After I came up with the idea, there was just one problem. I am not a Celebrity – at least I can freely admit it. But I know a few and one in particular that I knew would not only be great on the show but lives in this world – and is just an incredible person, which is important to me. She isn’t uppity, snooty, pretentious, or all the other things people associate with “celebrities”. Nope, just a great person…
Allow me to introduce you to Cathi Hatch. She is my partner and our “Resident Celebrity” on the show. Kind of like Hollywood Squares for those of you that remember that show a while back. They had a whole host of new celebrities on the show but always had one or two that stayed each week to add consistency and stability to the show. Cathi gets to fill that role and help bring in new Celebrities for each show to help us taste our Washington Wines (just between you and me, don’t tell Cathi I called her a “Celebrity” because she is always uncomfortable when I do).
Check out Cathi’s background sometime, she travels in some incredible circles and will be bringing in people from all aspects of Washington. We will bring in Celebrities from Business, Theater, the Arts, Sports, Non-profits, and a host of other places. This is going to be FUN watching them interact, taste wine blindly, and give us their uncorked and unscripted opinions LIVE on the show.
Oh, and unlike many other wine reviewers, they ARE NOT PAID. That’s right, none of our Panelists are paid. So their opinions are their own and they have no benefit to “plugging” one wine over the other (and they don’t know which wines are which anyway until the end of the show). So why do they do it and help us out on the show? Simple, any wines that are sold because of Virtual Vino LIVE, has a percentage of the profits donated to the Charity or Foundation of their choice. So this is one way for them to have some fun, taste some great wines, and “pay it forward” to help others. I know, they are incredible and I personally thank them whenever I can.
So there you have it, how we will be coming up with an incredible list of celebrities for you to enjoy on the show and see what it is they like and don’t like in the area of wine. If you have a favorite celebrity in mind, let me know and we can try to get them on the show…