realized that she didn't know us she explained that she has been lost in the city all morning trying to find the interview location. See I was just helping a sister out by letting her know she was in the right place. Okay maybe not. She asked us how our interview went and graciously agreed to take a picture with us.


She still looks amazing....what an inspiration. My celebrity geek out moment was worth the embarrassment because meeting her made it all seem so real. Whether we got cast for the show or not, I look at this picture and think that it is possible to get healthy and lose weight. Not to mention that our chair friend stayed around the mall ALL day stalking the casting directors and sent us a text message while we were at lunch that said "look who I met" and had a picture of her and Abby. At that moment I told Angie that I may have had a geek out moment but at least I saw her so that we could meet her because we both would have been ticked to get that text message and know our chair friend met her and we didn't. True story?! We also thought this might just be another way of the Lord looking out for us because we were the first people that she met at the casting calls so if they ask for her opinion on anyone we might stand out, but then again thanks to my geek out moment maybe not in a good way.

So we head back to the car to decide where to eat lunch and how to kill time as we wait anxiously for a call back. As I walk to the car I realize that I have made two bad decisions. Number one the shoes I have chosen for the day were a bad choice. The walk to and from the mall and through the mall have now completely rubbed the skin off both my heels and my heels are bleeding pretty bad. Beauty is pain, right? The second bad choice...rushing the process in the bathroom. The entire walk back to the car I just feel like something isn't right in that area. The only way I can explain it is to say that I feel like I have been out running on a hot day and now have a sweaty butt like my chair friend only I know I'm not sweating. I realize this is probably too much information but for the sake of the story and to be fair to Angie I have to incriminate myself too. So, something is not right in my underoos. We finally get to the car and after just sitting for about 30 minutes and doing nothing we decide to head to the French Quarter to find some lunch. Keep in mind this has been a high emotion, high energy day and we've been going strong since 4:00am. We park the car and head toward the market and Angie realized she forgot her phone so we turn around and go back to the car. We head once again towards the market and decide to eat at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.


Though we didn't order any margaritas it probably would have helped calm our nerves. Angie and I usually never lack for conversation but that afternoon we sat and ate lunch in complete silence. Every few moments I would let out a sigh but not many words were spoken. Our poor waiter probably thought we hated each other or that we were deaf and mute but we were just done for. We both could have bought a new car if someone paid us a dollar for every time we checked our phones to see what time it was and slowly the minutes ticked by. I vaguely remember what I ate that meal and really don't remember taking a bite of anything or what it tasted like...we were merely existing. I finally got up from the table to go to the bathroom and discovered what my "something is not right" problem was. Now rewind back to the first entry where I told you about the weaknesses question and keep in mind that Angie's answer for me on that question was that I am vulgar. She is quick to tell me and other that I burp and fart and do not act lady like. On a daily basis I say and do things that gross her out without even thinking about it. So as I come back to the table I am trying to figure out how to address this without being crass or offensive to her. So I simply tell her, "Ang if we get a call back I'm going to need to go somewhere and make a partial wardrobe change" and I left it at that. That's pretty tactful, huh? I even got sympathetic eyes from Angie and then a small chuckle at my expense. So we paid the bill and left the restaurant to kill another few hours in the Big Easy. We just walked aimlessly with absolutely no interest in what we were doing or seeing. I finally looked at her and said "Angie I need to go somewhere where I can really go to the bathroom in peace and quiet and I just want to sit down." So we decided that we would go be bums in the student center at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. We headed back to the car and somehow I got in front of Angie and I hear this voice from behind me say "you're going to need to change your pants too." My heart just sank. I rushed the process to meet the casting director for the Biggest Loser and crapped my pants! My favorite khakis now had poop on the butt and blood on the heels...sad times, but I felt like I took one for the team. (judge lest ye be judged)

So we make it to the seminary and take care of all our business. I change clothes and wash my khakis in the sink in case we get a call back and have to stay in town another night. After leaving the restroom Angie and I made our way to the couches where we were just going to sit for a few minutes and we made the mistake of laying down. It was about 2:10 when we sat down and at 4:15pm Angie woke me up from a dead sleep and we realized that we had missed the "window" and probably weren't getting a call so we got in the car and headed home. There were quite a few seminary students, mostly internationals studying in the student center that Saturday afternoon and they probably were a little disturbed by the ungodly noises coming out of the two sleeping women on the couches in that student center. We became the seminary bums. The trip home was either spent in silence or in gut wrenching laughter at the events of the day.

At about 6:00am on Sunday morning I received a text message from Angie that said Holland tweeted that all the callbacks for New Orleans were complete and our phones had not rung...so sadly, we are not the BIGGEST LOSERS...but what an amazing process this has been. Stay tuned for my next entry entitled "Now What"...just because I didn't make it on the show doesn't change the reality that I am almost 150lbs overweight. This process helped me realize what some of my obstacles and emotional food triggers are and begin to think through setting realistic goals. I've got a plan and I'm ready for change my friends!!