Part 5: The Sky One SeriesIt was the meeting with Malcolm Gerrie, the owner of Initial TV, that gave me my first big break in mainstream show biz. I was continuing to work with my management to find a way to break into the mainstream. We had a lot of offers to do small projects but we wanted to find something that would have impact.
Out of the blue my management got a call from Brighter Pictures who are a British television production company. They asked if I would be interested in starring in a reality TV series where 6 guys are in competition to try to seduce a beautiful woman. The prize was £10,000 and a week on a luxury boat in the Mediterranean. The catch, though, was that the beautiful woman would not be all that the guys think she is. "She" would in fact have been born a guy.
On the face of it, this is a one-line joke. A wind up of the boys for the pleasure of the television audience. But there was something about the simplicity of the idea that was appealing. I knew it would shock. I knew it would be controversial. But I also knew that it would highlight a lot of issues, slap bang in the middle of prime time TV.
We talked through the possible consequences and opportunities, and came to the conclusion that I just must do it! It was too good a chance to miss.
My management sent Brighter a show reel and they loved it. Loved it so much that they changed the name of the series to "There's Something About Miriam". I was flown over with my mother (I wanted her there to support me) and put up in a luxury apartment in London. There we went through the series in detail, what was expected of me and what would be happening during filming.
It was really exciting. My first taste of the world of television. We went straight into production and had 3 weeks before we flew to Ibiza to start the main bulk of the filming.
The first days of filming were a series of catwalks where the boy contenders watched me and 6 other models parade in front of them and they had to make a choice about who they thought was the most beautiful.
The boys that chose me were the ones that had a chance to come to Ibiza with me. I arrived in Ibiza really nervous. Not sure what to expect. Over the next three weeks we filmed the guys trying to seduce me, impress me, falling out with each other and them getting into power games with each other. It was great fun, but always I had to be on my guard so that they did not find out my "secret". There was also the last day on my mind where I would have to reveal all.
The next two weeks was intensive filming. Everyday the boys had to do a challenge and I had to pick one for a date. Then I had to start choosing one guy at a time to be eliminated until there was only one - Tom.
I can't go into what happened much because of the litigation that surrounds the series. But I can say that the boys played their own little games - I mean they were trying to win, of course. With me they were perfect gentlemen, trying to win my little innocent heart (!), when they were together without me they were something else. On the first day they got drunk together and took off their clothes, showing each other their dicks and boasting of their conquests and same sex experiences. They even pissed in the swimming pool! On one of the nights they measured each others dicks to see whose was the biggest. But that is enough said on that matter, people can make their own conclusions. But one thing is clear is that the boys were as much complicit in the event as I was. They didn't show me who they really were.
On one date it got pretty hot with Tom. I really liked him.
On the last day of filming I was really nervous. Not only was I revealing myself to the guys, I also know that I was revealing myself to the world. As well as that I had to be good on camera because the whole series depended on the drama of that moment.
The press said that I lifted my skirt and showed them my genitals. This is a lie. I don't know whether that came from but I would never do that on TV! All the boys lined up at the poolside and I told Tom that he was the winner.
Then I had to tell them my secret.
Tom agreed to come on the boat with me, but all the guys went off together for a drink and I think it was then that they all got really angry about what had just happened. Tom said that he now decided that he would not want to go on the cruise because "he could not trust me" and then that was it. I went back to the hotel for my last night and was shaking from the experience. But then I met a German guy at the hotel; we got on really great in a really natural way and had a great afternoon together!
I flew back to New York exhausted and wondered what was going to come of all of this.
Continue to Part 6: The Media Spotlight
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