Faking It

'Faking It' is one of the program in Astro channels. The concept of the program, a person will be trained to do something he knew nothing about, enters a contest with contestants trained in the subject matter and judged by respectable judges in that particular area. Later, the judges will be informed that one of the participants is a fake who has only being trained for four weeks. They were then asked to guess who among the participants is a 'green horn' in the subject matter.



In this week's episode, David, a carpenter, was trained to become an interior designer. He has the help of several people during his four weeks training. He's given books to read, houses visits, furniture shops visits, crash course on designing, and communication skills tips. He fumbled badly when presenting his ideas to a client and clammed up during a party where all the industry experts are there. David realizes his weak areas and tries to improve on it. His trainers are confident with his ability but they are quite worried he'll freeze out during the contest.



For the contest, he has to compete with 3 real interior designers. They have to design a space each, complete with the actual furniture and decorations. They were given the instructions, have a day to shop for furniture and the next day, they have one hour to put everything in place. He came out in flying colors when answering the judges' questions. So confident and convincing, he managed to fool all the judges. The first judge, confidently mentioned Kevin, an interior designer with 2 years experience, as a fake. The other two judges were quite hesitant in between David and Kevin but both choose Kevin in the end. All I can say is, poor Kevin. David's 3 trainers, watching from a secret location, were ecstatic. Their 'student' passed with flying colors.



Watching the program was fun and also an eye opener. Basically, it tells you if you know what you want, know where to get help from the right people, you'll be able to achieve what you desire in no time at all. It changes David's life, he's more confident of himself, more confident of his ability, and I'm thinking a career in interior design is quite interesting :)



There is also this one article in The Star about making a change in your life, 'Living the Simple Life'. One of the many similar stories I've read actually. I have all my respect for these people who knew what they want and takes charge of their life. Its not easy, but the end result must be very gratifying.