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?

Ugh, so dodgy.

When I was at school a classmate was in the local panto with her dance school and they got to meet some of the stars of Gladiators. Apparently she had a snog with one of them. She must have been 16, max, and it’s v possible a couple of years younger (I can’t remember what year we were in). Everyone was a mixture of jealous and horrified (but horrified only because of him not being ‘the hot one’, not because of the hideous age difference.

I’d totally forgotten this until now, but it does make you wonder how often this must have happened.

Sorry, awful confusing use of brackets there 😨

I think you remember things that don’t feel right, I was out playing with my friends when I was nine when a vicar came up to us. He started talking to me and saying I should really be in his choir, he separated me away from the group and took my hand. Luckily my mum came out and called to me, he walked me over to her, still holding my hand. He spoke to her saying again I should be in his choir, my mother brushed him off but as he said goodbye he pointed to his cheek and said “you can give me a kiss mind”. So I did because I felt like I had to as he was a vicar.
My mother said to me afterwards that I didn’t have to do that and that I should never do something I’m not comfortable with. Long story short, that was 32 years ago. Certain things stick in your mind.

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

Not at all. My mother is 88 and can recall her evacuation in great detail, especially the abuse.

Sorry, haven’t read the whole thread but as this ‘Jim’ll Fix It’?

@Millicent10 No

It's clearly dodgy, but the more interesting thing is how many posters are trying to find explanations and excuses for it.

Couldn't help noticing this in @OrangeGinLemonFanta's link:

"GETTING so carried away with one girl that she turned blue and nearly suffocated."

... remember when that was considered an extreme and depraved thing to do...?

To be fair if I was supervising children including not my own and they got invited backstage absolutely no way would I let them go without me. Not because I am afraid there might be creepy men but just because you don't know who those adults are or what is happening back there and it's weird/inappropriate to try and separate children from the adults they are with, unless it's something like a childcare activity.

But also as many people are saying, it was an open secret at the time that many "celebrities" were prone to do things like this so she might have been insistent specifically for that reason. Either way good thing she was!

Knickers :( I thought that too.

Oh gosh. Very weird. You were so lucky.

Ew, sounds grim and like you had a lucky escape!

@nitgel I think this is the select article.
I used to go to a lot of early 90s indie gigs and met some of the bands. The Manics always had the most obsessed young female fans, absolutely desperate to have a moment with them. Suede too.

selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/?cat=828

When I was a kid of 13 I used to dread maths because the teacher always used to pick on me. I was top of the class in 6 subjects but maths was not my strongest. I think he did it deliberately to take me down a notch.

One day he cornered me in the stock room and put his hand on my breast, saying "Your a big girl" I told him "you shouldnt have done that sir. If you ever pick on me in class again Im going to TELL."

I dont think he ever spoke another word to me again and the next year I dropped maths.

I can still remember that in vivid detail. A teacher who did that today would be immediately suspended pending investigation and probably never work in a school again.

@biglouis
Blimey, any one remember the prophets ?

Oops sorry, meant that for Ruby Monster.

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?

It doesn't seem like the OP is dwelling on it at all. Just something she remembered. Do you never talk about anything that happened in the past? What is the point of discussing anything on MN at all really? Probably should delete your account lol.

Roadies often scout for girls for stars in the line or pre-show. Did he ask your age I wonder? It does sound like the flatmate line was code for no parents and the star was then annoyed when parent and younger sibling were with you.

Ugh. Something not right about it. Thank goodness for your friend's mum.

It is really saddening how underage girls were seen as fair game until recently.

I didn't know that about warrior! He was there too, although it wasn't him. Grim.

Thanks for all the replies, it's as clear as day now what was going on. That's how innocent we were, not one of us realised.

We had photographs taken with them all individually and now I don't know which ones were appropriate and which ones weren't. One of them swung my friend around, lots of hugging etc. We didn't like one of the female gladiators because she was really angry and standoffish during the backstage bit. I wonder if she just knew what was going on

I think @Carouselfish has got it spot on.

We didn't like one of the female gladiators because she was really angry and standoffish during the backstage bit. I wonder if she just knew what was going on

Bingo. She wasn't angry at you, she would have been disgusted at the men. It is truly amazing how aging reframes our younger female experiences, isnt it? And horrifying.

@PicsInRed yes, looking back I think she was disgusted. Her anger wasn't directed at us but when we told all of our school friends we said she was "in a mood". She was quite clearly (now) seething.

Sorry nightshade I can see it for what it was now!

@Carouselfish he might have asked our age, I don't remember if he did.

I feel so naive! I'll never look at the band "scouting for girls" quite the same!

@rubymonster and @36degrees I am not sure that is the article, the one i remember had someone in a leopard fur coat (iirc!) I will look for the magazine...I hope we still have it.