She’s used to fronting TV One’s Good Morning, so a cameo acting role on Nothing Trivial took Jeanette Thomas completely out of her comfort zone – but it was a part she will never forget.
Although she plays herself in the scene where Mac (Shane Cortese) plugs a female Viagra-style medication on the lifestyle chat show, Jeanette says she still didn’t feel prepared.
“I had been given the script, but, for some reason, I thought we’d shoot it in little bits – and I wouldn’t have to learn all the lines at once. But that’s not what happened at all,” laughs Jeanette (41).
“We ran through the whole thing in one go, which I wasn’t expecting, but it turned out great,” she says.
“It was a hilarious thing to be asked to do, given that I can’t act. Fortunately, I was playing myself, so I didn’t have to do any method acting to get into character!”
Shane was also able to keep things light-hearted while the pair were filming their scene.
Nothing Trivial TV One, Wednesday, 8:30pm
“We had a giggle about what the product was. Luckily I haven’t had anyone on the show trying to plug that kind of thing yet,” jokes Jeanette.
“Shane helped me 150%, and the whole process was more painless than I expected. And, surprisingly, it wasn’t left on the cutting room floor!”
Jeanette says her experience with Shane wasn’t dissimilar to a Good Morning segment a few weeks ago, when she was talking to a sex therapist.
“I asked if Kiwis are having enough sex, and she said, ‘No, absolutely not,’” says Jeanette with a laugh.
“She told me that if you’re under 25, you need to have sex seven days a week, and if you’re over 25, it should happen five times a week. I just threw my hands up and said, ‘I give up!’
Fortunately, Jeanette had the experienced Shane to take her through the scene.
“I was shocked, horrified and staggered. I hope my husband didn’t watch, because it ain’t gonna happen,” she jokes.
“I said to her, ‘That’s ridiculous. How many of these people [in your research] work, or have babies? Nobody does that – not even when I was 25 was I doing that.”
A fan of Nothing Trivial, Jeanette filmed her scene without knowing where it fits into the storyline. Like the rest of New Zealand, she won’t find out what it’s all about until she sees the episode this week.
“The only thing I picked up is that Mac said, ‘You only meet the love of your life once,’ and he said it sort of wistfully. It made me wonder which woman he was referring to, Jo or Catherine? Can’t wait to find out.”
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