TV is Not Always Glamorous

Our TV Series Going Global celebrates the art of international travel. As TV Producers our teams spend a lot of their lives flying across the globe. This can be a dream job but as Columnist and seasoned TV veteran Steph Ridalgh explains it can also be exhausting.

Flying around the world can from the outside appear glamorous and exciting. Exciting it is, but truthfully, it is filled with long delays, lost luggage, oversold flights and waiting around in lobby’s, airport and on tarmacs.

But there is still something about that life I love.

So I was onboard when the Australian TV company I worked for back in Sydney hit me up for a whirlwind tour for what some may call work.

Last year it was ‘5 cities in 5 days’ around the US, broadcasting three hours of live TV back to Australia. They said it couldn’t be done. We proved them wrong.

This year, the bar was raised and sights were set on ‘5 countries in 5 days’. Dubai, London, New York, Niagara Falls, and Cancun. Crazy right!?

With less than four hours in some countries, sleep deprivation, mood swings, and under eye bags were expected. But with a little bit of champagne, to cure all three and some resourceful ideas, all 5 shows went to air without a glitch, at least to the knowledge of the viewers.

The first three stops, Dubai to London to New York, were always going to be the tightest. Flying 22 hours in three days! Sleep was not on the agenda and taken even at the smallest bit of downtime.

Makeup and hair was done next to the emergency exit after a three-hour delay and bribes were given when only half the TV crew could get on an oversold flight to Cancun.

It was manic; it was crazy, and 99 percent of the time it felt like the scene out of Home Alone, where the family is running down the airport terminal to make their flight.

But, I also crave the madness. A thousand times over I would trade a nine-to-five desk job for a week of sheer hysterics.

The TV world is far from glamorous. What you see through the screen is only the half of it. The fun begins when it’s a wrap.

Herstory is a weekly column published by our TV series Going Global on women and travel by Steph Ridhalgh. Steph is a Sydney born; New York based television producer and travel blogger. Not one for being quiet for too long she simply loves talking about travel and lifestyle.

Steph is the founder of STEP(h) ABROAD, a travel and lifestyle resource for those who love to be in the know and know how.