I Auditioned For The Bold & The Beautiful 😂

In 2001, I found myself on the set of 'The Bold and the Beautiful'. This wasn't like today's reality television pretending to be a soap opera. This was the real deal. 'The Bold and the Beautiful', 'The Young and the Restless' and the other big-time American soaps were proper television dramas — big characters, big houses, big romances, big betrayals and twisted storylines that could get gloriously ridiculous. And millions of people around the world were completely hooked. At the time, 'The Bold and the Beautiful' was being shown in 100 markets in 45 languages. It was a genuinely global TV phenomenon. But what struck me when I was on the set wasn't how seriously the actors took themselves. It was almost the opposite. These were working actors who knew exactly what they were doing. When the cameras were rolling, they played those characters completely straight. But once they were off camera, they seemed perfectly happy to have a laugh at the absurdity of it all — and, in this case, at my expense as well. I was there as a radio reporter doing a behind-the-scenes piece. Because it was radio, and because we weren't actually shooting a television segment, I decided to muck around a bit at the end of my interviews. I suggested that there was one character missing from 'The Bold and the Beautiful'. A gardener. I mean, look at those big mansions. Somebody had to look after all the gardens. So I introduced them to Mick, the Aussie gardener. There was no script. I made it up as I went. And these actors — who had spent years delivering some of the most dramatic dialogue on daytime television — just picked it up and played along. Hunter Tylo as Dr Taylor Hayes. Justin Torkildsen as Rick Forrester. Adrienne Frantz as Amber. Katherine Kelly Lang as Brooke. Jennifer Finnigan as Bridget Forrester. And finally John McCook as Eric Forrester. They treated my ridiculous little drama skit with exactly the same commitment they gave the real show. Which made it even funnier. They were doing proper B&B. And somewhere along the way, I wasn't going to be getting a call from Hollywood about my acting career anytime soon. This was completely unscripted. Completely improvised. And completely bloody funny. What I remember most isn't just the gag. It's how relaxed these actors were about taking the piss out of themselves, their characters, the show — and me. They understood the absurdity. They just knew when the cameras were rolling, you played it straight. That's what made those old soaps so much fun for the actors, crew & the audience. And that's what made this day on the set of The Bold and the Beautiful so memorable. It was playing in the Celebrity Sandbox with some fun people. I went there to do a behind-the-scenes radio bit. I left having auditioned for the role of 'Mick the Aussie gardener'. I didn't get the part. And I think Hollywood has been better off for it. #BoldAndTheBeautiful #BAndB #SoapOpera #Hollywood #BehindTheScenes #CelebrityInterviews #JohnMcCook #KatherineKellyLang #HunterTylo #JustinTorkildsen #AdrienneFrantz #JenniferFinnigan #2000sTV #CelebritySandbox