“I was perfectly honest with the casting directors,” said Denise, a home-care nurse and mother of four. “I told them we’re not really that strict, but our kids go to church and they do what we ask of them and get good grades. They’re just good kids.”
In other words, the complete opposite of 15-year-old Lilly and 17-year-old Matt, a pair of troubled teens from Southern California who lived with the Ballard family in their Morgan Twp. home for one week in January.
CMT’s production crew filmed more than 740 hours of video, but only 42 minutes will make it on to the show, which will re-air Saturday at 10 p.m. on CMT and will later run in syndication on MTV. (Check www.CMT.com for a listing of show times.)
“They had three cameras rolling pretty much all the time, and we have no idea what parts will actually be in the show,” said Dick, a retired high school teacher and coach. “Three-fourths of it was them interviewing us about situations that happened.”
And plenty happened, especially with Lilly, whom Dick wanted to send home after the second day of filming. He even threatened to end the whole project before a network executive flew in from Los Angeles to talk him out of it.
“I think she was just looking for her 15 minutes of fame,” Dick said of Lilly.
“She seemed to be acting at first, but then the real her came out, and she was just an ass. We didn’t bond with her at all.”
Things also started rough with Matt, whose hatred of sports even led him to use paper to cover up all sports references in his bedroom for the week. But by the end of his stay he was driving golf balls with Dick and shooting hoops with the Ballards’ 21-year-old son, Jeff.
The family still stays in contact with Matt through Facebook, and they’re planning a trip to California to visit him.
“People ask us if we would do it again, and we would,” Denise said. “As rough as it was at times, it ended up being a nice bonding experience that we’ll always remember and laugh about.”
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