It all began with an email from my thesis supervisor at my undergraduate university advising me on a job posting she saw recently.

The email contained an attachment with lots of details about the job, which did indeed sound perfect for me. It involved travel to exotic locals, adventurous situations and lots and lots of animals. Not only would you be a host of the television show, but you would also interact with the animals and inform the public about the dangers of invasive species!

Naturally, this was right up my alley.

There was one caveat: You needed to make an audition video featuring you and an exotic species. Naturally, I have handled tons of exotic species, from snakes and snapping turtles to tarantuals and chinchilla's. However, I didn't actually have any on me.

I contacted my friends, who were of no help. So, I contacted some pet shops and thankfully, the reptile and amphibian pet store Reptilia, agreed to help and provide me with some animals to use in the audition video. Sadly, they could not let me handle the big animals (despite the fact I was trained, just not by them), as I had hoped to use a crocodile.

But, they agreed to let me use a ball python (as well as a Burmese python, which sadly got left on the editing room floor).

There were some pre-requisites for the video:
- Make it entertaining
- Make it memorable
- Show your confidence with the animal
- And lastly, inform the audience!

I like to think I did all that, but I sadly did not get the job. While it would have been an amazing experience, it was still fun to do!

Special thanks to my sister, my brother and my brother-in-law for all their help putting it together. I could not have done it without them. And lastly, a big thank you to the cameo star, who was a real "shark." He was professional, on-time, never complained and totally took the spotlight away from me.

I hope you enjoy the video!