Foreign.

It's time for a little red carpet twist. Since we both logged serious hours in the entertainment trenches, Live mics, award shows, and a few wardrobe malfunctions along the way, we thought we'd play a lightning round called Cue the camera. It's fast paced game that puts her back in the hosting seat with a few unexpected prompts. So the name of this game is Cue the Spotlight. So I'll give you some prompts and you just answer however you feel.

Okay, Sounds good.

Yes, this does have a red carpet slash entertainment hosting flavor to it.

I know. This is why I'm getting my jam right.

This is so it. This is so it. Okay. Would you rather hit the Oscars red carpet with a busted zipper and no backup or. Or walk the Emmys in a look your stylist swears is amazing, but you secretly hate?

Ooh, that's a hard one. I think the zipper, it leads to a funnier story.

Oh, it could tell a lot of tales, couldn't it?

Yes.

All right, Red carpet roulette. You're live on air, and the next person walking towards you is either a Hollywood legend that you've really wanted to get who, but who never gives interviews. Like kind of like a Robert De Niro sort of type. Right. Or a head or the other choice is a headline magnet reality star who never stops talking. Who do you roll the dice on?

Well, as if it would have been my own choice, which never was, because producers are, you know, your exec producer's always going to tell you who you have to take. And in that case, they would tell me I have to take the one who's never going to stop talking because they're going to get the most eyeballs, probably. But as the entertainment journalist who started her career, because I loved really talking. Not about their personal lives and the gossip, but I really loved talking to them about the craft, about the movie they were making, about their love of. Of what they were doing. And so I would go for the legend.

The legend. I know you've got. Let's like, could be a once in a lifetime sort of a thing, you know? Do you have a favorite celebrity interview?

Yes. And I feel bad for anyone who's heard me say this before, but it's always my favorite story, which is actually Tom Cruise. It was. And it wasn't just Tom Cruise on a regular red carpet. It was Tom Cruise in Seville, Spain, on the back of his motorcycle, getting a ride with him when no one else was.

Yeah, that doesn't suck.

Yeah, not so bad. And it was a Ducati, which is like his, you know, motorcycle choice. So. And I tell my kids, don't ever go on a motorcycle. And there I was without a helmet because it was Tom Cruise, but it was a closed course. Well, we were in the middle of. Literally in the middle of the. The town. And it was, you know, all cordoned off for this.

What movie? What movie was it?

It was a Cameron Diaz movie that they did called Night and Day. That was super fun. We first interviewed them in Austria, that we all flew to Spain. Then we did in Spain. I got to get in a race car with Cameron Diaz first. And she took me through the course, did a spin out. Then the door opens, Tom Cruise's hand comes in. You grab his hand, he helps you out. You're supposed to interview him, and he's supposed to get on the motorcycle. You're supposed to get in a chase car with a stunt driver and chase him through the streets. But I said, could I just sit on the Ducati? And that was my end. And then all of a sudden, he said, why don't you get on? And then we took off.

Oh, he's so. Yeah, he's so charismatic.

Absolutely.

Okay, Would you rather do the E. Glam Bot after running in heels from your car in 90 degree heat, like, sweating, or be caught on camera mid bite on a red carpet line with spinach in your teeth?

Ooh, the spinach in the teeth.

Right. Because everyone has that, right.

They do.

And then I feel like, hey, I.

Was getting my greens and fiber in people.

Totally. Like, health tip.

Yep, exactly.

Okay. Teleprompter terror. Your co host goes rogue and totally veers off script into a completely unchartered insane territory. Now, do you a try to save the segment gracefully or go with it?

Oh, go with it all the way.

Have you had those moments, like, especially live? Right. Like, for sure.

Or just me and Tom and I. But Bergeron and I were in the middle of a Dancing with the Stars episode, and the prompter completely went black. So after that, we started to get show cards that we had the order, because it's hard to know, you know, you're doing. It was Groundhog's Day, and we were shooting two shows a week, 20 shows, you know, a year. And you just been with, you know, sometimes 10, 12 dancers, and you don't know, I'm throwing the commercial. Am I going to the dance? Where the heck am I? So, yeah, it was a learning curve.

Oh, my God. I would have, like, been sweating profusely, like, had it Gone.

Yeah.

Have you been watching this season of.

Dancing with the Stars? You know, it's funny that you ask. I have not really watched the show at all since I left, except for, like, to peek in once or twice in the last however many years. But. But now I have teenagers and their favorite influencer is Alex Earle and she's on the show this year. So for the first time ever, all of a sudden, mom's a little bit kind of cool and like, maybe, maybe you can get us tickets. You think? So I'm actually taking them to a taping of the show, which, I mean, I've only been back once since I left and that was the 20th anniversary show. So now I think it's season 34. So it's been a hot sack. So it'll be a little bit, you know, like happy and sad being there all at the same time. But we watched the first episode actually just last night. It's funny that the timing of our interview and it was so interesting to just to watch with my girls. I was pregnant with my now almost 18 year old when I was on the show and so. And my little one, I mean, she was born after I had left and so it's so fun to see it through their eyes. But also my little one, who's not so little 14 now, just kept saying, wow. She'd look at me and she'd look at the tv, she'd look at me and she'd look at the TV and go, I mean, I can't believe, like, that was your life before us, like you were doing that. I was like, thanks. Thanks, honey. Wow. Yep. Yes, I was. I mean, they've been on sets for other shows I've done, but I mean, obviously nothing's quite like Dancing with the Stars, right?

And you're like, guess what? Mommy had an entire other life before. That's what I always, like, try to tell my daughter, too. I'm like, yeah, I actually was kind of cool and had fun and, like, did all the things. Right.

Right.

Okay, afterparty antics. Would you rather close out a long red carpet event right back at home on your couch with your feet up, or would you rather hit the dance floor at the afterparty shimming with Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise?

Oh, I would definitely want to be shimming with either of them, but I just love to be able to dance and have a great time. Although in reality, I'm so happy when I get home and I take it off, you know, the shoes off, the dress off, I'm usually still in my gown doing some laundry because no one changed the load. It's. And then I'm always thinking, wow, this is so glamorous.

Samantha, you are always ready for the spotlight, even in the hot seat. Thank you for playing along and bringing your warmth, strength and spark to the iconic midlife. If you love this episode, do us a favor.

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