I Choose ... Some Extra Time with Alison Sweeney

You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl.

Welcome back to I Choose Me. This bonus episode is pure fun, you guys, with the amazing Alison Sweeney, we're going to do a lightning round to inject some joy into your day. So let's do this. Okay, Allison, you played a soap opera character who was brilliant, ambitious, slightly ruthless, and absolutely iconic. So if Sammy Brady wandered into a Hallmark Christmas town, well, I have three choices. Is she

Boy, that's it, there's some good options there. I think she is.

I think she's taking over the festival committee. Like right from the beginning, she's in charms and it's her way or the highway.

Okay, yeah, I love that about her.

Have you ever accidentally been recognized for a character that you didn't play or even like another celebrity?

Oh? Yeah?

I have been recognized as Reese Witherspoon on more than one occasion. Okay, and one time I just took it, like, oh, thank you, I'm so glad you like I just I mean, I can't do accents. I wish I could toss in a little bit of her southern southern thing. I wish I could, But I just tried to like minimize the and just take the komplument and move along.

Yeah. Sometimes it's easier to just go along with it.

Yeah.

The other one is because daytime, I think is so familiar to people that sometimes I get like did we go to high school together?

Where do I from?

And then you find yourself running through your entire happen you, like find yourself running through your entire resume trying to find you like this one.

Yeah, yeah, no, no, okay, how about yeah?

Then I don't I don't know.

Maybe I'm then you got You're like we never met, you don't know me?

Okay. Uh, let's see.

Weirdest place you've been asked for an autograph or a selfie? Where's the like the most surprising place?

Someone's most surprising place was in a woman's bathroom, like on my way in, which is like you know you there's submergency sometimes.

Like when you're on your head open.

The stall, like like this is I'm now my brain has already committed.

To what's about to happen, and I'm ready, and.

It's sometimes desperate for this situation, and and like I can't. I cannot, And normally, of course I'm like and then you is she gonna wait?

Now are they listening to me? pH?

Are they're recording my piece out?

Yeah?

That's fun, fun times.

Yeah, Okay, this is about a little hallmarky too, which is harder to pull off convincingly. A Christmas ball gown in fake snow, or heels while running from danger in a mystery movie while it's raining.

The heels running in a mystery movie while it's raining, because that's actually happened to me. And that's hard to do convincingly because then inevitably, once you get to the close up, you take the heels off and now you're in like comfy shoes and you know, so.

They have those like cozy boots and stuff.

But then you have to sort of like pretend like you're still walking like you were in the Master, you know, trying to sell that I'm uncomfortable in the shoes.

It's all that can be tricky.

Yeah, Rain's hard to work.

In Yeah, the rain.

And then the thing about working up here in Vancouver is they sort of tend to pretend like it's not raining. And when you're from Los Angeles, you know, everyone freaks out about.

No and you're like, hi, guys, I'm getting drenched.

Is that not a problem?

Is that a problem? That were like anyone? And they're like, oh, really, I hadn't noticed it was raining.

Like oh, going, okay, would you actually like to live in a hallmark town or on Hope's Swinson's Ranch?

I know they answer to.

That, Oh yeah, the answers Hope Swinson's Ranch.

Yeah, yeah, we both that I would have lived there.

Yeah, she everyone wants to live it. And those sources were adorable.

Like it was. It was such a great It was like, oh my gosh.

While the movie sort of was talking myself into like maybe I really could do this, like maybe we should throw, you know, sell everything and like Bible ranch and.

Get some horses.

Why didn't you do it?

I'm still considering it, you know.

Yeah, how old are your girls?

Nineteen twenty three and twenty eight? Wow, I know I'm going to it's gonna be hard when one of them goes into the thirties, and then I'm going to be like, wow, I'm old.

Yeah, I my son is turning twenty one tomorrow, and and I sort of like hadn't really come to terms with it until you know, I still haven't.

Really it's happening, and I'm like, it's a lot. That's a lot to take in.

Yeah, your baby, that was your baby.

Okay, back to Hallmark. You're stranded in a snowstorm in a small town.

Who saves you? Is it A the flannel clad contractor.

Who's absolutely hot, or be the brooding single dad who owns his own bakery, or See the mysterious guy restoring the inn.

Well, I feel like I See might be a similar character, but I would probably go like see like the suited guy who has.

The money to restore it, and A is the contract deftly does it right?

Definitely?

I think I would have to go with A.

I love I love the flannel you know guy that like can work with his hands.

Okay, I believe you.

Okay, you're the queen of the Hallmark mysteries, which made me think about what would I want my own character to do if I had my own mystery? Oh yeah, no, I need your help, you executive production.

So the key is that what we love about them is that like it's a regular job that like people do and then they and then they happened. So for example, my best example of like the clues that as a baker solve the mystery was one time when she knew the time of death because of the person who had died had a pie left in the oven, and so Hannah could like kind of off her eye, knew how overcooked that the crust was, like it was burnt, but not that burnt, so it could only have been like

You know, So you want to have a.

Job that you would that seems like totally normal and everybody does it, but you use your instinct, like but it requires good special skills.

I love that most. Maybe I could be like work in a flower shop.

A flower shop, Yeah, you could be a florist.

You could be we do what about a hairdresser? Do you like?

I like that idea.

We haven't done hairdresser, and I feel like those they get people to talk, or manicurists like they get people that.

People spill the tea all the time.

Yeah, yeah, totally, what is that.

I don't know why they do that.

I find myself doing it too. I think it's like the awkward not with a manicurist, but like definitely with hair people.

I hair people, people who do your hair.

Yeah, I'm always I find myself talking to them about really intimate or deep things when Yeah, why, I don't.

Know, I don't. I mean they're close to you for a long time and.

You're just sitting there.

Yeah. Also there's something about them petting her hair, like yeah, it's very soothing and comforting.

Maybe that's why.

Makeup artists too though, And they're right in your face, like your face in their face are like right here. So you tell you you find yourself telling them everything too, every So that could be fun because I feel like that's a good special skill to have, is you get people to tell you things. So I always have the thing with the baking that I bring people cookies and it gets them to open up to me and tell me.

Okay, so this is a little bit of a Lightning round Hallmark edition. Okay, So do you prefer to act out a love triangle or a surprise engagement? Surprise engagement more fun?

Yeah, okay?

Preference for a plot city girl goes home or hometown girl goes to the big city.

City girl goes home or goes to small town. Okay?

Do you prefer one take or do you like doing like seventeen takes one take? What you're a one take wonder?

I'm a one taker yeah, I mean just from the soap background.

Oh, but this is lightning, so I won't. I won't fill out the answer. That's okay.

Easier to work with a baby or an animal. That's a tricky.

One animal animal. Yeah, but barely.

I mean that's a that's that's hard.

That's hard. It's all hard.

Okay.

One last one, what do what do you prefer hot cocoa or champagne?

Is this in real life?

No, I'm just like in the in the Hallmark movie to culminate the sort of happy ending.

Yeah, hot cocoa, because fake champagne tastes terrible.

I can't, I can't.

Yeah, it's like sparkly watered down apple juice.

Real, Yeah, it's terrible.

So okay, let's just sort of bring it back to our original conversation as we end. This is a bonus I choose me moment. What was one career choice that felt scary to you but it turned out to be the right move and the end.

Well, the actual literal answer of that is when I agreed to be on the celebrity edition of Fear Factor. Oh that was scary and I knew it was scary.

Wait what did you have to do?

Oh? It was pretty scary.

The cool thing was the fun one was hanging outside a building in downtown LA.

We were on like the fortieth story.

Outside the window, they removed like the panels like this, and you had to crawl around the edging of the building from one around the turn of the corner.

Are you afraid of heights?

And I'm not afraid of heights?

And I sort of, like, as an actor, knew like they can't kill me, you know for sure? Yeah, I was like in a suit. I actually sort of thought if I fall, like, that's cool. Too, So I wasn't really afraid of that one at all.

It just it was really hard.

And then the really horrible one was they did tell us they wouldn't like they did have like certain agreements with the celebrities, but then it turned out not to be a blessing because I was in a coffin with snakes and worms and then they poured madagascar hissing cockroaches around my face. So anyone who hasn't seen it, feel free to google this on YouTube. But like there's a video of me like my head, I have these goggles on and then I'm in like a kind of a coffiny type situation.

Yeah, all these cockroaches.

All around my face, and it was very upsetting and alarming and and anyway, but kind of like it turned out. Ironically, it's one of the first NBC shows that got expanded to ninety minutes. You remember they used to do the like super sized episodes.

Okay, I don't remember those.

And so me frea out about that thing turned out to be like a reason they extended it to ninety minutes. And then I kind of got in like good with the NBC executives at the time because.

Of what had all gone on there.

It's a longer story than this, but it ended up leading to lots of more opportunities for me in the reality TV space, and probably, like you would have to follow the logic a little bit, but probably how I ended up getting to host the Biggest sizzor yeah, yeah, that's that's incredible.

Little Yeah, that's a decision that you wouldn't think would get you.

No, you would not guess that, but also that would be Then now back to your very first question is what advice would I give to my.

Twelve year old girl self but.

Also to people in general, is to say yes to adventure, take a chance.

You don't know.

It doesn't progress or like career is not necessarily a linear ladder that you climb, it's this like loopy.

It could be anything.

You have no idea and you don't know if you don't try.

And so you got to take chances.

I love that.

I love that you've been such a good sport. I love I love hanging out with you. Thank you for joining me, Alison Sweeney.

Thank you for having me. This is so fun.

I love you.

I love you too.

Bye. Thank you