A lot of the stuff that I could mention in regards to my BAFTA experience has already been talked about by my good friend Alex in his post about the night, so instead of simply re-writing his post in my own words, I’m going to try and talk about everything that he didn’t mention. Starting with the stuff that he couldn’t have talked about: the actual presenting an award thing.
I went on stage with the genuinely lovely Joanna Page, who nobody seems to know by her actual name -- It’s only when I say “Stacey, from Gavin and Stacey” that people actually realise who I’m talking about. She was the best, funny, very pretty and just as nervous as I was, if not more so. We spent the time backstage chatting a little, both divulging that we wanted The Inbetweeners to win our award, and going over our lines even though we knew that we were going to have an autocue. The strangest thing was, I wasn’t actually as nervous as I thought I would be.
When you’re backstage, you won’t find a spare minute when someone isn’t coming up to you and asking you how you’re feeling. The rule is, by the way, to say that you’re feeling very nervous, so that they can tell you not to worry or whatever. But I wasn’t that nervous, I was just a bit excited … however, watching the clip back on YouTube, I can gather now you may have perceived me as someone who was ready to poo in their pants. My voice wavers, my hands shake -- now that it’s over, people have no problem telling me that “you looked great!” because hey, it’s happened now so it doesn’t matter how I did. Either those people are lying or misremembering the event. I definitely looked nervous, but I didn’t FEEL nervous.
Then came the BAFTA after-party (the Bafter-party lol) which Alex has already talked about and who’s feelings I share about the whole thing. It was lovely. Then, after the Bafter-party (try saying that ten times fast) came a goodie bag! The people at BAFTA are just too kind. The highlight of the selection of gifts was definitely this thing:
A "Bed of Nails" what
Click on that picture and you’ll see that every little white thing is covered in spikes. Yes, you’re supposed to lie on this. Notice the wording on their website: “the pressure of the rounded nails against the skin may help the body release endorphins” -- but you can’t sue us if it doesn’t work. The nails aren’t rounded either, they’re very spiky … Alex laid his back on this thing and, guess what? It hurt! Funny that LYING ON A BED OF NAILS WOULD HURT YOUR BACK. Needless to say, it’s now in the bin. It brought me and Alex lots of lulz when it was in our lives though, so I guess it really did release endorphins in that respect.
Finally: I was reading the amazing stream of messages that you guys were sending me after I was up on stage. Your support during this was incredible, a brilliant reminder of how dedicated internet communities really are. You guys are the best, seriously, thank you! :3
