The Contingency Plan

No. Two - Copy Cat Chanel

So after the ending of a long week, I allowed myself to sleep until just past 1.30pm and felt renewed from the rest. Lucas and I had our traditional Saturday morning brunch and while he went to the pub with friends, I rested some more and prepared myself for the big night ahead.

The whole company was on call to help with the pre-launch of a major new perfume bearing the name of the current queen of teen pop. Partnering with the biggest television and radio shows in Sydney, we held a party for just over 1,000 girls (and some boys) between the ages of 13 and 18. I wasn't bound to go, but there was no way I wanted to miss out on this event.

The venue was a teen dream. Complete with disco-lit floors, mirrored ceilings and plush pink and blue chillout dens, the three storey dance party was perfectly decked out and filmed live on television. It also featured a professional nail and makeup parlour, a roving magician, fortune teller, cartoonist, fake tatooist, fashion parades, special celebrity acts, major giveaways, candy boys with perfume samples, fairy floss, Krispy Kremes, picture booths and absolutely everything including all food and drinks were free so the girls could spend their money on pre-launch purchases of the fragrance.

And the party was crazy. The girls had all won their tickets through a variety of media competitions and were absolutely hyped. For this very reason, we each had a set role to try and control this hype, from checking partental conscent forms at the door to manning each section of the party to ensure everything was fun, safe and secure.

My initial role was disco door bitch, but changed at the last moment to involve chaperoning the Australian Idol guest we had appearing that night. A major teen girl heart throb, I spent the rest of the night eating, drinking and hanging out in the green room with him and the other celebs. It was such hard work.

But I must say that my guest was not only an absolute spunk, but possibly one of the nicest guys I've met. We got along extrodinarily well and effortlessly talked for the whole five hours we were together. I haven't connected with someone like that in a long time.

Even after he had made his appearance, he stayed and we hung out at the party. He then not only stayed around to help me and the team with the clean up (he took out a great load of trash), but then accompanied us to the pub for an after-event drink and stayed until the bitter end.

The night was also interesting as it gave me an ever so small insight into the life of a local celebrity. The poor man was absolutely mobbed wherever he went, but my true insight was experienced at the pub.

I've been told a number of times that I look like one of the girls on the show (Chanel) and we were discussing this (he disagrees) when I was tapped on the shoulder by a pretty blonde who had approached our table. She apologised for disturbing me and I instantly assumed she was wanting the Idol's attention. To my shock, she then continued to talk to me and asked for my autograph. The table started to softly giggle. I tried to explain that I was a 'normal person' but she was convinced, especially as she saw me with 'the another Idol' and had already called her brother, a huge fan, with promises of an autograph.

The whole table then errupted with uncontrollable laughter as I sat there, showing off my pregnant belly, trying to kindly convince this poor girl that I wasn't who she thought I was. The Idol was in hysterics as I tried to persuade the girl to have a real Idol's autograph and was met with total disinterest. By this point everyone encouraged me to just give up and sign the blank receipt tape. With the help of the Idol, I wrote a message for the girl's brother, "Hi Sam, thanks for your support, you rock, xChanel' and passed it over to the thrilled and thankful girl.

As the night progressed, the Idol then enjoyed himself by offering my picture along with his whenever fans approached. This lead to confirm further suspicious and influenced more people to think I am who I'm not so I'm afraid I'll never live this down and unfortunately have a new nickname... Chanel.