"Warehouse" story

Michael was not looking forward to today's photo shoot. It was his first night in a hotel, away from home, and even though he had been mentally preparing for months, he was still not ready for today. Crawling out of bed, the 16 year old took 1 look at the clock - it was 5:30am - got dressed in his casuals, and spent the last half-hour before the taxi arrived doing his hair (something he thought was his best feature). Michael was pretty much your average 16 year old, but had been thrown into modelling when he was 5, he had perfect skin, and for most girls at his school, was drop-dead gorgeous. All he had been told about today was that it was very high paying, he may get a bit messy, and he would be modelling 3 sets of clothes. When the taxi finally arrived, Michael apoligised for not knowing where to go, but the taxi driver said not to worry, since he knew EXACTLY where to go. About an hour later the taxi pulled up at a huge abandoned warehouse, and was told to go inside, where the photographers would be waiting for him.

The second that Micheal got inside, he wished he had stayed back in Sydney. The warehouse was filled with equipment, which looked like no expense had been spared, and from what he could see, there looked like 3 main area's. One with a huge mud pit, about 8m by 4m long, surrounded by camera's, one room which was closed in by glass, and was about the size of your average bedroom, with pipes that had holes in them filling the roof, and the final area looked quite empty, apart from a large tarpoleum and a wooden frame, with buckets attached to the top. When he met the photographers, he was told that there was another guy coming, and as soon as he arrived they would be starting. He was the given his schedule for the morning which was as follows:
8am - 9am: Michael would be in the mud pit, modeling a pair of beach shorts
9:30am - 10:30am: He would be in the "Gunge room" modelling overalls
11am - 12pm: He would be in the "drop area" modelling some of the latest summer trends

Before long, the other model arrived, and they began to get ready, each had a different schedule for the day. Michael was sent off to one of the changing rooms / shower area to change into the beach shorts, which were a very bright white in colour (something he knew was bound to change soon). He was completely comfortable with his body, and even liked showing off his highly toned muscles. Then it suddenly hit him, he didn't like getting messy, and came from the background where cleanliness was of the utmost importance, but decided to heed his parents advice and try everything once. As he was told to get into the pit, for a spit second, he thought twice, and then plunged his first foot into the mud, a sensation which was all new to him, and something he did not enjoy, but he carried on, and was now standing 20cm deep in this black squishy mud. Cameras began clicking from all directions as he put on a brave face, but was then told that they wanted him to start doing press-ups in the mud, and him now sliding barefoot on the mat underneath certainly helped him find his way to the ground, and before long, his athletic body was completely covered in a grainy mud which oozed between his toes and around his thinghs, leaving him feeling 10kgs heavier by the time the shoot was over. Making his way over to the showers he saw the other guy getting covered in various foods from cornflakes and milk, to porridge, to spaghetti with sausages. He was very glad he would do that last.

After spending 20 minutes in the shower finding and getting all the grains and dirt out of his hair, he put on the red overalls for the next shoot, and was surprised to see no shoes, and asked why and was told he would need all the grip on the floor he could get, and barefoot was the best way to do it (something afterwards he thought was very unlikely!) He then made his way over to the room, only to see that he would be doing this shoot with the other model who was 19 years old, and had that just-out-of-bed look and was wearing blue overalls, and was also barefoot.

When they asked what they should do, they were just told to talk and interact naturally (something very hard when you are having gunge poured over you.) When they got inside this pristine clear room (except for one wall which was green,used to project images onto post-production, they looked up to see over 100 pipes with tiny holes in all of them, every 5 or 6 cm along the pipe. Hearing the "And......Cue the gunge!" was the boys signal to start "interacting" as they called it, but for the first few minutes the boys couldn't stop laughing as they felt this unstoppable gunge cover them, which the could not escape at all, and they soon began to start sliding all around the room (first using the gunge to perform amazing skids to each other), but eventually realizing, that only staying still would cause them to fall to the floor slidding over the place, so they decided to have a "dance-off" to hone their skills to each other. After half an hour, the gunge was up to the tops of their ankles, and the boys could now pick it up and throw it at each other, all the while cameras snapping, red lights blinking, but the boys couldn't care less, they were having a great time playing in all this gunge! At 10:30 on the dot the gunge began to run out, with the boys up to their 30cm deep in the stuff, and the cameras began to die down, eventually stopping. Then, pipes below began to drain the gunge out, into a swimming pool-type tank outside. Eventually the boys were released and told to get ready for the final part.

Michael for this part, was wearing a Nike t-shirt, and jeans, and as always seemed to be barefoot (aparently the "look" for the season '06) he then made his way over to the drop area where cameras were all lined up for him, he was told to stand on the X on the floor, and that first he would be coated with 10 kilos of spaghetti (just how long will that take to drop he thought to himself) and was given a countdown from 3, and as soon as the spaghetti hit him it felt like thousands of worms crawling down his t-shirts, through his fingers, and across his bare feet. After 2-3 minutes it stopped, and was told as they were running out of time, they would only use poridge to finish the effect off. They gave him the same countdown from 3 and, slightly miscued, the porridge began to fall, surprising everyone, but the cameras immediately began to snap (photographers reflexes we call them in the modelling world!) And fall it did, covering him with a similar texture to the mud, and he was really begining to enjoy getting messy. But the porridge lasted a much shorter period of time, and was told to go change, and thanks for all the help for the day. But, just as he was changing there was a knock at the door, asking him if he wouldn't mind doing one final shoot wearing some speedoes in the gunge pool they now had, and was told it would only be quick... Before Michael could answer, a pair of blue speedoes where thrown over the top of the changing room, and was told to be ready in 2.

As Michael came out of the changing room, feeling quite nude, he saw the other model was already waiting for him at the pool edge. They were told that all they had to do was jump in swim around a bit, do a couple of dives in and then they could go with a thousands dollars in their pockets. Michael, who loved swimming, waited for his cue and then dived in doing one of his best swimming performances ever, splashing around, having a great time and within half an hour, he was back in his taxi, and heading back to the hotel, hoping to have another experience like this again (not that he would ever tell his mum that!)