"I'll Take 'Dancing With The Stars' for $200 Alex........"

Huh?

I know, I know.........you're thinkin'.......... what the heck?

Was she on Jeopardy?

No -- not that smart.

Did she win some sort of crazy Conga contest in Canada?

Nope, never been there.

Did she pay her rent in LA by being an escort for aging game show hosts?

Heck no!
(I'm much too shy and reserved for that.)

No.......that's just a little 'ol photo reminder of my workin' girl days and my good buddy Alex Trebek.

Ya see -- back in the day (the late 80's, if you insist), I had the pleasure of working at a little company in LA called King World.




You may have heard of them.......they made their name syndicating Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and big Mama herself......The Oprah Winfrey Show. King World sold those shows (among others) to television stations all across the country.

I was lucky enough to work in the advertising and promotion department. Most of my days were spent dealing with photos, publicity and ad materials for the aforementioned shows.

You know I hated that!
(Just think if I woulda had the internet back then.......yikes!)

Anyways.......I still see pictures of Vanna in evening gowns and that darn letter board in my sleep!


I also have to say -- Pat Sajak's hair has not moved since 1988.



Seriously.

One more thing........I saw lots and lots of pictures from lots and lots of photo shoots with Miss Oprah back then. Believe you me........some good, some.................



Just plain bad.

Now, I'm not sayin' that I would do anything as crazy as keep the negatives from one of them bad photo sessions -- but, ya never know...........a girl's gotta eat.

Let's just say that I have the photo editor at the Enquirer on speed dial -- and we'll leave it at that.

What started me on this walk down memory lane was some emails that I've been tradin' back and forth with my good friend Teri in LA.

She was my boss back then. My boss and my friend.

Well, she's no longer my boss -- just my friend.

Boy.........we had some fun times at that King World -- I gotta tell ya.
(There are many funny stories..........but those will have to wait until another blog day).

Teri and I were just reminiscing....and it got me thinkin' about this photo shoot with Alex. I decided to go looking, and amazingly I found the pictures (no easy feat, believe me!).

That day, we had set-up a photo shoot with him, to get some new shots for Jeopardy publicity and ad materials.

Teri was nice enough to take me along, and I sat in the background checkin' everything out.

Here's where I gotta say that Alex really is a great guy. He's funny and charming and nice and handsome and..........not at all like the serious Mr. Smarty-Pants that he sometimes acts like on TV.

Well, Teri knew that my mom back in Ohio loved Alex.

So......at the end of the shoot, Teri says, "Hey Alex.....do you think you could take a photo with Kelly, so she can give it to her mom back in Ohio?"

One problem................

I didn't know she was gonna do that.

If you look closely at the photo -- hmmmm........on second thought, not too closely...........

I am about 6 different shades of red.

Alex -- Normal Flesh Tones.

Me -- Red As A Beet.

Nice!

Sooooo attractive, very subtle.

Gee, a room full of people -- and no one could tell that I was embarassed at all...........

What a geek!

Let's just say, I cautiously walked up to stand next to him to pose -- and he grabbed me and started dancing!

Seriously............

Dancing!

OK...........now make that 7 shades of red.

Alex said, "Let's get a good picture for her mother."

I'm thinking, "Let's stop before I burst into flames!"


(Here I am saying, "OK, that's great -- thank you so very much sir. I think we got it." Alex on the other hand is laughing and pointing at the photographer. I believe he was thinking -- "Is this hayseed for real? If she's this freaked out meeting me......imagine what she'd do if Bob Barker walked in!" )


Needless to say, Alex was a definite good sport, and the pictures were a big hit back in Ohio.

Me?

Well -- after I hurried into the shadows, cooled down and got my blood pressure back to normal......I was able to return to work.

And I darn well made sure not to go to any more photo shoots with Mr. Alex Trebek!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Well, I hope you all enjoyed my little visit to the past..............thanks for indulging me.

Remind me to tell you sometime about the day I ran into Richard Simmons in our waiting room...........and we were both wearing the exact same sweater!




Oh yeah....................that was another real good day for me.