Hello Canada, and welcome to my blog!
As co-host of Wipeout Canada, I had the pleasure of meeting
260 amazing contestants from across the country and it was an
experience I will forever cherish. It didn't feel like a job so much as
it felt like hanging out with friends--we would laugh so much that my
cheeks would hurt at the end of the day! There are so many great
stories, funny facts and memories that I want to share, and I'll be doing just that in my weekly blog about the upcoming Sunday's episode.
But first, a bit of background on how things work on the Wipeout Canada
set: Every morning that we begin to shoot a new episode, we start by
interviewing the 20 contestants before they run The Qualifier.
We only spend a couple minutes with each of them, but I'm telling
you, that is all the time you need to see how great each and every one
of these people are. In the interviews, I always like to get the contestants to show or teach me a talent of theirs. I learned a lot of
funny dance moves, tricks and talents that made me smile and hopefully
will make you do the same. (All of my full contestant interviews will
be available on this site the day after each episode airs, so you can
learn some dance moves too.)
Now where to start with our series premiere? The first thing I think of is Glen MacCharles. Glen is from Hamilton and had a great audition video.
In my interview with him, he bent a big metal bar around his neck like
it was nothing! I'm usually up for trying anything with the
contestants, but I didn’t even attempt to do that. I still can't
believe how strong he was!
Speaking of strength, Ashley Werner from Simcoe, Ontario squatted me
throughout her interview. (Yes, I said squatted!) She hoisted me up on her
shoulders and held me there while she powerlifted her way through the
Q&A. And talk about fitness--Heather "Yummy Mommy" Westmacott is a
mother of two from Winnipeg... with a six pack! I asked what her secret
was to shedding the baby weight but she said it was just a result of
regular workouts like going to the gym and running. I think she was
blessed with great genetics. When you see her on Sunday's premiere
you'll know what I'm talking about.
I am a big fan of food so I especially enjoyed the interview with
Sandra Yang. Her friends call her Seabiscuit because she eats so much.
We ate croissants and fruit throughout her whole interview. Can you
believe I get paid to do this?
After eating all that food, Brett Bacon, a yoga wear salesperson
from Calgary, offered to teach me some yoga positions. I've done yoga a few
times before, and I have to say, I've never had an instructor do those kind of moves before. Come to think of it, I think he may have made them up...
Another interview that stands out in my mind was with Philip
Demers--he taught me how to speak walrus. Phil is a marine mammal
trainer and works with a walrus named Smooshi. She imprinted on him and
actually thinks he is her mother. She is very protective of him, too--when a woman tries to hug Phil, Smooshi will run after her. You may notice a random blue bucket throughout the episode whenever I'm interviewing Phil--the crew had just gotten wind of the where's-my-bucket meme before this episode was filmed so we thought it’d be funny. To us, anyway.
I wish I could tell you about every one of the wonderful contestants, but you'll just have to tune in for the premiere of Wipeout Canada this Sunday at 8pm ET/PT, only on TVtropolis.
Until next week,
Jessica Phillips
Follow Jessica on Twitter @WipeoutJessica!