Last night, ITV1’s Tonight programme included a special première – screen time for the MSE team (special for us anyway!).
Martin’s done fantastic TV Money Makeovers for years now, but on this occasion he was only given 24 hours by the ITV producers to save a lovely family – the Scotts – as much money as possible. As the clock was ticking, he decided to take a couple of the MoneySaving team along with him, to really ramp up the amount of work we could do on the day.
So, myself and MSE Guy took the trip up to Coalville in Leicestershire and got stuck into the mountains of bills, statements and receipts to help find every little bit of saving possible.
It was a hard but rewarding day, and last night we got to see the results (you can watch it again on the ITV website). It was fascinating to see the finished product, with a day and a half of our time, and plenty more from ITV’s production team, condensed into about 20 minutes.
Obviously it is exciting to see yourself on screen, though I think it is only human to pick out really odd little things (“Is that honestly how I sit??”, I demanded of my girlfriend). I was glad that the sections of conversation that took 2 or 3 takes didn’t sound rehearsed – at the time, you feel a bit silly repeating an insight on the family’s spending for the third run-through.
All told, I reckon I got about 30 seconds of screen time; pretty much spot on what I reluctantly told my mother I would get – and her delight was evident through the deluge of text messages. Guy got a tad more, and the honour of an on-screen High Five with Martin, which I’m sure is something he will tell the grandkids!
So, a fun first experience of the TV world, and I must say how hard all the cameramen, runners, producers and the rest all work. Would I do it again – of course, and next time i’ll be ready to muscle past Guy to get into shot!
Discuss this blog: Fame at last!
