I recently interviewed the original Shaina from Gullah Gullah Island inquiring about her expierence on the show and with Nickelodeon. Below is an excerpt from the interview.
What was your over all expierence during your run on Gullah Gullah Island? My overall experience was just fun. I got to see all of the studio sets, meet kids from other shows like "All That", "Keenan & Kel" "Clarissa Exlains it All" "Ledgends of the Hidden Temple", " My brotherand me" and I basically had free run of the whole universal studios park. Its really exciting when you're young to be able to get behind the scenesand know how everything worksand how they do all the "movie magic".
What was you reason for leaving the show in the last seaon?
My family moved to LA, and once I got there, I had so much fun going to school regularly, making friendsand joining activities (something I hadnt been able to do before) that I just didn't want to go back to it.
Were Ron and Natalie as nice off set as they were in front of the camera? Absolutely. Because you spend so much time around everybody you get to develop relationships so they were genuinely sweet people.
Did the show pay you kids or was it similar to Zoom in which no amount...?
We got paid. My parents saved it until I turn 21. It was a non-union show, so the pay wasn't SAG scale or anything.
Were there any friendships between the cast?
Mostly between the older kids (James, Vanessa, Ana ...) I was a whole lot younger so I mostly hung around my brother around the set, but everybody was so nice, we were all like friends.
What is your favorite episode of the show that you remember?
I remember all of them but my favorite was probably "rain rain go away" because we made some kind of rain band and made "music" with kitchen objects.It was so silly it was hilarious!
Were you ever on Gullah Gullah Island live?
Well every hour, the studio park hosted tours where the audiences could look down through glass at us from above the set. So nearly every hour we looked up to waveand smile. Other than that, it was a closed set.
Did your life change during your run on Gullah GullahIsland?
Absolutely. You basically surrender your childhood so other children have something to watch, hence why I quit while I still had a few childhood years left.
Did you continue acting after Gullah Gullah Island?
Absolutely not. Its not fun being other peoples entertainment.
How long did it take for an episode to be finished before it hit the air?
About a week
Have you kept in contact with any of your fellow cast mates?
Vanessa, Sara & Greg
Lastly, what does your future hold for you?
My future won't include acting at all. I'm a nursing major at Auburn University so after graduation, thats the direction I'm headed in.
From the interview I clearly have a grasp on knowing what a genuine and great person Ms Freeman has bacome. We later talked about out childhood in which I informed her that as a child I always had a crush on her because at the age of four I had yet to loose my teeth and I thought she was so incredibly cool for that. Her response was:
"LOL! my mom used to say i looked like a jack-o-lantern, I was missing so many teeth- well I think its really nice that you actually LIKED the show, i always thought it was silly. but yeah def. study lol i dont want your grades to slip!"
Clearly this indivdual has a bright future along with a great past. Look forward to future interviews with the cast including Natalie.
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