VJ 2.0 Finale Week: Day 1

December 1st, 2009

Winners? Or Weiners. Winners.

What up, Muchstaaahs?

My name is Lauren O’Nizzle and I’m MuchMusic’s official VJ 2.0 competition blog correspondent – your new behind-the-scenes BFF at Much. HOLYSNAP, it feels good to say that :)

Like our four insanely cool remaining VJ hopefuls, I’ve always dreamed of working at MuchMusic. I’m totally one of those creeps who presses her face up against the windows of this building every time I’m in the neighbourhood like “Who’s in there? What’s going on? Is that Rihanna!? Hey! HEY RIHANNA!!!” until she turns around and I realize that it’s just the janitor and I’m all “Oh, bummer… wait a minute, I bet that janitor’s met Rihanna! Hey! HEY JANITOR!”

So, when I found out that I landed this gig, I was excited to say the least. I actually let out a huge “OMG!” right in the middle of class – no joke. I literally yelled “OH EM GEE!”, to which my teacher quickly replied “WTF? (meaning “Why the fuss?” of course. Come on, now! ).

Long story short, I’m beyond stoked to be blogging live from MuchMusic headquarters right now. Ridonkulously chicken-fried super stoked, in fact, and you should be too because this week is going to be NYUTS!!!

If you haven’t been following the VJ 2.0 competition up to this point (for shaaaaame), now is a good time to jump in on the action.

We’re down to FOUR VJ 2.0 finalists – Laith Hakeem, Marlon Palmer, Liz Trinnear and Alli Walker – the cream of the already super-creamy Canadian crop. All week long, they’ll be duking it out for you live on MOD, participating in a number of wicked challenges to show you they’ve got what it takes to be MuchMusic’s newest VJ. In my humble opinion, they’ve all got it – and then some. But alas, there can be only one winner of this competition, and we’ll all find out who it’s going to be this Friday on MOD!

In the meantime, I’ll be coming at you with juicy backstage deets every day on this here blog. Stay tuned for tons of exclusive VJ 2.0 pics, vids and interviews.

I thought it would be cool to pop this blogrun off with a word from each contestant – so I asked Laith, Marlon, Liz and Alli to each share with you, dear Muchmusic.com readers, their DEEPEST DARKEST SECRETS.

Unfortunately, these little angels don’t have many skeletons in the closet just yet. No hit and runs, no Oceans Eleven style casino heists, no scandalous secret love affairs (at least, none that they were willing to spill about.) So, instead I asked them to tell me one thing about themselves that most people would be surprised to hear.

I learned that Marlon likes to sing when he’s naked (*cue squealing teenaged girls*). It’s true, ladies and gentlemen – he doesn’t just sing in the shower, he sings before and afterwards too. “When the clothes come off, the singing begins,” he says. “When they go back on, it stops.” To paraphrase Paris Hilton (we all get one freebie, right?), ‘That’s hot.’

You may also be surprised to know that, despite her wholesome Taylor Swift-esque looks, Alli is pretty dang gangsta. “I carry a knife with me everywhere I go,” snarled the hardened thug. K, so she didn’t actually snarl, and she’s not exactly a thug, but she does carry a knife – for self protection in the big city. She also carries an alarm backpack with her everywhere she goes… so if you’re thinking about attacking her on the street, don’t. Don’t attack anybody, for that matter, okay?

Laith said that most people would be surprised by his musical tastes. Did you know that he’s into Opera? And Jazz? AND death metal? His tastes definitely run the gamut. That’s pretty hot, too (Okay, two Paris Hilton freebies).

I also learned that Liz is like, legitimately terrified of escalators “I’m afraid to get my foot stuck!” she says. “My brother used to be like ‘Hey Liz, be careful where you step… you’re going to get sucked into the machine and eaten by the Monsters!’”. I guess it’s safe to say that if you go to the mall with Ms. Trinnear, you’ll be hiking a lot of stairs.

Just for good measure, I asked current VJ (and resident hottie) Tim Deegan the same question. “What would fans be surprised to know about YOU?” Turns out Mr. Deegan’s a closet country music fan. Yup, he rocks out to Taylor Swift on the regular. He’s even been known to throw on a blonde wig and belt Carrie Underwood into the mirror when he’s feeling particularly feisty. Okay, I totally made that up – I can neither confirm or deny that Tim Deegan owns a blonde wig. [Editor's note: he does. Just kidding. Maybe.]

Anyways… that’s pretty much it for today’s blogpost, kiddehs – but keep your eyes locked on MuchMusic this week for all the VJ 2.0 action. I’ll be tweeting up a storm while I’m here, so follow me on twitter @laurenonizzle, k?

Before I peace out for the night, I’m going to leave you with this:

THE TOP 5 MOST AWESOMEST MUCH MOMENTS of Nov. 30th:

5. Alli dropping an accidental S-Bomb while she was rehearsing her video throw (oopsie!)

4. Watching the floor director wave his hands above his head, signaling the crowd to go nuts. I don’t know why this made me laugh so hard, but it did. Something about a grown man flashing spirit fingers. Loves it.

3. The VJ finalists bobbing up and down in unison like a cute little children’s choir during a commercial break. Precious!

2. Making eye contact with the ultra-dreamy Daren Kagasoff of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”. I’m pretty sure we had a connection. At least that’s what I’ll be telling myself when I’m having sweet dreams about our future together for the next three months.

LOOK AT MEEEEE

1. Discovering this weird doll in the corner. It’s simultaneously the creepiest and coolest thing I’ve ever seen, and I get to spend 4 more days nervously glancing at it while I blog! Good times J

1130-creepydoll