From behind the soapy walls of a record-breaking bubble, Northwestern students saw “The Oprah Winfrey Show” from the inside out.
Students arrived at the Oprah studio at 5 a.m. Wednesday to act as living props in bubble master Fen Yang’s attempt to fit 100 people in a soap bubble. Yang, who holds 14 Guinness World Records for his bubble creations, broke his previous record for fitting the most people inside a bubble.
The School of Communication got about 60 NU students to participate in the show’s segment. Chicago-area residents, and even one woman from New York who flew in for the show, joined the students.
Volunteers had to be under 6 foot 2 inches tall to participate. They also had to wear “hot colors” and be in the studio at 5 a.m., Weinberg freshman Alexa Karas said.
“It was hard to wake up early but the experience was worth it,” said Ellen Nazarenus, a Weinberg freshman.
Volunteers were served breakfast when they arrived and then taken backstage for two rehearsal trials.
“We were standing on a platform floating on a soapy solution,” Nazarenus said. “Around us there were rods attached to ropes that lifted when (Yang) pulled and made the bubble come up around us.”
Oprah show workers took volunteers off the street because not all of the scheduled participants arrived on time.
But once all 100 people were there, space became sparse, Medill sophomore Jessica Abels said.
“A hundred people on that little platform was a tight squeeze,” Abels said.
When it was time for the segment to start, the wall at the back of the stage was removed to reveal the bubble master and his 100 volunteers. Yang raised the bubble around the volunteers twice, for just a few seconds each time.
With her spot in the front row, Karas could see Oprah and the audience from behind the soapy wall.
“You couldn’t move or breathe,” Karas said. “If we breathed out, the bubble would pop.”
Seeing the studio in person gave the volunteers a different perspective on the show.
“It was interesting to see ‘The Oprah Show’ from the behind-the-scenes standpoint,” Abels said. “The studio looked smaller than it does on television.”
Karas said it was cool to see Oprah up close.
“She looked like a wax figure,” Karas said. “She was really made up.”
Although the volunteers did not get to meet Oprah individually, she made sure to interact with them during the commercial break.
Right after they broke the record, Oprah turned to the volunteers and said: “Hello bubble people.”
For their efforts, the volunteers were given two tickets to attend the Feb. 7 show. For Abels and her roommate Kayleigh Wettstein, a SESP sophomore, these tickets were a chance to bring their moms, who are both huge Oprah fans, to see the show.
“I only watch the show when my mom has it on,” Abels said. “She’s a fanatic.”
Karas and Nazarenus were excited about seeing the show next week but were still in shock that they were actually on the show.
“(At least) 30 million people watch the show,” Nazarenus said. “It was so cool.”
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