CBC-Sports

Walking the red carpet ... only slighty awkward

June 25, 2009 05:45 PM | Posted by   Heather Moyse  

WOW! Three nights ago, I walked the red carpet of the MuchMusic Video Awards with four other Olympic athletes - figure skaters Joannie Rochette, Tessa Virtue and Jeff Buttle, and snowboarder Brad Martin! It was crazy, amazing, unexpected, and exhilarating.

We were on the red carpet with Tila Tequila, Nickelback, Taylor Lautner, and we walked by Lady Gaga and Perez Hilton. Walking the red carpet? Well …a bit awkward!

There were people behind barricades screaming endlessly for famous people climbing out of big black vehicles onto the red carpet. My brother asked me what I arrived in -- a cab at the end of the street, and then I walked through the barricade with the group.

Someone asked us later if it was like walking into the Opening Ceremonies at the Olympics. Although it sounded the same, it was very different. At the Olympics, the people cheering know who the athletes are. At the MMVAs, the crowd outside was wondering who we were. My sport is not high profile and I compete with a helmet on my head.

Chatting with Chris Bosh

While we were waiting for our interview on the rooftop for Much On Demand, I spoke with Chris Bosh for a few minutes as we share the same athletic therapist (at least while I’m in Toronto), and he joined us for a group picture. Someone asked me afterward if I found his height intimidating. Well, I’m 5’10” and Bosh is about 6’11” – the same height as my ‘little’ brother!

To be honest, I thought we would have seen more of the show, but we had so much media stuff that we really only got to see Lady Gaga and Nickelback perform at the end of the show. I have to say that Lady Gaga’s performance was entertaining.

Most of the interviews were fine and went off without a hitch. But Ben Mulroney tried to spice things up with some interesting questions and got very little in terms of responses. I mean, what were we supposed to say when he asked us to interpret the lyrics: “I want to ride your disco stick”?!

What famous people?

Brad came up with something to say regarding the lyrics, “Boom Boom Pow”, relating it to snowboarding, but the rest of the interview? I can’t say I was too impressed with Ben’s interviewing skills, but what do I know?

Joannie and I were the only two of the group who were up to going to an after party. Although we had VIP bracelets, there was a long line of people with VIP bracelets. We were about to give up until one of our CTV hostesses waved us over to the other side of the door. We skipped the line by walking a mini red carpet, giving another photo op, and doing a couple more interviews. We were in!

The funniest part about this whole experience is that I really don’t know who the famous people are. I’m terrible with names and would probably only recognize the celebrities if I saw them behind the glass of my television. So all night people were pointing stars out to me, and for all I know, they could have been pointing out their neighbour!

The behind-the-scenes media seemed actually excited to have us there and it was great practice leading up to Vancouver 2010. Needless to say, I had an amazing time. I got to hang out with some other Olympians at an amazing event, and would do it again any day!

And let’s be serious… they had a candy bar! Who wouldn’t want to go back?!

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