And all I gotta do is act naturally....

Jo and me filming in Times Square, producers and crew in background.

Hey kids, I'm going to be on the teevee again! I was in NYC last week filming a segment for 20/20 about "The Great Simon Reid Smackdown". ABC News flew Jo, Nicola and me (Laura had work obligations, unfortunately) to NYC where we were interviewed by Nick Watt and filmed a bunch of B-roll (filler footage like walking down the street, typing on a laptop, etc.).

Me and Nicola.

I had a fabulous time, the producers and the crew were awesome and I think our interview went very well. 

Some of the highlights: 

• The awesome loft where we shot the interview. It's a space owned by an artist called Jacques, who rents it out to ABC to use for interviews. I chatted with Jacques on the set and he said that ABC liked filming here because it was located in a quiet (for Manhattan, anyway) residential street and any famous people they interviewed could come and go without a lot of people and paparazzi bothering them. I asked who'd been in there recently and Jacques mentioned Justin Bieber, Madonna, Bono, and Beyonce. There was this amazing spread of food laid out: fresh fruit, exotic cheeses, raw veggies, and cookies and pastries that Jacques said he'd made himself (we couldn't figure out if he was joking about doing all the baking, but either way, those chocolate cupcakes kicked ass!). I asked him if he lived there and he said no, he had a separate residence close by. He said that this loft isn't really livable, because it's too hard to sleep in a big open space like that. He said, "People started out as cave dwellers, you know. We're meant to be in a cozy space when we sleep." I honestly don't know if I'd have trouble living and sleeping in that huge fabulous loft, but...um...I'd totally be willing to try it out. You know, as an experiment. The celebrities could come in and just film around me. I'd let them.

Jacques in his loft. Seriously, the place is awesome.

• The interview was fun. I was nervous because we had to do our own hair and makeup (while being filmed! I hope they don't use that particular B-roll....) and they had to shut the air conditioner off when we did the interview because of the background noise. As a consequence, Nick (the correspondent) and I had to take frequent breaks so someone could run over with tissues and powder to keep the sheen from our faces (I was soooo grateful for that, as it was about 90 degrees that day!). During one of our breaks I told Nick that I didn't know how men could wear suits and jackets in this type of weather, and I was grateful to be able to wear light dresses and sandals in the summer. Nick said that he was glad he was a guy because he couldn't cope with all the "fuss" women had to deal with just to get ready in the morning. (Whatever, I'm still glad I'm a chick!) 

UPDATED -- Better, less blurry shot of me on set (thanks Nicola!).

• Nick was great, by the way. He asked interesting questions and kept the tone fairly light (I have no idea how it will be edited). They interviewed me first, then brought Jo and Nicola in and filmed them together, then did some of it with all three of us. We kept cracking up at Nick's reactions to some of the lies Simon told us; I mean, now that I have enough distance from that train wreck of a relationship (and I think this is true for Jo, Nicola and Laura as well) a lot of it just seems so funny, some of the crap that Simon fed us all. I hope they do show some of the lighter side, because it was pretty humorous.

Jo, Nicola and Nick discussing British stuff.

• The producers that we worked with, Alison Lynn and Emily Whipp, were fabulous. Emily took us to lunch the day of the filming and then paid for massages for us before we went in to film the interview. Then after filming wrapped Alison and Emily took the three of us to dinner at Bar Americain, where we got 5-star service (Alison has connections!). They were both so generous and professional and I was lucky to get to work with him (same goes for the crew and Nick as well!)

Dinner at Bar Americain.

• OF COURSE the best part was getting to hang with Jo and Nicola, (I'm still bummed that Laura couldn't make it...but hopefully we'll have more opportunities to fly to NYC). We had a great time. The girls entertained me with stories about their love lives and I made them laugh with my pathetic attempts at an English accent (seriously, I can't do an English accent to save my ass--something you'd think I'd have mastered by now. Thanks to my boyfriend John I've been able to imitate a reasonable approximation of a Manchester accent, but it still needs a lot of work). 

My boyfriend John in the 80's. Voted "Sexiest Mancunian Alive."

Our original air date was this Friday, June 22, but they've pushed it back to June 29 because Rielle Hunter decided this was her week to grant 20/20 an interview so she could make us all gag with tales of her sex life with John Edwards. (I'm joking--of course I'm incredibly thankful for the experience of going on 20/20. Still, why did it have to be Rielle freaking Hunter who bumped us?).

And while I'm at it, I don't understand the fascination with the Edwards/Hunter thing, it's just another greasy politician caught in a sex scandal. I mean, I guess the details of this one are particularly horrific--Edwards cheating on cancer-stricken wife, impregnating the mistress, then denying the kid was his---yeah, all pretty gross. But I still don't find it all that surprising or interesting. The Rielle Hunter I'm interested in hearing about is the 1980's version, back when she was called Lisa Jo Druck and served as the inspiration for the protagonist in Jay McInerney's Story of My Life, which was my favorite novel for a while when I was in my early 20's. (In fact, I think it was everyone's favorite novel in their early 20's.) Really, that's the Rielle Hunter I want to know more about, because that version kicked ass. She may have been a poor(er) man's Paris Hilton in reality, but in the novel she was hilarious. Seriously, read the book if you never have; I think it's aged pretty well for the most part.

Oh, and while I'm talking novels, let me just take a minute and plug mine to get that out of the way....

Available on Kindle (also on non-Kindles)

Back to Simon Reid stuff: I'm also excited to announce that our story will be the subject of an episode of Who the Bleep? (formerly Who the Bleep Did I Marry?) which will air on the Investigation Discovery network (or "I.D. Channel", as they're called). It's going to be awesome and I will post more details as I get them.

Check back regularly and often for more updates. Oh, and watch our 20/20 episode on June 29th!