To think I was targeted as a child at a tv show

[mademewonder]

This has only dawned on me as a possibility last night around 30 years or so down the line. I don't know if I'm BU to think it was anything but innocent or if others might've had similar experiences.

Background:

As a child (11/12 years old) I went with 2 friends and one of their parents to watch a live filming of a very popular prime time show. There were gaps in filming and we were allowed by friends parents to go for a wander round the arena and I suppose, buy souvenirs and drinks etc in the breaks.

Me and my two friends were approached inside the arena concourse by two men and they asked if we were there just the three of us. My friend lied and said yes we were (pretending to be all grown up).

At this point he gave us 3 backstage passes to meet the stars of the show and said to give a message to one of them. He claimed he was the flatmate of this man and to pass a message on that he couldn't make it.

After the show we went to the backstage area and a bit of a row ensued because friends mum and young sibling were with us. Friends mum demanded to be let in with us and she was.

I can't help wondering if something more sinister was going on though. The man we took the message to seemed quite irritated in general and what are the chances that we actually did bump into a "flatmate" inside the arena dishing out backstage passes? Surely he'd just give him a message himself?

Does this sound dodgy?

What TV show OP?

31ISABELLEROSSIGNOL what band?

We want to know pleeeeeaaassseee

You had a lucky escape

I am in my 50s. I vividly remember at primary school being sent from PE in my leotard to pass a message between teachers.
A boy of about a year older stopped me in the corridor and squeezed my developing breasts .
More than 40 years later I still remember his name & face

Amazing how you can remember such vivid detail from over 30 years ago!

What an odd comment.

Sounds like straightforward procurement for sleazy purposes. He was annoyed because you were not, as promised, unaccompanied.

Sounds dodgey to me.

I remember when we were staying at Band B, a random man stopped my sister in the living room (mum and dad had gone for chips) and pulled her onto the sofa. He asked her for a kiss and she said no so he asked again. I was just about to intervene when her inner Manc quite literally raised its head she head butted him on the nose and told him to "Piss off you cheeky fucker" she was thirteen and I was fifteen. He was mortified and I remember my dad very quickly disappeared to find him when we told him. We didn't see him next day but saw him as we were leaving with bruises all over his face.....I wonder what happened my dad denies all knowledge to this day.

That definitely sounds like 'I couldn't make it' meant adults couldn't make it and you were alone. Very creepy. Thank goodness you actually were with an adult who didn't allow you to go by yourself. Who asks if children are alone THEN gives them passes? Surely it should be the other way about.

Come on, people, of course it isn’t Jim’s Fix It. The OP said it was in an arena.

Gladiators is more likely.

I do think it's all very odd-I'm guessing that the coded message (if it was) related to someone else & not you & your friends?

Yes, you were targeted. That was what the first question was about - to find out if there was any adult with you to protect you.

You should report it if you can remember anything about the men who approached you and gave you the backstage passes.

There was no coded message. The message thing in its entirety was a lie. The men were trawling for underage girls to give backstage passes to and this was how they explained to the girls that they had passes in the first place to give out. They couldn't very well say they had been instructed by some pervert to go out and give backstage passes to underage girls who were there on their own.

@mathanxiety I think the coded message was that "he couldn't make it"

God sorry I cooked the tea then MIL rang and I've only just come back onto MN. Will read all replies now!

You were targeted OP. I remember a similar feeling at a R1 Roadshow many years ago when picked to go onstage & take part in a competition.
There was something weird about the way they picked the contestants, etc. As if it wasn’t random.

The DJ’s name was bandied about when the Saville awfulness came out. “Oh but it was the 70’s” etc.
There have always been creeps, right through the ages. And there were decent men in the 70’s. Ones that left teenage girls alone.
stinky I enjoyed the fact that your sister found her voice.

After the show we went to the backstage area and a bit of a row ensued because friends mum and young sibling were with us. Friends mum demanded to be let in with us and she was.

Surely the row was because only 3 out of 5 of you had a pass?

Yes, you've all got it right. Didn't know I was allowed to say the show but let's just say it wasn't jim'll fix it

God, it never crossed my mind until I said something to my mum last night about a celeb who was there and we got talking. She said it sounded like they were dodgy!

Thank you friends mum! At the time we were just excited about meeting all these "stars". We have photographs, it did happen and I remember it well because we couldn't believe our luck, told all of our friends etc and thought we were so cool meeting them I suppose.

I can't remember anything about the men who gave us the passes other than their reason for giving us them. We felt very grown up

Why are you still dwelling on it? Yes, it was probably dodgy, but you came out okay thanks to your friend's mum. Why tell us now? What has revived the memory?

The coded message probably just meant that the celebrity ‘flatmate’ would know who had given the children backstage passes. In other words, the checking that they were on their own had already been done. Awful.

@nitgel I remember that article from Select- I think the girls from Shampoo were mentioned (although before they became a band?). Even as a teenager reading it I thought

"Surely the row was because only 3 out of 5 of you had a pass?"

That's what I thought the row was about at the time. But her mum was adamant we all went in or none of us did. Whether she just wanted to go in or she knew it wasn't necessarily safe I won't know unless I ask her. Which would be odd as I've not spoken to her for many years (not for a sinister reason, just because I haven't seen her!)

I'd not doesn't involve someone already known for this sort of thing, I'd consider reporting it.

@XingMing I'm not dwelling. It only came into my thoughts last night that it was a possibility after a conversation about a celeb on a current show.

Chatting about him to my mum and said "remember when I met him?" She didn't, do I relayed the story and she was

I have vivid clear memories (almost like watching tv) from well over 30 years ago.

xingming she’s not “dwelling on it”. It’s called making conversation. That was these boards are for.

That’s