Hi team, I'm Fitz Kohler, your very bossy fitness pro from fitness.com and welcome to the fitness show. Today's episode is long overdue. I asked if you wanted it. You said yes. And then it's taken me forever to get on it. But I am going to tell you all about the time when I was in a movie, not just an extra. I was a real character in a real movie. And some of you have asked, why didn't I know that? Or why didn't you know that? Because it's in my previous life, right?
It's not necessarily relevant to what I do now, but it is, it is a fun piece of my history. And the movie led to some TV work too. And I'm going to get into that today. And yeah, yeah. I mean, weird things happen sometimes and weird things happen to me. And we will be right back. Are you looking for the perfect gift for a loved one battling cancer?
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That's F-I-T-Z-N-E-S-S.com. Fitzness.com. We're back. So I'm going to go back to when I was full-contact kickboxing. You may not know this, but here you go. Here's another bomb I'm going to drop on you right now. I competitively kickboxed full-contact for almost 10 years. I started in grad school, fell in love, and then continued fighting for a very, very long time. I eventually stopped competing as a kickboxer when I got pregnant, which makes an awful lot of sense, doesn't it?
Yes, it does. However, going back, I'm probably a few years into my fight career, and my trainer was a karate guy, So he had never had a competitive full-contact kickboxing match ever, but he had trained plenty of full-contact kickboxers, including me. But he was a martial artist. He was a karate guy. And not only did he do karate, but he organized one of the largest karate tournaments in the world. It's called the U.S. Open, and it traditionally takes place—well, not traditionally.
It takes place in Orlando every July, and it's a really big deal. I think it's been taking place at Disney World for the past 20 years or so. And people come in from all over the world for this tournament. So I'm training with this guy. And throughout the years, he's telling me about the U.S. Open. And I think, well, I should go support him. So I went to Orlando to support him and check out the tournament because I was interested.
And I don't know. I mean, I've seen karate on TV and in the gym, but I've never seen a real karate match or forms or kata or all the stuff they do. So I go there and I am sitting next to one of their, they're not rings, they're squares that are taped on the ground. But anyways, I'm sitting there watching some of the action and there's a row, there's a bunch of rows of chairs, kind of like stadium seating. And this guy comes in, sits next to me, big guy, Hispanic male.
And we eventually start chit-chatting. Hello, what's your name? I say, I'm Fitz. He says his name is Hector. And we're talking about the karate action that's taken place. And he says, are you competing? And I said, no, I don't. I don't do martial arts. I'm a full contact kickboxer. He goes, oh, so am I. I said, you are? He goes, yeah. He said, I'm a valetudo champion, which is kind of like UFC for the rest of the world.
Certainly Latin America. And so I said, really? And then I look at him and he's a big strapping dude with big muscles. He's just a big guy. And I believe for sure he could be a fighter. So we start talking about fighting, blah, blah, blah. And he goes, well, I'm also, I'm kind of the Chuck Norris of Latin America. And I look at him, I was so suspicious. And I said, you are not. He goes, no, really, I am. I said, no, you're not. He goes, no, no, I am. And.
I couldn't just look it up on my phone at that point. I don't even think I had a cell phone at that point. So he convinced me that he was this movie guy and he was going to start making movies here in America. I said, oh, well, that's great. I wish you lots of luck with that. And he goes, you know, I think you would be perfect for one of the roles. And I said, oh, okay. And he said, well, let me get your phone number.
And so I handed him my business card and I believe my business card had the number too. My voicemail. Remember, you could just buy a pager or you could have a voicemail. It was just a voicemail. And so he said, yeah, I'll call you. And I just thought this man was full of it. I thought he was hitting on me or he was lying. I just, I had no belief and almost anything he said to me that day, but he was very, very nice. I liked him.
So the tournament goes on. It's great. and I go back home to Gainesville. And shortly after this meeting, I checked my voicemail and I get a message that says, hey, Hector. Or he says, hey, Fitz, this is Hector. And I want to talk to you about that movie. I think you'd be great for a part. And you know what I did? The little jerk I am. I clicked delete. He is full of shit. I am not calling that man. So again, next day I get a message. Hey Fitz, this is Hector.
Please give me a call. I really want to talk to you about this role in my movie. Delete. So very, very skeptical. I must have been. And then the third time I get this message, I decided, okay, fine. So I call him and he says, we're holding auditions for this role. I think it'd be great in. And it's at Universal Studios in Orlando. Would you come? And I'm sure I gave him a hard time, but he convinced me to come down. I said, well, not really an actress. And he said, well, I still think you'd
be great and we'll get you a special audition. It'll be fine. So say, okay. So I plan, I go down to Orlando, drive my little Jeep down there. And you know, I pull up to the kiosk in the back lot of Universal Studio. They have my name on the list. I pull in, I'm thinking, huh, this is interesting. I actually am on the back lot of Universal Studios right now. I pull up to a office next to one of the sound stages, go in, they have my name.
And I show up and there's some girls there that are apparently auditioning for the role that I was going to audition. I believe my character's name was Pearl. And so I go, I show up and Hector just whisks me back. It's him and the producer. I can't remember that guy's name, but I have to read my script. And I guess I did an okay job because he said, you've got the part. And I thought, really?
I have the part. Yep. You have the part. Takes the women that are outside and says, sorry, ladies, the roles filled, go home. So now I am cast in a movie, which is crazy. And I think I was still very suspicious. So I didn't have, I don't know. I just didn't have the wherewithal to be all whoopee, I'm going to be in a movie. I still thought, nah, this can't really be happening that I'm going to be in a movie. So yeah. I'm cast. And then he stays in communication. The production team contacts me
about being in certain places at certain times. The first thing I am asked to do is to go to Daytona Beach, Florida. So this movie is going to be filmed in Florida, mostly at Universal, but, or in the Orlando area, but there were some other on location shoots. So the first thing I'm asked to do is to go to Daytona Beach to film, to take pictures. So you know how sometimes in a movie there are memories, you know, the character is feeling sad and looking at her photo collage and there's photos
of the couple in the picture frames. Well, that's what I had to go do. So I went to Daytona and I met with Hector and these are the other people that were in the movie. Do you Remember the movie Kickboxer with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Jean-Claude fought Tong Po, the Thai guy with the he was bald with a ponytail. And he I believe he's the one who dipped his gloves in glass or something. I've only seen bits and pieces of the movie, but Tong Po was a big deal.
Tong Po was our director. He was the director of this movie. And then his little brother, Yusuf Kisi, was also in the film. I can't remember if he was a good guy or a bad guy. But these are the cast of characters I show up and I meet. And back then, again, Kickboxer was still a really cool movie, even though I hadn't seen it. But I kind of got the gist that there was some momentarily royal Hollywood. And so we all get together and we took photos. We took pictures at a place.
A billiards hall. And my role was to play Hector's characters, girlfriend, love interest, whatever. And I think the gist of the movie was that, oh God, it's been so long, but he was kind of a Robin Hood. He was a retired bad guy. And they asked him to do one more mission, which he was going to be saving some thing of value and returning it to its rightful owner. So he agreed to go do the thing. And I'm the girlfriend and I'm being left behind and I'm sad about all that.
So anyways, we take these photos in Daytona. That was my first thing. My second call was to go down to Claremont, Florida, where they had a tangelo grove. Tangelo is kind of a cross between, I think an orange and a grapefruit. It's a big old orange fruit, but yeah. And I'm down there. I'm actually, I was driving home to see my mom for Thanksgiving, pulled over at the Tangelo farm and there's a big photo crew and Hector and I don't know, someone else was there, but yeah, I had to bring outfits.
So I didn't get wardrobes. That's one of the things that stunk is I was told to bring clothes that fit each particular event. So I had to wear my own clothes, which was kind of a bummer. But yeah, I remember just frolicking in the Tangelo groves with Hector. And we had to do some smooching on a bench. And I guess that was pretty fun. He was a cute guy. So if you're going to smooch, you're going to be working with a cute guy, you might as well be smooching.
And I truly believe if you're in a relationship and you're an actor and you're smooching, it's okay. It's okay. So yeah, we did some smooching for the camera, which was kind of fun. And then I think that was it. It was a few different outfits, tangelo scenes. Go back to things. I go to Thanksgiving at my mom's, come back. And then my next, The scene that I shot, and I think this is why I was invited to be part of this movie, because this was a kind of kickboxing scene.
So the on-location shoot was, I think his last name was White, but the owner of Hawaiian Tropic. Are you familiar with Hawaiian Tropic, the suntan lotions? That's Hawaiian Tropic. That guy, I feel like his name was Ron White, but that's probably wrong. But we were using his mansion for a lot of the photo shoots. And this, there's a story involved in this, but we were filming on the side of the house.
And my first actual acting scene was Hector had the mitts, the boxing mitts, and he was kind of training me and I was hunting and kicking and doing the trainer and fighter regalia and fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. And then he grabbed me and tossed me to the ground and I giggle and we smooch. And I don't remember what the conversation was that ensued, but that was it. It was fighting or training and then wrestling and smooching and chatting.
And this scene will come back to haunt me, mind you. This whole scene will come back to haunt me, but it went well. I thought it was fun. I did have a makeup artist for that and the crew was wonderful. I learned really quickly that, The movies and TV works painfully slow. You do a scene, you do it a few times, you do it in a different way, and then they have to reset the lighting and the sound, and that takes freaking forever. So hurry up and wait is a lesson I learned when I filmed this movie.
That was probably the main lesson I learned is to hurry up and wait. But that was a fun scene to shoot. I really enjoyed the kickboxing part, and then I probably enjoyed the kissing. It's been a while, but that was kind of fun. And then we remained on that location at the mansion and then there was another scene that was a lot less fun for me. So apparently Hector's character was leaving town.
I think it's been a long time. I haven't even watched this movie ever since the premiere, but the scene was that I'm sitting in a chair crying, right? And that's where all those photos that we took come in, where I'm looking at the photo frames with our cute pictures, and I'm sad. My boyfriend's gone, woohoo, crying. And you know what? I'm not an actress. I'm not an actress. I probably, I think I would do better today, but crying, that takes some skill,
right? Just crying out of the blue, it takes some skill. I think I could be wrong, but I think we ended up getting maybe some saline. I'm sorry. This episode is so vague, and I don't mean to be vague with you, but it's been a long time. But I might have conjured up some tears. I can't remember how I got the tears, but I got some tears. And this is me listening to his voicemail.
And then we've reset the room. And then there's a scene where he comes into the room, and I have to argue with him about not leaving. And he's got to go, and I don't want him to go. But the Kesey, so our director, Michelle Kesey, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful man from Belgium. And the way non-English speaking Americans create a script may not match the
way Americans actually speak. And so I remember getting... A script that was kind of wonky and trying to express that I thought we could adjust my words, right? What the things that I had to say, perhaps we could say them in a different way, but they said, no, no, no, say it as is. And it was really awkward, really awkward. And they actually ran tape and recorded us. And there was a bunch of people in the room outside watching.
And I remember one of the makeup artists or something telling me that was really bad. And I thought, yeah, I know this is really terrible because the script is so awkward and awful. I don't know how I'm going to make any of these words sound great. Fortunately, we were able to finally refinagle the words and the scene was a lot more, I don't know, it was more better.
I'm going to say me and my words, I'm going to say it was a lot more better, we rearranged the words and we reshot the scene, everybody else seemed to be much more impressed and satisfied that I had done a good job. I also had another scene over at the mansion where I was wearing a fancy gown, which is kind of nice. It was my own gown, but it was slinky and sexy and black and glittery.
Movies are often shot out of sequence, so they don't normally start at the opening scene and shoot each scene as things go. I think we were jumping to the last scene, but that one was a big party scene and they had brought in probably 50 extras. And my job was to stand next to Hector and clap as he was being given some award. I can't remember what his character's name was. It doesn't matter. I'm going to stick with Hector, but yeah, I had to clap and maybe give him a
kiss on the cheek. And this is very funny. The person that played the governor, whoever the governor was, was Chad, Chad something or other, who was the developer. For the massive shopping center on iDrive in Orlando. Chad, dang it. Again, this is a vague, episode. I don't think you would know any of these people anyways, but Chad something or other, this big businessman in Orlando, he was the king of Versace suits and very stylish and very nice man.
He played a governor and he was giving Hector's character some award and I had to clap and look proud and kiss him on the cheek. And then all the other extras, they weren't allowed to say anything, but what they were instructed to mouth with every word they spoke was rutabaga. So if you can imagine mouthing rutabaga, rutabaga, rutabaga, anytime you see actors, extras in the scene and they're not saying words, they're just part of the backdrop, I think they're all saying rutabaga.
So that is another important thing I learned by being in a movie was rutabaga. That's a weird little pickup, but sometimes I see a big crowd scene when I'm watching Rutabaga. A movie. And I think, oh, I know what they're saying. And now you know what they're saying. They're all saying, hurry up and wait, let's move it along. And rutabaga, rutabaga, rutabaga. And that's a good word to say if you want to look like you're saying things.
In fact, what I want you to do right now is pause, stare at your face in the mirror, in a mirror or your phone. You can put it on selfie mode and face it and do rutabaga and see what that looks like. See if it looks like you're saying something interesting. But yeah, I thought it was a lot of fun and I wasn't afraid of acting. I'm kind of a dive in, face first type of person. So the concept of being afraid of any of it never crossed my mind.
And plus I've always worked on a stage and I'd done a ton of television And by that point, just me as a fitness pro, not me as a actor, not pretending to be someone else. And what I can tell you is while I was trying to conjure up tears in the crying scene, I was thinking how skilled Tom Hanks was and all of these other talented actors and actresses who can conjure up these emotions and make us feel right.
That's that's the beauty of the entertainment industry is they entertain us. They make us laugh. They make us cry. They make us scared. They take us out of our own reality. But it's a real skill that they have to be able to do that. So there I am. Those were all my scenes at the Daytona mansion. And then I think my last scene, again, I was not the main character, but the hero's girlfriend, I had plenty of scenes, right? I wasn't the main focus, but I was kind of a focus of the film.
The last scene I was to be in was at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando. And I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Peabody Hotel, but it's quite nice. I think it's a four star hotel and they've got these ducks and the ducks swim in this little fountain in the lobby all day. And when it's time for them to go to bed at night, this man come and decked like he works for the queen of England.
He comes with a stick and he goes marching and the ducks march out of the fountain into the elevator and up to the penthouse where they have their own special place up there. And every morning that guy in the fancy coat marches the ducks down the elevator and across the lobby into the pond for them to swim all day. So that's the Peabody resort. And I was told that it was going to be a sexy scene and I was to bring.
Night, nighty or nightwear. And I don't know. I don't know. I mean, can you imagine shopping for that? Again, they should have provided me with a wardrobe, although part of me is very grateful they didn't, that I had a little choice. But I remember going to some little lingerie company and I got a sheer black tank top and sheer black little shorts. And then I wore a little bra and panties underneath. So I think that was my sexy nighttime outfit.
And so my scene, this was a big hurry up and wait day. But if you're watching it, you'll see Hector leading me into the room. I'm, I'm blindfolded and he's behind me. So you don't know what's going on. You don't know if maybe I'm in trouble or he's going to kill me or whatever, but yeah. So he brings me in and I'm walking blindfolded into this room.
And then the bed is covered in roses. and I don't remember what our dialogue was about, but we end up falling on the bed and making out and it's ha-ha fun. And then we look up at the TV and there's, I think, a news story about Hector's heist, something like that. But anyways, it was a fun scene. It was, yeah, it was exciting. It was great to be a part of all that. The crew was fantastic. Everybody was so nice. and I think that was my final scene of the movie.
So I do my part and then they are off filming all sorts of other things. There's another woman who's part of the heist. She's kind of a sexy Russian lady and Michelle Kesey's little brother Yusuf, I think is Hector's partner. Again, I've only seen this movie once. It was a real movie with a multimillion dollar budget but I don't know, the whole thing just made me feel kind of cringy to see myself in a film, but it was great. It was really cool and exciting and uptown and,
They had a premiere. They had a real premiere. Now, this is where I'm going to go. This is why I haven't seen the movie since. Before the premiere, I got a call from the audio team and they said, hey, could you come down to Orlando to do some voiceovers? We had some interference in your Daytona Beach kickboxing smooching scene out on the yard, the lawn of the Hawaiian Tropic Mansion.
I said, sure. I'd be happy to let me know when so I never get a call and I assume okay well they must have fixed the sound I guess there was traffic driving by and they just wanted me to re-record my script in the studio which I was happy to do but I never got the call and so they have a they have a premiere in Orlando I can't remember what the event space was but it was very fancy with a red carpet and And they had a theater
and hundreds of people came out to watch this movie and I had the cutest dress. So I'm going to describe it to you because this is my favorite part is a little black dress. It was kind of strapless straight across. Yeah, it was straight across the top, fitted tight and short. And it was at an angle so that it finished maybe the mid right side of my right thigh. And then it came down at an angle and did above my left knee. Just cute, simple, black, pretty sexy.
I liked it very much. So we have this premiere. There were some kickboxing posters of me. I remember there being a table for me to sign autographs on my poster. And we go in to watch the movie. Oh, and I have my attorney there, who's my agent at the time. And we're watching this film. And finally, my scene comes up. And the very first scene to be shown with me is that kickboxing, smooching in the yard. of the Hawaiian Tropic Mansion.
And I opened my mouth and some crazy voice comes out that is not mine. This high-pitched, breathy, oh my God, what the F is going on voice. I'm looking, thinking, that's not me. And it wasn't. It wasn't me. Every word I spoke in that film was dubbed. And this is why? Because the wife of the audio guy, she really wanted to be in a movie. And so when he was trying to get me to come re-record my audio, she says, I'll do it.
I'll record the audio. And so it's her voice coming out of my mouth, which is so cringe. Now I could tell you, I grew up hating my voice. You know, where you record your voice and you listen back and you think, oh my gosh, I don't sound that way. Well, well. I got used to my own voice. I did not like hearing her voice come out of my mouth. I was really peeved about that. And so that almost kind of ruined the whole thing for me. And I'm not a doomsday person.
So overall, the experience was wonderful and interesting and real. I mean, this guy who sat next to me at a karate tournament and I totally did not believe anything he was saying. I deleted his messages. I ended up getting, you know, a really cool opportunity, something that was a very fun highlight in my life. Even though the movies aren't, being an actor isn't a big thing in my life. It was a really fun experience. And I learned a lot, hurry up and wait, be patient, rutabaga, rutabaga.
But yeah, so that was the premiere of the movie. So the original movie, and you're going to ask people, please, God, don't go rent this movie. I know you're going to, and that makes me want to punch you in your little cute face. Okay. So know that right now, when you go on streaming and you buy this stupid movie, imagine me punching your mouth. Okay. I love you, but I'm going to pop you for it. So the original working title of this movie was called Sacred Seal.
It's not our animal seal. It's the seal of a country that I can't remember. They ended up changing the title to, I'm so mad at myself for even telling you this, extreme force. So that's the movie you're looking for and know that I could be embarrassed, but I'm not, I'm just not, I'm just not going to be embarrassed over it because it was fun. And I don't even know if I did a good job or not. Cause I haven't seen it in frigging 20 something years since that premiere.
I've never, ever once watched that film again. I got so peeved with that woman's voice coming out of my mouth that I thought, I don't want to watch it again. So I would say the movie went to theaters. It did have a theatrical release. It made it part of the way across the country. And then it got purchased by HBO. So it pretty much went straight to HBO and then eventually DVD.
But a couple of years after I filmed that movie, I got a call from my brother who lives in South Florida and his wife at the time. Cuban family, Spanish speaking. And so he calls me. He goes, are you on Telemundo? I said, no. Why would I be on Telemundo? He goes, I think you're on Telemundo. I said, I'm not on Telemundo. He goes, I'm looking at this movie right now. It's called Extreme Force.
And you're speaking Spanish. It was dubbed in Spanish because not that I'm a big deal, but Hector Echavaria, it's such a big freaking deal that his movie was airing on Telemundo. And so we all got dubbed, which is hilarious. I've never even seen that, but I, I, that I would like to see, I would like to not ever hear that audio wife voice coming out of my face, but I would love to see Spanish coming out of my face while I'm acting.
That's pretty classic. So that was the summation of the movie I was in. It was great. I have some cool photos. I'll share some online. If you remind me after you listen to this episode, say, please share some of those photos. And I will, since they go hand in hand and you'll get to see photos of me on the yard or in the yard of the Hawaiian Tropic Mansion and me crying in the chair and me dressed fancy at the celebration ball. And what else? Me in my, my little nightie with the blindfold.
I think I have photos of all that stuff. So it was great. But one of the other niceties that came from that experience was meeting the stunt crew. So the stunt crew was led by these guys, Fi and Dave. And they were so sweet. They were 20-somethings, very capable, martial artists, acrobats. They were the stunt coordinators for Extreme Force. And they had done stunt coordination for other projects as well.
And so we became buddy-buddy because we were seeing each other quite often during shoots and photo shoots. So soon after Extreme Force was released, I got a call from either Dave or Fi, maybe both of them. And they said, hey, we're going to be shooting a TV pilot at Universal Studios. It's an action film. Kick-punch type of show, and we think you would be great. Would you like to play one of the characters? And I thought, okay, sure.
So again, I'm not trying to be an actress at this point. Just know very clearly, I don't have an agent for acting. I'm not trying to get acting work. They just keep inviting me to be an actress, and I keep going, all right, sure, why not? And so this show was called Masters of the Realm, and it kind of looked like a totally scripted, I hate to say like WWE. But the show's premise was good versus evil, yin versus yang.
And they would take us and pair us up and we would have these fights, these fights in a ring with a live audience and good versus evil, who would win? And I, shocker, was put on the good side. And I, shocker, was chosen to play the all-American princess, Jules. And I had these little blue leather shorts and this red kind of superhero top with silver straps and character her boots, the knee-high boots. And I fought Diana. I can't remember what her character's name was,
but she had dark black hair and wore all black clothes. And she was really nasty. And I was really cheerful and waved the American flag. And so I was asked to be in the pilot. And I said, okay. And so the real work with that came in before we shot. And that was the stunt coordination, the practicing of the routine, because it was going to actually be a highly choreographed fight for Diana and I and Diana and my first day in stunt training.
This is this is in a karate martial arts studio. It's all mats. So I'm dealing with one of the stunt guys, and there's a handful of them that they all work together, and then they're teaching the rest of us the choreography. He goes, okay, Fitz, so you're going to be here, and she's going to grab you, and then he grabs me, puts both hands on my biceps and triceps.
He said, and she's going to flip you over his head, and then he sits back, pulls, and he flips me over his head, and I go flying over land flat on my back. Thud. And I was totally not prepared for any of that. So I just showed up for first day of stunt training. And now I'm doing, you know, ass over tea kettle type thing where I'm landing on my back, thud, knock the wind clear out of me. And I thought, man, this is hard. Now, mind you, I was competitively kickboxing at the time.
So at that same exact time, I was fighting. I was competing. I would stand in a ring with a woman who wanted to knock me unconscious in front of thousands of people. I was taking real punches, real kicks. This was totally different. And it was very funny because they gave me so much respect for the sport that I was actually competing in. However, I'm not an acrobat. I wasn't a gymnast. And so I was displeased. I didn't complain or anything, but I thought, oh man, this is not a lot of fun, right?
So it actually was very fun. It was very fun. But getting thumped on the ground like that wasn't great. And so I had to say, please, let's slow it down. Break this down a little bit before you fling me across the room. And I was, I don't know, 112 pounds at the time. Any one of them could have just thrown me across the room. So for my own safety, I said, please, let's slow it down.
So we came up with a pretty fabulous routine that worked with my skills, my kick punch, spinning skills and Diana's skills. God, she was an incredible acrobat. Her day job was at Universal Studios. She played, Oh, y'all, y'all. I'm again with the vagueness, but she played one of the characters in the live action shows and she was phenomenal. Just so good. So talented and such a sweet girl. And when you watch her on the TV show, she plays such a monster, such a horrible, horrible character.
Which is a tribute to her quality acting. But yeah, so I had to go down to Orlando. I'd say probably about six times to work on this choreographed fight. And then we, oh, and I had a custom costume made. So the costume I described was custom made by a tailor, which was nice. And then we showed up at Universal Studios and it was, it was incredible. It was a full-blown, holy schmoly, this is a big deal experience. The set, which was this massive ring, was incredible.
We, I think we spent one or two days rehearsing. And then the third day was all the cameras and all the pyrotechnics and all the actual acting and the live audience. And so. My performance led off with me running out. They'd introduced the all-American girl, Jules, and I come running onto the ring from backstage and I've got the American flag, waving it around. And there are pyrotechnics. There's fireworks going off everywhere. And we had a real live audience.
They took people that were visiting Universal Studios for the theme park and invited them in. And the stadiums were filled. Every seat in that place was packed. And I had quite a few members of my family there, which was really fun. And they were and signs to wave that we love jewels. And it was great. It was just, it was very exciting. Could I put myself back there running through that fireworks? I think I could.
It was magnificent. And I had to run around the ring and wave my flag and wave at everybody. And Diana came out growling and snarling and threatening me. And our producer or our director, I think had won Emmy Awards. So he was a big deal guy. It was a big deal production. We had a couple of NFL football stars as our commentary, commentators, our ringside commentators. It's just a big, fun day. So I told you about my fight scene with Diana and I, and that actually...
I hadn't seen that either. So jumping ahead, I never saw this. The show didn't get picked up. K-Tree Stay, how sad. But there was tape, right? The show had been officially boxed and they tried to sell it. I just never saw it. So in about Christmas time, somewhere in December of 23, my friend Dave, that stunt coordinator who invited me to be a part of the show, he aired a clip of Masters of the Realm on his Facebook page or Instagram.
And I said, wow, how fun to see that. I said, I've never gotten to see my clip and I've actually never seen any of it. He goes, well, I have it if you want it. I said, of course I do. So he sent me all of the whole show, which was quite a few episodes. And I was able to run down or edit my 10 minute segment. and mind you, the 10 minute segment had a little bio intro so I could tell people who I was and where I was from.
And I think I said like, I had, I had to, or I love my daddy or something like that, which is super awkward. But yeah, I think I had to reference my daddy in the bio. Very funny. So I get this clip and I don't tell anyone because my kids, they are so disinterested in me and what I do. I couldn't, you would never believe how uninterested, unimpressed they are with all the things I do.
Hell, you may not give a damn about what I do, but one would maybe think they would think it was cool that their mom had worked in television or her mom speaks in front of thousands of people and hosts these fun events or their mom writes books. Mind you, they have never read one word of my book. So yeah, I'm the low man on the totem pole in this house, but I thought, okay, I'm not going to tell them about this. And so I gathered everybody in front of the TV right before Christmas last year.
And I said, I have something to show you. And I had uploaded the eight minute clip to my YouTube channel, or it might be longer, 10 minutes, whatever, 10 minute clip. I uploaded it and I just clicked play and I didn't say anything, and watching Ginger and Parker's faces. Just beam with excitement and their jaws dropped and they were looking at each other thinking, oh my gosh, that's my mom. That's so cool. It was it was great. It was really fun.
The whole time they were watching, I watched them. And, you know, mom, you know, dads, what it's like when your kids give you zero credit. I was watching myself get credit right there. They thought the whole thing was very impressive. So and I think they actually told me so after they they said, why didn't you show me this?
And I said, well, I didn't have it. but they were very pleased and I got kudos from my kids and and if I could go back 20 something years and tell myself one day you will get kudos for your kids it might not have resonated with me but trust me very big deal so um the show did not get picked up but I would say the most.
Challenging part of acting in that whole show was cheerleading for my teammates so the good guy side I wasn't the only person to have a fight the other actors had their own choreography and I had to be on the side cheering and shouting and looking upset and all of those things. I thought that was really awkward. The acting as the main character of the moment, that wasn't a problem for me.
But being on the side, trying to cheer like I really cared or didn't care or was really upset, I thought that was the most awkward part of it. But it was wonderful. It was wonderful. I made such great friends. And it was another cool experience, again, to be on stage at Universal Studios, kapow, not so bad. And then Fi and Dave had worked on a few other independent films that they brought me in on.
One of them was actually in the rafters on the top of the Terminator live action show at Universal. And I remember running through those, I don't, I guess the rafters, I don't know what else to call them. But there's this upper stage, which is just little paths and. Ladders and things. And I don't, I think I played some sort of assassin person wearing camo pants and a little black tank top. And I remember I did not have a super supportive sports bra on because of this little tank top.
And when I was running, it was very, very Baywatch for lack of a better word. Very, very Baywatch, but that was very fun. And then I was offered the opportunity to do stunts for other actresses. And what I decided was that I didn't want to because stunt fighting, believe it or not, hurt me more than real fighting. When I had to pretend I was smacked or punched or kicked and whipped my head from side to side, that caused my neck to hurt.
I was able to eat a punch. I mean, trust me, I never wanted to get punched or get kicked in the head and I always did my best to defend it. But sometimes it just happened. Those real strikes did not hurt. But stunt fighting, I thought, really hurt. And it was very interesting because the stunt people, they would look at me and say, oh, my God, you really do this for real sport? We're just pretending.
And I was like, yeah, it's a different beast. And so I didn't want to go through the bruising and the being thumped on my back and all of that stuff to make somebody else look great. So I think if random offers to continue acting in my own character would have come in, I would have likely said yes. But the offers that came after that were really stunned because I could kick and punch and so forth.
And I just thought, I don't really want to do that. And then what I did love was I did love TV, but I loved being on TV as a fitness expert. I love the power I have when I'm actually Fitz Kohler helping other people live better and live longer. And so that was that was a pretty profound moment where I kind of just said, no, thanks. No, thanks to that. And I think so many people obviously would kill for the opportunity to act for a living and have these opportunities.
And I enjoy them while they came towards me. But I'm so addicted to fitness and health. And I love you guys so much. and I love who I am when I'm being fitness girl. So, so yeah, that's, that's where the great majority of that stuff came to a conclusion, but it was a really cool time. And there's certainly evidence floating around. Like I said, I have a feeling so many of you are going to find extreme force and you're going to download it and watch it. And I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm.
I am punching you in your face. That's right about it. It's not very nice of me to say that, but you know, you know what I'm saying is, I don't know, it could be a little cringe. It might be awesome. Who knows? Hector and I have recently reconnected and he's such a wonderful man. He has a booming career in Hollywood. He's done quite a bit of acting still and now he produces and directs and he's living out his American dream here and I'm really happy for him because he's a lovely man.
And but yeah, that's that's my acting story. If you'd like to see those photos, just remind me, reach out and say, hey, post a little photo album with your acting stuff. And I will. And yeah, that's oh, also, it's important for you to know that when I was in second grade, I played a can of Sprite. I did the can can and the who will save our planet play. And in fifth grade, I played the Peter Pan in the play Peter Pan. That's right.
So this acting is kind of in my blood. That's right. I've been doing it for a real long time. We'll see if I ever get another chance. If I did, I wouldn't say no. I would go do it again because why not? And I hope you guys will take every opportunity you get to do anything that seems kind of fun. And if it seems kind of scary, you should do it because doing scary things certainly makes you better, right? It's my lesson of the day. Okay, song of the week.
This is the song that I want you to add to your playlist while you are treading water or playing rugby or doing resistance training with bands. Whatever you do, add this song to your workout. It's a really fun one. It is Move to Miami by Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull. It's super fun and you can listen to it for free if you listen to it on YouTube or you can download it, pay for it on iTunes or Spotify. Whatever, but move to Miami, add that.
And then our communication tip of the week is, I want you to get comfortable with the term sir and ma'am. And some of you may think, okay, I am. Why do you say that? But I'm from the South and we say, yes, sir. Yes. Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am, please. And thank you. And so forth. And sometimes people just get really awkward. Oh, oh, you don't have to call me ma'am or sir, but I think it's just polite. I think it's just polite and it's cultural, but it's polite.
So if you're from the North or from the West and people don't often say sir or ma'am, know that when someone greets you that way, they're doing it with respect. And perhaps if you were trying to show somebody else extra respect. Sir or ma'am goes a long way. All right. That's it. Thank you so much for giving a darn and listening to my. Adventures in the movies and in TV and just think what would my life look like if I'd continued on in that direction?
I don't know. I don't know if I want to know. I'm pretty happy where I am. So I love you. Have a great week and get to it. Bye team. Hi, this is Rudy Novotny, the voice of America's marathons. We all love how much running has benefited every aspect of our lives, so much so that most of us only wish we'd started sooner. Wouldn't it be wonderful to gift the opportunity to children of today? Well, you can.
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