New TV Stars in Stratford: Meet the Franklin from “Travel Guides New Zealand”

These are the people wearing onesies and Crazy Stratford cats, and they’re coming to a TV screen near you this month.

Jan and Lindsay (Linz) Franklin are two of the five groups of Kiwis
Selected to be part of the New Zealand version of Travel Guides, which is screened this month on TVNZ 2, an experience they say has been “unforgettable”.

Jan and Linz uploaded an audition video for the New Zealand version of the popular reality TV show late last year, after Linz continued to see TV commercials for people to apply. .

“The ads kept running and they caught my eye. I thought Jan and I should give it a try, so I finally paused the ad, got the website details and off we went. of the.”

When they started filling out the online application, they realized they needed to include a video.

Introducing themselves as “crazy cat people” who are “a little crazy, a little fun” in the video, Jan and Linz promised the producers not only that they would be “fun to watch on TV”, but that the cameras would be sure to capture “lots of faces shooting at each other” if they managed to be selected.

Shortly after submitting the video, Jan and Linz were invited to the next stage of the auditions, conducted via video call, and Jan says they took the opportunity to continue showing the producers their “fun side”.

“For the first video call, we were wearing our onesies, so they interviewed us while Linz was wearing a penguin onesie and I was wearing a unicorn onesie. When it came to the next video call, we thought we couldn’t just be normal, so we went with a superhero theme, with Linz as Spiderman and me as Supergirl. “

Although the producers didn’t tell them if it was the fact that they owned nine cats, the nutty, the costumes, or the promise to pull the face, the Franklins did succeed and became two of 13 people scheduled to feature in the spectacle.

Within six weeks of submitting the first audition video, Jan and Linz were on a plane to their first location ready for filming to begin.

“It was pretty quick, from the first time I heard of the show until it was there, with cameras following us all over the place, mics on us and doing all these crazy things.”

Linz says not only was the timeframe between acceptance and filming tight, but the filming schedule itself was fast, with a total of six weeks of travel and filming over a three-month period.

Linz says being a part of the show appealed to them because they are both already frequent travelers, having visited around 15 different countries over the past decade.

They didn’t know where they were going or what kind of activities they would be doing throughout the show, Jan says, which sometimes makes baggage quite difficult.

“We would get an email telling us what to bring, but not knowing exactly what you are going to do or where it will be difficult at times. Especially for me at first, I am a real planner, when we go on vacation normally. , I have spreadsheets ready with everything we need to do, see and bring. After a while though, I really relaxed and enjoyed the experience of other people planning for me. “

What was expected ranged from delicious meals out and wonderful boutique or five star accommodation to what Jan calls “an unforgettable and ideally irreplaceable camping experience”.

She says that before filming started, they were taken through a series of storylines and asked what they thought about them.

“When the campsite arrived my answer was pretty much no, with a rude word or two inserted. I think they took that as a challenge.”

Confronted with a tent for one of the episodes, Jan says it was definitely a challenge.

“Linz had never pitched a tent before and the most I ever did was hold a guide rope and help put a stake or two. So it was a good experience.”

Outside of the campsite, the activities the couple experienced ranged from calm and fun to adrenaline and madness, which Jan says is sure to make a great viewing.

Asked about their fellow cast members, Jan says she thinks audiences will find something to love about all of them.

“It’s not like some reality TV shows where there’s someone you all love to hate. I think the mix of people on the show will give everyone who watches something to identify with. and log in. “

As for the people who see them on TV, Linz says he believes the reaction will be a mix between laughing at the antics the couple do “and a bit of” oh no, what are they doing? are now going to do “sort of reaction”.

With filming complete, the couple are now back in Stratford and back to work.

“One of the hardest times was keeping what we were doing a secret because we couldn’t tell people before,” says Jan, who was described by Linz as “talkative” in their video. hearing.

Now the cat is out of the bag and the Franklin’s are back home with their nine cats, juggling press calls and media attention with their regular jobs at Fonterra in Eltham where Jan is a senior technologist and Linz a forklift driver.

As for the nine cats, who sometimes spent the filming time in the cattery, and with pet sitters the rest of the time, were they happy to see the travelers return, and will they watch the show?

“They all told us all about it,” Jan says. “I just don’t know what they said – are they complaining that we were gone, that they missed us or that they just want more food now. We missed them of course.”

Travel Guides NZ will premiere Thursday, February 18 at 8 p.m. on TVNZ 2.