People Who Won “Win A Date With A Celebrity” Contests Are Confessing How They Went, And Wow
If you're anything like me, you probably live and breathe pop culture and would do absolutely *anything* to spend a day with your favorite famous people.
Well, a few years back, Reddit user u/Kimantha_Allerdings asked people to share their best "I won a date with a celebrity" stories. Here are just some of the responses:
1."I won a contest to meet Britney Spears and inadvertently wound up being onstage with her..."
"It was a contest to get front row seats and I didn't realize at the time that the winners would end up actually being part of the show. It was all very pleasant. Both she and her team were totally professional and couldn't have been friendlier. A nice added surprise was that one of her handlers (her fiancé at the time) ended up taking me backstage to meet her where she signed a tour book and we chatted for a few minutes, but as far as I know, it wasn't part of the 'prize package.' Show time came, we watched from the front row, I did my little number with her (it was a little lap dance that she gave me during a song) and that was that. Overall, I have nothing but great things to say about the experience."
2."My friend's grandparents live in Savannah, GA, and frequent a really popular restaurant out there called Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House. It's usually got a line around the block and they seat everyone at the same table community style and bring out 20 or so different dishes that get passed around the table..."
"Anyhow, her grandparents have been coming to the restaurant for years and years and were good friends with the owner. On this particular day, they were finishing their late lunch when the owner approached them and said, 'Hey, I know y'all are just finishing up but we've got a celebrity that is coming in for dinner and we don't want to put them at a table with a bunch of random people because we don't want them to be hassled. I figured you would be the perfect people to sit with them because I know you won't give anyone any trouble.'
They were far too full to eat but didn't have anything, in particular, they had to rush off to, so they decided to stay and have dinner with the 'celebrity'. The owner never mentioned who the celebrity was but just disappeared back into the kitchen. They sat by themselves for another five minutes or so waiting for someone to show up when all of a sudden Barack Obama came walking in with secret service through the back kitchen exit and came and sat down for dinner."
—u/PRNmeds
3."I was front row for a concert at a festival, and at the end of the set, next thing you know, this random girl and I are being pulled over the barrier and taken backstage to hang with Snoop Dogg and his entourage..."
"The level of excitement and disbelief I felt was unreal. The guards led me and this other girl to a van to ride back to his campsite with his entourage. When we arrived at Snoop's tent, I felt so relieved. I walked in and there was Snoop just standing there, smiling with a blunt the size of a toilet paper roll in his hand. It took everything in me not to freak out. We talked for a couple of minutes, then I got the balls to ask him if he could take a picture with me, stating, 'Nobody would believe this was actually happening to me.' He said, 'Sure baby girl' and we took two separate pictures, one with him casually posing with me, the next with him taking a drag of the blunt. It was as epic as it sounds. He passed me the massive blunt directly after. I took one hit and felt the highest I've ever been in my entire life."
—u/[deleted]
4."I won a meet and greet with Lenny Kravitz backstage, just prior to one of his Australian concerts. It was awesome..."
"The tour manager came and got us just after The Cranberries had finished their set and took us backstage where we waited beside a whole heap of their road cases. When Lenny appeared from his backstage room, he had such a relaxed demeanor, I'm pretty sure he had been meditating. He was much shorter than I anticipated and smelt really exotic. He was super friendly with us, posed for photos, spoke to us, and was one of the most humble, laid-back people I ever met. Then, he walked on stage and killed it."
—u/Maccas75
5."When I was 10 years old, I was a huuuuge Star Wars fan. My mom happened to be dating a dude who was pretty into the convention circuit at the time, and so he took me to a Star Wars convention. This was '96, so Cons weren't a huge thing, but the lineup of the cast was actually pretty good..."
"Among them were Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), David Prowse (Darth Vader), and Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett!!). I'll never know if we actually won this contest or if mom's boyfriend pulled some strings, but he disappeared for a minute and came back saying we won a dinner with the cast at the Spaghetti Factory (my favorite restaurant at the time!). As we were leaving, we saw Jeremy Bulloch walking through the parking lot. We pulled over and asked what was up, and he said he missed the bus to the restaurant, so he was going to skip it. HELL NO! We gave Boba Fett a ride to dinner.
There I am crammed in the seat of a pickup with my goddamn idol, and he was this totally weird old British dude. He kept whistling softly and then saying 'I think I hear a bird!' and then like, looking for the bird? I guess he was trying to entertain me, but I was too starstruck to understand what the hell was going on.
Dinner was awesome. I sat across from Kenny Baker and I remember being amazed at how tall and beautiful his wife was. Peter Mayhew was the coolest. He was wearing a tie-dye Chewbacca shirt and went out of his way to come and joke around with me. I have a picture of him giving me noogies. Just the friendliest dude.
Everyone was super cool, but at 10, I spent most of it being quiet and shy and not understanding most of the grown-up talk. It was still one of the greatest experiences of my life."
—u/bloodfist
6."I won a contest with my brother to spend the day in LA with Donald Faison. Scrubs was one of my favorite shows so I was beyond excited to go..."
"Donald was super cool, he even let my brother and I do the 'eagle.' Additionally, because it was the last taping of the season for his show The Exes, he took us to an after-party and we spent time with Wayne Knight. While they were taping, I got a VIP pass and Donald told everyone that basically I could do what I wanted (which included walking behind the set, meeting the cast and crew's family, and eating the food on the set). It was one of the coolest experiences ever. Donald was an amazing host, a real down-to-earth guy, and a genuine person. My only regret is that we didn't stay longer! :("
—u/Ozzyandrix
7."In early 2009 — I had just gotten back from spending a year in Iraq — I went to see my favorite band, Fleetwood Mac, play in Chicago. I had bought tickets for the meet and greet with Mick Fleetwood before the show...turns out that for that night only seven people bought the same package..."
"There were three couples in their 40's and then me (I was 21 at the time). We started talking to Mick, who is absolutely the nicest guy, and I told him that their music really helped me through the war. He said, 'I bet Stevie would like to meet you!' And I laughed and joked 'Oh yeah, of course, Stevie Nicks would love to meet me.' Fast forward about 10 minutes later, this guy comes and taps me on the shoulder and says 'This is courtesy of Ms. Nicks' and hands me a backstage pass and front-row ticket! I was so excited I felt like I was going to pass out or throw up. During the concert, Mick pointed at me and waved a couple of times, he was really rad. The lady next to me thought that I knew him personally.
After the show, I was brought backstage and about five minutes later the door opened and I was led into Stevie Nicks' dressing room, where she was with her two dogs and her personal assistant — I assumed there would be a crowd of us and I'd just get a quick autograph. To say Stevie Nicks was nice would be the biggest understatement — she was so sincere and kindhearted. She delicately asked me about the war and told me she was forever grateful for my service. She also shared with me that her father was a WW2 veteran so she cares deeply for vets. She also showed me around her dressing room and told me about her different outfits, and shared a couple of stories from the early Fleetwood Mac days.
After about 15 minutes, I felt like I was overstaying my welcome and started to thank her and excuse myself when suddenly someone put me in a bear hug from behind. It turned out to be Mick with his then-wife Lynn Frankel and twin daughters. He wanted them to come to say thank you to me for my service. He was such a class act. Then, we all sat down on the couches and chatted some more. It was fucking surreal.
When I got home that night I ran upstairs to wake my parents up. I told them that I hung out with Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood in Stevie's dressing room, but they didn't believe me. It wasn't until a week later when the woman who brought me backstage emailed me the photos that they were jealous and blown away by the whole story. It was the best night of my life."
—u/KaseyMcFly
8."My mom won a contest to have dinner with Kevin Bacon and his brother while they were touring with their two-man band..."
"I was too young to go because they went to a Hard Rock Cafe 'after hours' when they were almost exclusively serving alcohol. She said he was arguably one of the funniest people she's ever met and that his brother (while not as big a celebrity as him) was also very down-to-earth and nice. I'm slightly disappointed because this brings my six degrees of Kevin Bacon down to one."
—u/capt_choob
9."I won a lunch with George Takei through a charity auction. We met for lunch on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles..."
"Star Trek never came up, which is fine because I'm more of a Janeway fan than a Kirk fan. After lunch, he took us for a tour of the studio lot. He showed us where they filmed the part of Star Trek IV where, at the end of the movie, the crew is splashing around San Francisco Bay with a bunch of out-of-time whales. Turns out, it's just part of the parking lot at the studio. Finally, before we left, George insisted that we have something autographed by him. We all went into the studio store together. He looked around, trying to find anything Star Trek-related, but he couldn't. He walks up to the lady working the register, and he says, using that very distinctive voice/tone of his, "Hello, ma'am... do you have anything Star Trek related?" She looks at him oddly, probably a little star-struck. She doesn't respond. George is looking a little hurried and annoyed, "You see", he says, "I was on the show!" Cue everyone breaking into hysterical laughter, except him.
He was humble and lovable, a true character. Having lived in LA for several years at the time, I'd met a lot of celebrities, but none of them ever were as gracious as Mr. Takei."
10."I won a radio contest in Europe back in 1994 to meet Nirvana at their last concert..."
"I did not care for Dave or Krist, though they were super nice. At first, I was annoyed that Kurt did not make himself available until after the show. After the show, he invited me and my friend into his dressing room and apologized for being a 'dick' and not meeting us earlier. He was very cool, but I could totally tell this guy was burned and stressed out."
—u/throwawaybkf
11."I won a Seventeen Magazine contest to meet Sarah McLachlan on her tour bus at Lilith Fair. I was a huuuuuge fan and it was a thrill..."
"She was really kind to me despite my being a nervous, stammering wreck. I gave her my favorite necklace and she wore it on stage that night. It was seriously a teenage dream."
—u/reddirtkatie
12."In college, I won a contest to meet Graham Chapman of Monty Python. It was one of the great experiences of my life!"
"He was a really sweet, low-key guy. He didn't act at all like a comedian — he was a bit stiff and formal, almost like a doctor. Very kind and polite, but seemed a bit uncomfortable being in a room with a handful of awestruck college kids. I made a silly crack about how sad the hors d'oeuvres were and he laughed out loud. So now, for the rest of my life, I can say I made Graham Chapman laugh. It was barely a year later that he died. I was devastated, but it will always be a deeply treasured memory. I have his autograph framed on my wall."
13."I won a radio contest to meet Beck, the Grammy Award-winning musician, and have him write a song about me. The contest was to write why my life is awesome enough to win, so I wrote completely wild, made-up stuff..."
"The promotions manager later told me that he read about 10 or 15 before getting bored and skipped to email #147, which was mine. He loved it and picked it. I met with Beck at Seattle's big concert, Bumbershoot, and got to hang backstage and stand with his family offstage while he performed. It was freaking amazing and got that song written about me, after the concert. It's 12 minutes long about how I'm basically Jesus. Beck was super chill and liked to make punny jokes that I totally didn't get because I was just so star-struck."
—u/jostler57
14."When I was in high school, I came in 2nd in a Guitar Hero contest and got a meet and greet with Metallica..."
"This was right after Death Magnetic came out. It took like two hours to meet all four of them. Rob and Kirk were both fairly normal, but Lars was a little odd. He was nice but you could tell it was surface level. I had a Gibson Guitars shirt on at the time, and when I met James Hetfield he motioned to my shirt and said "you play some guitar, man?" Me: "Yeah, a little guitar." Him: "Like a ukulele?" I laughed way harder than I normally would at that joke. I was so nervous and it was such a dumb joke. But I mean, it was James fucking Hetfield. I was giddy."
—u/Evan_dood
15."Back when the Spice Girls were big in the early 2000s, they were in town for a concert. A local radio station was doing a contest where you call in to win 'breakfast with the spice girls...'"
"I was a young teenage boy back then, who was at home sick from school that day, so for shits and giggles, I decided to call to try to win. I ended up winning. The radio station asks me for my address and says the tour bus will be in front of my house in an hour. I am nervous as shit because the Spice Girls were about to be at my house, and I'm just here all alone. Mind you, I am the shyest person you will ever meet, and a tour bus full of the hottest girl band on the scene was about to be at my house. So the bus finally arrives, only it wasn't really the Spice Girls. It was four old ladies who called themselves the spice girls, who were cooks. They ended up making scrambled eggs, pancakes, and toast for me on the tailgate of their bus. It was the strangest, weirdest, most awkward thing ever. And no one but me was there to witness it."
—u/jmansbufny
