Many of us like to imagine what it is like to be on a TV show, and on Friday 15th May I was lucky enough to go the live recording of 'The F1 Show' at Sky Studios and thought I would give the lowdown on the madness (I'm not even exaggerating) that went on off air and during the ad breaks.
Now, I was expecting to be occasionally be caught on camera - I did not expect to be seen on it for most of the show. I will say though this prime positioning led to overhearing some interesting conversations and quite amusing moments, which to be honest were mainly on behalf of Natalie, but there is also so much that happened after the show:
Natalie faffing about
Now, Natalie Pinkham always does seem like a lovely person on TV well that is only half of it. Before going through the rehearsal of the opening she introduced as us all to the producer of the show whose last show it was last night, and told us that we were lucky to be at the show as to quote '[it] being the last good one'. Next thing, she is playing about with her shirt as she was not sure if it was tucked in at the back or if it looked odd because of her microphone and the wires, also she was complaining that her ear piece was not staying in her ear as it was not waxy enough. She also spent the whole opening VT dancing along to the backing music and nearly missed her cue.
Max Chilton on Fernando Alonso
Whilst off air, Max Chilton made a comment with such certainty you knew he believed it 100% - 'Fernando Alonso is still the best' - it shows that despite all the problems he has been faced with so far this season the Spaniard still and always will have hoards of fans behind him every step of the way.
Ted being told not to do stuff but still doing it
During one of the ad breaks Ted was debating whether or not to say the winners of the upcoming 'Classic Races' that are going to be broadcast on the channel in the build up to Monaco which he was told not to; if you watched the show you will know that he did in fact announce the winners of all the races.
Fernando Alonso, Daniil Kvyat and Gerhard Berger
During the VT of Fernando Alonso following the Spanish GP he is seen wearing a pair of sunglasses, as people may or may not know Fernando spent much of the weekend wearing them due to having a stye in his eye - because of this throughout the VT Natalie was going to everyone (in a very bad faux-Spanish accent) 'I got a stye in my eye so I wear the sunglasses'. Whilst this same VT was being shown, I am not quite sure how it was brought up to be honest but Natalie mentioned that she done an interview with Daniil Kvyat the other day which he swore in and he was not actually aware that he swore so after Natalie apologised he actually carried on swearing; this also prompted the story that the worst person for swearing in interviews is Gerhard Berger creating the nickname 'Swearhard Berger'.
Natalie's little on air slip up
During the VT of Rachel Brookes' interview with Pastor Maldonado, Ted turned to the audience and asked everyone 'Pastor Maldonado. Waste of space or hidden genius?' when the camera's returned to studio, Natalie was intending to ask Max 'Pastor Maldonado, wasted talent...' but slipped up and instead said 'waste of space'. When the next ad break was reached, Natalie was looking a little sheepish whilst Ted looked on in disbelief.
Possibly one of the best parts was that once the show had finished we were told that the guests were going to go to the entrance to sign autographs and take photos with them.
Meeting Natalie
I physically cannot sum up everything that happened when I met Nat. The first thing she said to me when I walked over to her was 'awww you look so smart in your Ferrari top!' which I sort of just laughed awkwardly in response to. After taking photos we got talking and my mum jokingly asked if I could have Natalie's job, which got her rather excited and she spent a while asking me about my plans for university and wished me good luck. Out of politeness, in return I asked about young Wilf which possibly was a mistake as Natalie whipped out her phone and went 'I've become one of those mothers', cue a hoard of women crowding round her cooing over photos and videos (though he is very cute).
Max Chilton complimented my name (as it is his girlfriend's too)
Was not really able to have a long chat with Max, but he basically went on for ages that I share the name of his girlfriend and that is clearly a great name.
Nic Hamilton and I had a slight t-shirt clash...
Well, see for yourself...
(It is actually the reason we are laughing in the photo)
Ted Kravitz being a massive gossip
Having taken a photo with Ted, he pointed to my Ferrari shirt and asked 'Ferrari, Sebastian or Kimi?' to which I replied with 'Seb' (which he actually looked a little shocked by) he then informed me that Sky has been given authorisation for a 10 minute interview with Seb. However, the interview has been arranged by Shell and has to be all about their fuel; because of this Ted asked me if there was a question that I would like him to asked Seb which he then noted down on his hand but I will be keeping the question a secret in case it does not make the broadcast edit.
If you too wish to go the 'The F1 Show' you can apply for tickets here
(NB: phones had to be off or on airplane mode during recording, due to this the only photos that I have are from after the show)
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