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Answer by Nadia Singer, recruiter:
I would have to rank being in the audience of Ellen in my top-five fun experiences. This is a picture my friend made after watching the episode; I think my face and everyone else’s says it all.
I went to the taping on Feb. 24 that would air the next day. I was with my mom, aunt, and cousin. An extra fun part of the day was that it was for my aunt’s birthday, and she had no idea that we were going on a trip, let alone to see Ellen. We happened to get VIP tickets through my cousin’s company, so we were brought into the Riff Raff Room with other VIP audience members and were able to shop in the store before going into the studio.
We were seated in the fourth or maybe fifth row. We happened to be sitting right behind Ellen’s mom, who is adorable. After the staff filled up the studio, a staffer introduced Twitch, who got the crowd hyped up by dancing. I think we were in there for about 30-45 minutes just dancing and signing along to music when all of a sudden Ellen was introduced. At first I thought it was going to be a dry run and her just saying hi, but after about 10 minutes I realized it was the show.
The studio had the most amazing positive energy of any place I’ve been. It’s no surprise since that is what Ellen is all about. But strangers are dancing and hugging each other, everyone is smiling—it’s incredible.
We happened to be on a really special episode and sitting in an awesome place. The woman sitting next to my aunt won a three-night trip to Vegas and $10,000, and a couple behind us won a new car and everything that Ellen gave away during her 12 Days of Giveaways last year. She was obviously in a very generous mood and invited the whole audience back in December for one of her 12 Days of Giveaways shows—I can’t wait!
She doesn’t interact with audience members much except the ones she gave away prizes to and spends the commercial breaks singing and dancing along to the music Twitch was playing as well as talking to her producers. At one point she did come over to say hi to her mom and a friend of hers, at which point I got to say thank you, since she had just told us we were coming back in December. She did say you’re welcome with a huge smile—major highlight for me!
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