Fast-forward the trip. I arrive in Sydney, get to baggage claim and there is my driver holding a sign "ROSA GAUNSON" - Yay, that's me, so I wave! LOL. I am such a dork. Grabbed my suitcase, and he takes it for me to the car. Nice car, lexus, with leather seats. We start chatting, he tells me that I am on my way to become a household name, etc... If only! I start talking about Kylie Minogue, as I do. He tells me 2 months ago he had her in his car. Oh, so close. I tell him, I have 2 daughters named Kylie, and Dannii - funny stuff :) He then begins to tell me that he will tell Kylie all about me next time he sees her. Woohoo!! If only he would call me when she was in his car. Now, that would be cool. He tells me how nice she is, etc etc etc.
Then we arrive at Southern Star. Sylvia comes down, asks me if I bought the Melbourne weather with me? Has been raining ever since I touched down. I told her the sun was coming out just before take off. She then asks me if I have had any lunch as we are walking through the offices, and I see all the casting producers etc for Beauty and the Geek working in their cubicles. I will have a salad - how good am I?
I get in the office, then they ask me to pull out all my outfits, and then they get me trying them on. Eventually we agreed on my black/beige dress - my least favourite of the lot! lol.
Then it's time to start doing my hair, Virginia keeps popping her head in to sticky nose. (translated: see how we were going) lol. My chicken salad with dressing on the side come in. Aww Sylvia, I didn't even have to ask, and you knew about dressing on the side. Managed to eat a few mouthfuls before we started on make up. At least I ate all my chicken so I wasn't starving by the time I eat dinner - 7.30pm on the plane.
After hair/make up is done, and I am dressed, I get driven to the studios of channel 9. Wow! I have my own guest pass too, which Sylvia let me steal. Woohoo! Now, the waiting game starts.
I think we waited for an hour before they let us go upstairs. The others went into the boardroom with the channel 9 executives - a roomful of suits as they call it! I had to wait outside with Sylvia, and we chatted, about exercise, and food that I cook, etc. It turns out that I have inspired her to go to the gym, and she is actually going to go the next day before work. Oh yeah, go me!
My turn to go in. The big boss directed most of the questions to me. I talked about how much weight I had lost in 12 weeks (21.1kg) And how I had done it on my own, with the support of others doing it at the same time. How I had gained all this confidence from losing the weight. "hell, I'm in here talking to all you right now!" I talked a lot about Zumba, and how at the start when I was going to the gym, I had trouble burning anywhere near 500 calories a day, until I discovered Zumba, and found that I could burn 600 calories an hour, and now I can burn 800 calories. I told them that it is possible to lose weight through diet and exercise and that I was living proof.
Virginia told me after we left that room that I was perfect, and that they were all very impressed with me. They had my fat photos, and my before and after pics in my bikini!! Ewww....
So, basically they were trying to pitch an idea for a show to the channel 9 exec's, and as they said I was their secret weapon. They wanted to show/prove that weight loss can be achieved through diet and exercise, and you don't need lap band surgery to get there. At the end of the meeting, Rory said that all I had to do now was put all the weight back on, and I could come on their show. Arrgggh, No way!!!!
Then in the cab, for my trip back home.
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| In the plane, a little worse for wear |
That was my story about an expense paid trip with pampering for a day.
