After waiting for weeks for this show to air, I am happy to say it finally arrived. The Big Break Ka'anapali kicked off tonight on The Golf Channel and I was glued to the set.
I've been posting about it for a while now, so you might want to check back with some early sneak peeks into the show and one of its stars.
Meet the unforgettable Big Breaker Christina Lecuyer
Count down to Big Break Ka'anapali - more from Christina Lecuyer
It was so great watching the show knowing that I'd have a post show commentary by Christina (I circled her in this picture). I kept wondering what she was thinking as she saw it for the first time.
I'm not sure if the show started with a bang or a whimper for me. I was so anxious to see the golf, that the first 10 minutes of the show made me impatient. I also thought the drama and catty side of the ladies was brought on a bit too quickly. I wanted to like all the girls to start, but it was hard because the producers/editors/directors really left you with some first impressions that weren't good. I'm not sure that was fair to the ladies.
Anyway, enough of what I thought, let's hear from the Big Breaker herself...
I caught up with Christina Lecuyer tonight in Lafayette Louisiana where she’s preparing for a Friday tournament and we had a short chat about her thoughts on the first episode…
What were your first impressions of the show, Christina?
It was hard to watch. <chuckle> I feel like such a dork sometimes. Obviously I’ll say this over and over again, but I’m so competitive and I don’t even know the cameras are there. I’m concentrating so hard on winning and the competition. I am just playing the best that I possibly can and so I’m really focused on that and not the cameras.
When I hear myself say, “Oh man, I hope she chokes”, I realize that it’s not great. But it’s just the competition and that’s all it is to me. I don’t mean anything personal by it; I don’t even know these girls. But that was kind of hard to watch.
It surprised me to see you rip your clothes off to get into the water after our last conversation where you shared that you weren’t comfortable in a bikini in front of the cameras.
<laughing> Seeing myself in a bathing suit on national television -- that was really hard. Knowing there are guys at my country club watching and my parents and all kinds of other people watching – that was very difficult for me. But I didn’t think about it at the time; it was just me and the competition.
What was with that first competition – digging in the sand for a clue – guessing hula moves – driving like maniacs to get to the first set of tees – seemed kind of silly to me…
It was very Reality TV-like. One of the associate producers is a huge fan of The Amazing Race and since it is one of the most popular reality TV shows, really well produced and has won a lot of awards, The Golf Channel wanted to try something new and that was their take on that. I don’t think we’ll be seeing too much more of that.
What was the first tee shot like on the Big Break Ka'anapali?
Obviously I didn’t know if I had the right club in that 30 mph wind and I screamed at the ball “Get Up!” Well, the adrenalin was pumping and I hit a hybrid and I flew the circle by quite a bit. The second time I took one quick breath beforehand and tried not to kill it, and it ended up being great.
When you said “miss it miss it miss it”, do you remember saying that?
No, I really do not remember saying those things at all and it is so embarrassing watching it now. At the same time, what I was saying is probably what the other girls were thinking. I’m not going to take it back, but it’s not like I want to be mean to anyone - it’s a competition and I want to win!
Drama seemed to be starting already between the ladies and they just met. For example Lori closed off the show saying Dana is tough to get along with. I didn’t see anything on the show to warrant that. Did I miss something?
There was a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff they didn’t show tonight, but I think as the series goes on you’ll be able to see perhaps where that was coming from.
I was surprised at the obvious differences in talent out there as well. Cerbie and Susan seemed a bit out of place with their inexperience.
I think that was all of our first impressions when we first went out there. I think that the bets going around after the first show, and everyone’s assumptions were, the first two people to be kicked off will be Cirbie and Susan, but you just never know…
Susan doesn’t seem to take things as seriously as others. She ended the show saying she wanted to be in the elimination challenge because then she’d get to play more games and that she likes playing games.
When you first meet Susan she comes off as a little ditzy, just ho-humming around. Who knows maybe it will change throughout the series. <silence>
We never got to see the elimination challenge. That really disappointed me as it is often the most exciting part.
I think they are trying to put a different mix in this show and it has thrown a lot of people for bit of a loop. I think it will become more "mainstream Big Break" going forward.
After the first day, who did you think was your toughest competitor?
I didn’t pick one, but I definitely narrowed it down to a few girls who had a really good chance of going far. You can obviously tell when you look at someone’s golf swing, when you look at someone’s demeanor, when you look at someone’s attitude, when you look at how nervous someone is, you can tell a few things and see who is ready to play or who’s not.
Girls that stuck out at the beginning that I didn’t think were going to go very far were Cirbie and Susan. Girls that I thought were good competitors -- the 3 biggest ones in my mind were:
Adrienne – she was the only girl I’d every met prior to the show and I knew she had a lot of talent.
Lori – just because she was extremely driven and competitive. She was there to win. And like she said on the show, she’ll run you over to get there.
Kim – she’s a great player. You can tell by her talent level, she smokes the ball. She hits the ball soooo far. It’s intimidating, but then it’s not intimidating. Obviously she’s not on the LPGA and there is a reason for that. I made it just as far as she has in golf, so it’s not like I can’t beat her, but she definitely smokes it. I think Adrienne said she hits it like a guy and she’s right.
Any other comments about the first episode filming you want to end with here?
That first episode took almost 4 days to shoot. That last scene where all four of us had to hit different shots from different locations…that took almost a full day of shooting. We sat on some guy’s porch the whole day. The weather was not cooperating with rain and thunder. It was pouring so hard you couldn’t see two feet in front of your face. It was eally tough.
Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of fun, but it was a lot of work.
Thanks Christina...always a pleasure chatting with you. Same time next week?
Absolutely...see you next Tuesday, same time!
Golfgal
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