BLOGS FOR SCOTT AND DOUG KRENTZ
CASTING (Premiered September 14, 2005) - Trip to LA was fantabulous, the Jersey boys were rolling and living large, our shades were on and we were going to hit the strip. We were excited and thought for sure we were the best, and if we didn't win we would break legs. Because that's the way the Jersey boys roll. (Just kidding, but we were psyched about making it this far.) We were looking forward to the first pitch, we had practiced for weeks back at home on videotape, and we had a pretty solid pitch going. Then the pitch call came after sitting for hours and giving countless tours to our fellow contestants of the NBC Jay Leno set for The Tonight Show (with all due respect to Johnny). After eight hours it was time to roll to the MITUSA set in front of the judges and introduce them to the Dirtworker. It went GREAT, we were applauded and given a standing "O." The Jersey boys ruled! "Hey, how you do-in." It was like the shot heard round the world... Then we waited, and after the pitch, the pressure was eating us alive, and we were tired of giving tours of the NBC Studios. We even had a golf cart with our names on it. We were standing in the parking across form the holding area, and then the names were posted on the wall of the NBC Studios. The announcement of the top 12 was made. The Jersey boys were in. The Dirtworker was poised to succeed. Oh yeah...!
Then we went to dinner - too long to explain, but the next day was the final final cut, it was going down to six teams. Great night with free dinner, but no sleep that night. Then the next day, The Killer Banana!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Well, that was a surprise. You would think it would have been something more like a box of bolts and wire. Some thing more related to building things. We understand what they wanted - think, be creative etc. They wanted the sales pitch talent to come through and sell them on the ability to sell anything. Quite frankly, we crushed it, you could see the "strike" and "close" in their eyes. We could have sold the shirt off a nun's back, anybody need a shirt? But, somehow the judges didn't think the same, and the Jersey Boys were chosen to be alternates in case anybody couldn't fulfill their needs - just like the Miss America pageant. So we accepted that for now, but not completely. We went home and never unpacked our bags (that's for real and no joke) - we somehow thought it would be bad karma.
DOES IT WORK? (Premiered September 21, 2005) - One day after being chosen as the alternates, we got the call. "We need the Jersey Boys." The Lab was quite cool. We had a bunch of new tools to work with and were chomping at the bit to get started. By now we knew the competition. We had met many of them in our original group: The Gorilla Grippers, the Football guys Sammy and Chris, great guys and great product; the shoe chicks, Instant Waterfalls, and the Quad Zipper guys, Justin and Josh. Then the Jersey boys came up for review with the Dirtworker. We were confident they could not set us on fire like they did with the Instant Waterfalls. We were correct. The Dirtworker did outstanding; it stood up to every test they threw at it. They filled it with water, dropped it from five feet off the ground, and TWICE nothing happened. It kept on working, and working; they used it to wash off a car, a mountain bike, and a wetsuit. It rolled with perfection. The Dirtworker stood up to every challenge without a glitch. HSN and the judges were impressed. Case closed, The Jersey Boys and the Dirtworker rolled on! They weren't pleased with the fact that full it weighed over 30 lbs full of water, but there's not much we can do about the weight of water. They asked us to make it more portable, so our goal was to add wheels. In the short term we made a tote cart. That did not go over well with the judges - we hated it too - but we gave it a shot. Anybody need a cart??
The egg toss, that was an interesting contest. We were given a box of stuff and asked to make a device that could withstand being thrown off a building and protect an egg. We did, and we invented the EGGPOLLO 12 - Houston, that's a go for lift off. Not a crack in sight. But came in second. We missed the target on the final toss and got beat by the Freedom Fountain folks, Lisa and Joe.
The end is near!!! The Jersey Boys were thinking, OK we did pretty well. The cart was not so great, but as far as quality testing, The Dirtworker withstood everything they threw at it. We thought that after passing the QA with great success we were safe. Instead the "wobbly shoes and possible broken ankles" shoes rose to the top, as well as the Gorilla Gripper (they stood strong),while the zipper guys were in and the football guys were a bit questionable. That left the flaming fountain. We all knew where that was going. Up in flames. Hey, anybody got a match...?
DOES IT LOOK GOOD? (Premiered September 29, 2005) - Packaging and marketability, that's half the battle right, we thought so. The Dirtworker had no packaging, so we were excited to create something for it. The Dirtworker covers a demographic that is approximately 125 million people; at least that's what the stats told us. Anybody go to the beach, mountain bike, camp, hike, surf, have a pet, fish, hunt or motocross, just to name a few - well do ya?!!? Punk!! Go ahead make my day. The Jersey Boys roll on. Its time to think like a consumer, what do we need to get them to say " Hey, that's cool, got to have one."
Then came a non-product challenge, create a new mascot for a local high school. The Chargers!! Up until now they had a lighting bolt, OK, that's original...then we thought of "Charger Man" Talk about a meathead muscle man straight from the streets of Jersey/NYC, how about a high energy superhero ready to pounce on any other high school mascot. Bring it on chumps...! Cali can't take the beating. Come on, say uncle!!!
The mascot challenge was interesting; all of us came out in our costumes one by one and performed to see who would be chosen to be the next Agoura Hills High School mascot. We were not chosen, but we assumed it was out of fear of Tony Soprano coming to break their legs. Hey that's just a TV show right. Maybe not, fraidy cats...
Back to The Dirtworker packaging...that's a HOME RUN!!! That's the way our packaging was viewed. The judges were overly impressed. Karim, Joy and Nolan were blown away, saying "It looks like you guys really took this seriously," and we did. Our kids will be so proud to see how hard their parents have worked, especially that part. Our packaging jumped off the shelf and screamed, "innovation, here's something that's been needed for years." Their advice to move some of the details to the back was well taken. Our thoughts were, "we will make it through to the next episode for sure," especially since one of the other contestants got an F from Karim, Nolan, and Joy. We're thinking, hey, we got an A+ from the judges. We're in...! Instead we got eliminated. Ouch!
