Cats audition for game show

By WALT BELCHER
Media General News Service
Published: July 2, 2008

TAMPA — Sharon Egan faced a tough choice at the “Think Like a Cat” game show auditions Saturday.

Only one cat per owner could try out for the upcoming Game Show Network special.

And she brought two: Bella, a tabby whose meow sounds like “mama,” and Molly, a Siamese who can sit, fetch and jump on command.

“Bella is not as nervous, but Molly can do more and she is my baby,” says Egan, a pharmaceutical representative from New Tampa. So Molly accompanied Egan for the five-minute photograph and interview session.

Egan, who once trained a cat to ride a motorcycle — as a passenger, not driver — was among more than 100 cat owners trying out for a chance to win $1
million.

“We’ve seen all kinds of amazing cats, from rescued strays to show cats,” says Ann Bourdon, coordinator for the auditions that continue today at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, off the Tampa end of the Courtney Campbell Parkway. “This is a great turnout and we hope more will come out Sunday,” she added.
Cat breeder Nora Scholin came all the way from Jacksonville to show off her triple-hybrid named Genghis Khan, a $3,000 “designer breed” that she calls a “Jag-Cat.”

“He’s big, but he’s very, very sweet,” she says.

There were other big cats and some fat cats, little cats, quiet cats and one constantly howling Bengal lap-leopard named Druid.

“He’s very vocal because he just likes to talk,” explained his owner, the aptly named Catt Michaels, a veterinarian technician from Temple Terrace.

Michaels, who has 10 cats, two ferrets, five turtles, a snake and several lizards, said she will “talk back” by getting down on the floor and meowing to Druid. He’s also a picky eater.

“He plays with his food and shovels it in his mouth with his paw,” she says.

If Druid shovels in Meow Mix, that might be a plus, because the cat food company is sponsoring this “world’s first game show to test how well people can think like their cat.”

The full title of the program is “Meow Mix’s Think Like a Cat Game Show” and it will air Nov. 15. Tampa is the third stop on an eight-city audition tour. Hundreds of felines and their owners turned out in Chicago and New York.

“The game will be a mix between ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘The Newlywed Game,’” said Brian R. Ely, marketing director for Meow Mix maker Del Monte Foods. “We’re picking one owner and cat from each city to be on the program that will test how well people know their cats.”

Contestants will be quizzed on cat behavior and asked to predict how their cats will respond when faced with choices like playing with a piece of string or a toy mouse. The winning cat owner gets $25,000.

“And that owner’s cat will get a chance to pick one of several bags, hopefully the one with $1 million in it, because we want people to win,” Ely said. “If the cat is successful, another $100,000 will go to the winner’s local animal shelter.”

The contestant picked from Tampa will be notified in August, after which the show will be taped in Hollywood.

Mark Moctezuma, a computer data entry specialist from South Tampa, said he could use the winnings to start his own computer technical support company. He also wants to show the world that his cat Cheetah is one smart critter.

“I know what Cheetah is thinking — ‘food, sleep and what can I kill next,’” he told the audition talent scouts.

Cheetah is a stalker when she’s not on a leash. “When we go for walks, it’s actually an optical illusion because I am really the one on the leash,” he says.

And almost every cat owner so far has had one thing in common, said pet expert and show consultant Steve Dale, who writes a syndicated column on pet care.

“They all say, ‘I have the most beautiful cat,’ and you can tell by their faces that they mean it,” Dale said.

“You’ve heard that people look like their dogs but I say cat owners look like their cats and act like them, too,” he said, adding that one goal of the game show is to show people who don’t own cats how smart and affectionate cats can be.

Walt Belcher is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune.