Shortly after our first visit to Fairhope, we started looking for our house on the bay.  Our energetic realtor, Shannon Hesse, was contacted by HGTV’s Beach Hunters.  They wanted to feature the Eastern Shore – a secret paradise gem – and she suggested us.  Sounded fun, so we went through screen testing, my hubby, Shannon and me.  And a month later – THEY PICKED US!

Well, it was a hilarious – and educational – experience.  Here are some of the things we learned:

(1) You never get used to a crew calling you the “talent.”  Ha!  We may have been on camera, but the crew of eight was the talent.  Professional, hard-working, and really nice.  They worked hard to make us comfortable.  And the cool drone shots are breathtaking!

(2) You have a mic on for twelve hours, for three days.  Not easy!  Burps – yep, caught by the mic.  Bad jokes – yep, caught by the mic.  And your hubby makes kissy kissy noises when you are in a bedroom alone – yep, caught by the mic.

(3) Reality TV is hard!  As we were filming on the beach in Fairhope, an 8-year-old showed up with 20 of his best friends for a birthday party…so the hour-long set-up for a beach shot was wasted!  No amount of sound editing could take away that noise.  As as you walk thru a house, if the AC kicks on, the shot is ruined.  Too much background noise – so you start over.  And the cameramen?  Freaking contortion artists – hiding in bathtubs, closets, on staircases – all so their cute faces wouldn’t show in a bathroom mirror or in the patio glass.

(4) Our sons had fun – they got to fish on camera, make fun of Brent and me, and crack jokes on screen.  And it was really great to have them there with us.

(5) NOT scripted.  The producer, Margaret, and the director, Joe, simply asked us what we were looking for.  We said a great view in a quiet area, open floorplan, with three bedrooms.  In every shot, they just reminded us to relate everything we were seeing back to our “wish list.”  We just talked – and they caught it on camera.  You can tell it’s not scripted because of some of our bloopers!

So if you want to watch our episode, it is Season 2, Episode 1, “Alabama Gulf Coast Getaway.”  And after about 150 hours of film, it got narrowed to a 30-minute episode starring the famous Douglas family.