YOU thought the celebs have it rough on “Dancing with the Stars”?
Consider head judges Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli. Goodman and Tonioli commute from Los Angeles to London every week – that’s right, every week – to appear on both the American and British versions of the hit dance show.
They fly into LA on Sunday, do the show Monday and Tuesday, then head back to the UK every Wednesday to judge “Strictly Come Dancing” on Fridays.
“Hopefully it won’t kill me,” says Goodman, who has done this for the past two years and is in his 60s.
Travel is part of the reality of reality TV. Unlike scripted TV, which can be done weeks or months in advance, much of reality TV is live
“The thing is, nobody forced me to do it,” Goodman says. “They didn’t twist my arm. At my age, doing these two shows is like a pension plan that will give me a bit of money to help me through my old age.”
Still, no TV traveler can hold a candle to Bertram van Munster, executive producer of “The Amazing Race,” who estimates he’s circled the globe three times for each of the 12 editions of “Race.”
The first two trips are for location scouting. The third time is the actual race.
“Nothing has ever helped me for jet lag,” he says. “I don’t care what anybody tells you.
“By the time we all come back, all we do is roll around in our beds and have crazy nightmares of teams missing in action.
“Traveling is insanity and torture.”