The Finalists Complete Their First Task

Congratulations CW Star Finalists on completing your first task successfully! I have ONE WORD for you all: GOTCHA! That’s right! Your first task was to show us your best interviewing skills with very little knowledge about who you would be speaking with and my job was to make the job as difficult as possible. We took aspects of my job from blogging, to hosting to social media and gave only that tiny bit of information to our finalists to prepare; however, they didn’t know that it was actually me they would be interviewing. Many times these types of unexpected situations will happen, such as a phone ringing, a huge ego or someone shamelessly self promoting. I dubbed myself as Agent00 Dugan and created “characters” for each of you. Please don’t hate me! Many of the “distractions” I fashioned for your interview were situations I’ve encountered over the year and had to bounce back from professionally. We wanted to see how you handled thinking on your toes in unexpected situations. How do you think the finalists did?

Lee Ann’s interview was geared around someone who writes a successful blog. Mission: Cell Phone Sabotage

I felt that Lee Ann had great confidence after she discovered that I was the “Blogger” she would be interviewing. The interview started out great and she stayed on task asking questions that pertained to writing a blog and the blogging world. I also liked that she ended the interview with a great personal question, something viewers maybe interested in discovering. Lee Ann was definitely surprised when my cell phone kept interrupting her interview (who wouldn’t be?), but was patient, poised and polite about the pesky disturbance. However, she did let the distraction uproot her train of thoughts and I felt her energy level drop. I could tell her nerves started to get the best of her and she seemed slightly discouraged. This is something that happens quite often during red carpets. There will be excited fans, impatient publicists and aggressive reporters; however, always stay focused, enthusiastic and fight for your interview, even if that means tactfully asking someone to turn off their cell. Another thing to keep in mind is to not look at the camera, I know it feels natural to include your audience, but don’t worry they’re interested and watching!

Kevin’s interview was geared toward someone who has hosted major events in front of hundreds of people. M ission: Question Hog

Kevin has an excellent look, voice and impressive resume. I was really excited to see how this overachiever would handle the interview; unfortunately he fell right into my trap. I began asking him several questions before the interview started to throw him off guard, when the camera started rolling his nerves really started to show. He seemed unprepared for the interview and grasping for questions to ask; granted our finalists had NO IDEA who they would be interviewing until right before they entered the room, but you should ALWAYS have “fallback” questions, an introduction and outro prepared. Stay on your toes; you never know what’s going to happen. Anytime I asked Kevin a question he would answer with a dialogue about himself. The person watching doesn’t want to hear about you, they want to hear about the interviewee, find a way to turn the interview around on the person you are speaking with and maintain control.

Marqita’s interview was geared toward a social media marketer. Mission: Diva Dugan Downer

Marqita has an engaging energy; she is calm, cool and collected. I wanted to challenge her with a few sassy and somewhat rude moments. In the beginning of the interview, I declared that I wasn’t feeling well and needed to stop for a sip of water. I also stated that I didn’t care for some of her questions or thought they were “weird” and replied with annoyed answers. Dealing with anyone who has an ego is tough, but Marqita handled “Diva Dugan” professionally. She didn’t let my attitude change her focus or discourage her, she smiled and tried to relate with the audience and her interviewee. I would have liked to see her ask more questions about the social media world and how it’s apart of The CW Star position. She used a more personal approach on the interview- which is great and certainly okay- but make sure to focus on what the essence of the interview is truly about, which was the world of social media.

Emma’s interview was geared toward a commercial actress. Mission: Hungry Hungry Pants

Emma has stunning smile, I couldn’t help but smile back and want to give her a big hug when she walked in the door; however I was starving! A girl has got to eat, right? My sabotage was to distract Emma by munching throughout the entire interview. Of course Emma was thrown when I whipped out my yummy snack and offered her a bite, who wouldn’t? She did a great job at handling my sudden appetite and even took a few bites with me, but when I let my energy drop, she let hers drop too. I could also tell at times she was at lost for what to