The bus picked us up from the Hard Rock Cafe, to shuttle us to the TV3 studio in Sant Just for the taping of a game show pilot in English. The first thing I noticed when stepping onto the bus, was the large amount of older Spanish and Catalan women passengers, apparently, it's a hobby of many to go to TV show tapings on sunny Sunday afternoons. Not knowing exactly what the game show was about, I thought for sure it would have us youngins (I am only 31!), pitted against the yayas, since, after all, the show was called the Age Game, or so said the sign-in sheet the skinny production rep carried in his arms.

On the bus, there were rumors that the English-speaking contingent would be stuck in a cage on stage, only to have those Spanish and Catalan speakers shout insults, along with maybe a baguette or two at the cage, to the delight of the audience. But, that was just some silly talk.

We arrived and were instructed to sit in several rows of chairs, staring at the TV3 logo. Sandwiches and water were distributed to the now weary studio audience, bad news for both vegetarians and the lactose intolerant alike, since they were ham and cheese. So, since I belong to the latter, I got out some gum and started to calm my hunger with some strawberry Orbit.

We then got a brief briefing - didn't tell us much- in which we were told to put our ages on some sticky tags and fix them to our chest--it had something to do with a portion of the game, when the contestants would have to guess our ages, or something like that. After, a bit more waiting ensued, people coming in and out of the studio and then, a comedian, outfitted in pink and as flamboyant as they come, came to 'entertain' us---this is when the whole experience went very David Lynch...

He began by going back and forth with a boisterous older Spanish woman in the front, who proceeded to share the intimate details of her removal practices, sex life, the sex life of others, and well, the things that bring on migraines--which I immediately got. The 'circus' act continued, with the comedian calling out titles to the random people walking by, like "Here comes Mr. Cantabria", "and it's Miss Spain", and "look, it's Angelina Jolie's double". At this point, of course, I had to use the ladies room, but began to sweat at the thought of getting up and him calling out, I don't know, Miss Ascó or something---can't handle embarrassment in front of an audience of strangers. Luckily, a male friend walked out with me, guarding me from a title. A bit after that, we were given some chocolate chip cookies--thank god!

And after a few more hours of 'comedy', we were ushered into the brightly lit studio. We were assigned seats, the last row was occupied by the yayas and Lynch-esque characters, I was in the second to the last row, so, thinking, that wasn't really a GOOD thing, as the more modely types sat in the front--humph. They first filmed us clapping, stretching our smiles so much it hurt. Then they brought in the contestants, all done up and then the presenter, Bradley Walsh, a UK actor who appears on the British version of Law & Order. Over the next couple hours, under the heat of the bright lights, we watched as there were several severe communication breakdowns - of course, we are in Spain, they are trying to record a show in English - technical difficulties, which saw a body builder in a bikini run off the stage, a few dialogue fumbles and everyone's -audience, presenter, crew and contestants included - sense of loss at the point of the game, how to total points due to a ridiculously complicated scoring system and a general malaise.

Body parts had falling asleep, migraines abounded, some audience members had to leave as we ran over the time we were originally told and well, the glamour of being on TV, was filled more with discomfort, than pleasure---but hey, that's show business. In the end, whether the show gets picked up or not, it was an experience, a trip outside the city and a look at how TV filming goes down in Spain. At around 8pm, the whole thing wrapped up and we were shuttled back to the real world, where we immediately made a B-line to a tapas bar and toasted our endurance and patience with bravas and wine.