My Casting Call Experience Featuring Biggest Loser Season 3 Champion
Erik Chopin

As I promised, here is a call I made to Erik Chopin where we discussed his Open Casting Call experience. It is short and sweet - around 10 minutes.
I figured it was best for you to hear it from the voice of someone who has been there and done the improbable.

From 5 hours in the cold to Winning $250,000. WOW!

Click Here:
My Casting Call Experience From Season 3 Champion of The Biggest Loser
Erik Chopin

Check back in a couple days for the next article and remember,

There's A Winner Within You!

PETE THOMAS

Winner of $100,000 on NBC's 'The Biggest Loser'

Home Plate http://www.WinningMan.com

Weight Loss Tips and Information http://www.LoseItFastLoseItForever.com

Before After and Current Pictures http://Flickr.com/Photos/WinningMan/Sets

Pete on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1071901061

Pete on MySpace http://MySpace.com/Pete_Thomas

How To Become a Contestant On The Biggest Loser Pt 1

First of all no one can promise that you are going to get cast on the Biggest Loser.  No matter how many tips I or the other contestants give you, no one can to make that promise.  Also each contestants casting experience will be slightly different from another's. So while I cannot promise you will get cast, it makes for an awfully good article title!

So what I really hope to accomplish by this series of articles is to give you some insight into the casting process from a contestants point of view to help you with casting process.  It is not authoritative or even all inclusive.  I have not interviewed any casting directors or other contestants although I do know of other contestants experiences so I will relay them to you here.  I have never even attended an open casting call although I will be doing one better and actually working the casting call this coming Saturday in Detroit.  Obviously I will have more insight after next Saturday but you need some info this week!

With this series of articles I am going to deal with two specific ways to be cast on The Biggest Loser.  #1 is The open casting call, and #2 is the video submission.  I will give you general background information and I will also give you specific tips from my own experience that should allow you to maximize your own casting call or casting video.  I'll also include links to articles and videos from other contestants and applicants so that you can get a good overview of what it takes to be cast on The Biggest Loser. I may even have an audio file where I explain my thoughts on the video submission process. But lets get you on the right track with this first article.

Set Your Goals...Correctly!

I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking, "I want to be cast as a contestant on The Biggest Loser, that's my goal".  But actually, that's your ultimate goal.  We want to start out with the first goal in the process.  You see if you think that your immediate goal is to be cast as a contestant on The Biggest Loser then you may think that all you need to do is show up at the casting call and talk about how you became fat and how your willing to work out and how you just love Bob and your going to win the $250,000 blah, blah, blah. 

But think about this.  This is the exact same thing everyone else says.  How are you so different from the rest of us fatties that think Bob and Jillian are awesome?  Really think about that.  Why would you come to a casting call or send in a video and think someone is going to be impressed with that?  After you think about that back up a minute and let's set your primary or first goal.  Some may call it an objective to your overall goal or something similar. But here it is.

Your goal at either the open casting call or through submitting a video is simply this: 

You want a call back!

A call back is where the Casting Directors or someone similar asks you to meet with them privately.  For me it happened in a hotel room with a couple of small hand held cameras and the two casting people sent by God himself to interview me, Adam and Liz . (Adam and Liz I love you two wherever you are at these days.)  I will explain more about what happens in this private interview later in the series but for now you have got to get THERE to get on the show.

So, you want the casting directors to take a second look at you in private.  This will allow you to interact with them face..to..face.  This is what you want, privacy, one on one contact.  You want the casting directors to see who you are as a person.  You want them to really relate to you.  To touch you.  To really be on your side.  To be on your team and petition for you to become a contestant on The Biggest Loser.  You want them to become your fan. 

A good call back interview will lead to you potentially being seen by those who are higher up the casting food chain.  From there you may be invited to take the next step in the casting process.  But the first goal in the process for you is to get the call back. Focus first on that.

So, if our goal is to meet privately with the casting directors in a ‘call back' then it is important to know who the casting people are since they will be the ones who will doing the call backs.

So here's the super secret insider information.  SSSSHHH!!! Quiet! This is important!

The casting directors are people just like you and I.  In fact they are like most people in America.  They are trying to do a good job, earn a good living, get recognized for the work they do, get promoted, make a lot of money and retire.  They just happen to do most of their work in Hollywood.

But you need to think about this!  The casting directors from The Biggest Loser either sit in a video room or fly around the country and spend time looking at   FAT PEOPLE. Think about that.  That sucks!

While fat people like us are closer to real Americans than some cover model it still sucks to sit at a table and look at and listen to fat people all day.  It has got to suck even more to sit in front of video equipment and watch fat people talking and eating at home!!  (When I was big I used to say that my obesity was contributing to sight pollution.  Now I think my thighs rubbing together used to contributed to global warming.  Dang I may have melted a polar ice cap or two in my day!)

So, let's assume that working on a show that features fat people may not have been a casting directors ultimate goal in life.  I doubt it was the dream job that they had envisioned when they moved to Hollywood.  Think about it.  I imagine they probably dreamed of working on some movie that featured people we all love with names like Matthew McConaughey, Brad Pitt, Denzel and Halle Berry.  Instead of that dream they end up working for a show where the names we all love are Colonel Sanders, Ronald McDonald, Wendy's, Carl Jr and The King (Burger not Elvis).  My heart goes out to them!

Now having that basic bit of understanding should help you with the casting process.  If the people that you meet at the casting call or who watch you on video have to look at fat people all day long then the least you can do is make them laugh!!  Tell a funny story, crack a fat joke on yourself, something.  But just don't do the same thing as every other one of us fatties does - stand their and just be fat.  Fat is not a talent.  That is not special.  Fat is actually pretty common.  So supplement the weight by being unique.  Humor tends to work so I am suggesting you consider using it.  But remember other people will read this article too so don't sound like everyone else or crack the same ole jokes as everyone else.  Be unique, be different and don't bore the casting people to sleep.  If you make them go to sleep you will NOT get a call back.  I promise!!

Real Life Examples

Erik Chopin - THE Biggest Loser from Season 3 told me that in his open casting call everyone was talking about what they disliked about being fat.  Erik SPOKE UP (hint) and talked about how being fat made him feel!. He related that just that day he had been standing around for 5 hours in the freezing New York cold and He could not get his zipper to close on his new jeans after going to the rest room. I can not related how funny that really was because you have to hear the inflection in his voice and have Erik's New York personality and body language to really feel the humor in the story.  ( Click here to hear Erik tell the story in his own words). It was a hoot when he told the story to me in a Denny's restaurant nearly 18 months after it actually happened.  While his  personality and body language and the inflection in his voice are unique to him the principle for everyone is still the same.  He used humor to describe how MAD being fat made him.  The casting directors cracked up and later asked to meet with him in private.  Goal #1 accomplished!  Fattie gets another interview!

As for me, I sent in a video.  While I will explain more about that process in a later article I will give you some general info here.  I did all the normal stuff they told me to do in the casting press release.  I talked about myself and why I had become fat, blah, blah, blah.  Oh by the way - The quality of my video was HORRIBLE!  I made it on a borrowed HI8 camera in low light in my dining room where I had my $4,000 treadmill that I had converted into a clothes hanger after I gave up my latest weight loss attempt.  Then I did a manual Hi8 to camera to vhs record pause fast forward record pause fast forward record cut and splice job.  While doing this I noticed that the camera angle was too high when my wife and I were sitting down on some segments of the video so we were only visible from the neck up.  Dang!  Their missing 300 of my 416+lbs I thought.  Oh well - I didn't redo it because I was under a time crunch and I was already past the deadline for submitting videos (hint).  The video was so dark that I looked 4 shades darker than I actually am.  It was tedious and it was of sucky quality to say the least.  It was so tedious that I never made a extra copy of the Vhs tape that I sent in.  I have all the Hi8 originals but not my editing masterpiece.  And back in 2004 they only accepted vhs tapes.  I will have to ask B.L. for a copy of it. 

BUT!  The most important part was the content and I flat out knocked that out of the park like a ninth inning, bases loaded, home run!  How do I know this?  Well the reason I know I made a good video was that I was called for a private call back!    That's right. Goal #1 accomplished!  Fattie gets another interview!!  There are other reasons that I know I did really well but I am going to explain more about my video tape submission process later.  For now suffice it to say that the call back was proof the video was good.

Now that I think about it I really need to ask B.L. for that video!!  I just now remembered one part of the video where I was listening to ‘Fast Food Nation' in my car while ordering a Big Mac meal in the McDonalds drivethrough!  Tons of applicants record themselves in the fast food drive through but only a few fatties are actually listening to Fast Food Nation at the same time!  And I did not buy the cd series to set up that scene.  I was actually in the midst of listening to it because I wanted to lose weight!!  Just thinking about the stupidity of that cracks me up even now!! 

So that is lesson 1 Set a goal to get a Call Back. Stand out.  Have a personality.  Be unique.  Be different.  Don't just be a fattie.  Realized that the casting people don't owe you anything just because your 416 lbs with high blood pressure and prediabetic and all your body parts rubbing together are going to start a fire and you can't see your...oh that's not you.  That was me...opps - should not have wrote that in here.  Well anyway you get the point.

Check back in a couple days for the next article and remember,

There's A Winner Within You!

PETE THOMAS

Winner of $100,000 on NBC's 'The Biggest Loser'

Home Plate http://www.WinningMan.com

Weight Loss Tips and Information http://www.LoseItFastLoseItForever.com

Before After and Current Pictures http://Flickr.com/Photos/WinningMan/Sets

Pete on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1071901061

Pete on MySpace http://MySpace.com/Pete_Thomas

Happy Anniversary to the New Pete Thomas

On March 11th 2005 I stepped on The Biggest Loser Ranch at over 400 pounds. My blood pressure was measured at 150/90. My resting heart rate was between 89-92 beats per minute. My body fat was 51%. My waist was 60 inches.

In 62 days I would lose 83 pounds and a host of other health problems. I was equipped and motivated to continue to get in shape and would keep running toward my weight loss goals and participate in a 5k (3.1 miles), 10 miler and half marathon (13.1 miles) before my return for the reunion show that November. In all I would lose another 102 pounds on my own for a total of 185 pounds in 9 months.

And today my other numbers are pretty good as well. My blood pressure is 102/60. My resting heart rate is in the low 60's. My body fat stays near single digits. My waist is a 36-38.

And just as important. I am keeping the weight off and helping others learn what I have done.

Check out my pictures and other sites below and remember,

There's a Winner Within You!

PETE THOMAS

Winner of $100,000 on NBC's 'The Biggest Loser'

Home Plate http://www.WinningMan.com

Weight Loss Tips and Information http://www.LoseItFastLoseItForever.com

Before After and Current Pictures http://Flickr.com/Photos/WinningMan/Sets

Pete on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1071901061

Pete on MySpace http://MySpace.com/Pete_Thomas