sos island – Andrea Feczko

Personal

10 Things I Did This Year

1. I Sold Beer… in Japan

I was in a Suntory beer commercial!! Yes, like THE Suntory, made famous from Bill Murray’s character in Lost in Translation. If that wasn’t cool enough, I starred alongside Ken Watanabe!!! (Inception, The Last Samurai) I played a reporter- shocking, I know- and made some funny faces. If you’ve seen any of my Key of Awesome stuff, you can probably guess where I got those from.

This was one of those moments where I thought, “I can’t wait to tell my grandkids about this”… which is also the first time I ever thought about having grand kids. Go figure.

2. Media Makeover

I upgraded with new headshots, website, demo reel, and boobs. I’m just kidding about the last part. These B’s are real.

3. And We’re LIVE

This was the year of performing on Live TV, which is basically an adrenaline rush equivalent to sky diving, but without all the potential bodily injury and stuff. I had major live projects for Ultra, SOS Island, and covering the Thor: The Dark World red carpet for Yahoo! and Marvel. It’s fun and I can’t wait to do more.

4. Call Me Feczko-pova

I learned how to play tennis! I went to Mexico, and after finding the perfect margarita, I decided to start taking tennis lessons! As one naturally does in such circumstances. Now this is a tequila decision I don’t regret, because now I play tennis a couple times a month with friends. Did you know LA has free tennis courts?! One more reason why I love LA… and the Nike Outlet store. I don’t know which came first: the desire to play tennis or the desire to have a place to wear a tennis skirt.

5. The Launch of How 2 Travelers

Since creating my YouTube channel in 2010, I had a vision for it to be an edgy, inspired, travel-based channel. This year, I finally made that vision into a reality by teaming up with travel expert Rachel Rudwall and re-branding as How 2 Travelers. H2T is a how to guide for everything travel: from tips, to adventures, to reviews of places you want to go. The response has thus far been amazing, with Vagabondish regularly featuring our videos.

6. We Broke Twitter… and some Records

We all knew Ultra Miami was going to be big for its 15th anniversary, but at UMF TV we didn’t realize just how much of an impact our livestream has on artists and the fans. Due to a 10 minute interview that was completely spontaneous thanks to technical difficulties (hey, it’s live TV!), we broke Goldfish Live’s website. Hardwell’s mainstage performance that aired on UMF TV was so insane that Twitter shut down his account, because, according to Robbert, his name was taking up 30% of the bandwidth! And, our finale, Swedish House Mafia’s last set as a group, brought in over 200,000 concurrent viewers, which is the most amount of viewers for a livestream of a North American music festival. I feel so blessed to be part of this awesome team. I must say, the Dutch do it better… with an American host. 😉

7. I’m Gold!

My frequent flyer status is officially 14K on both American and Delta airlines, which makes all the difference when it comes to flying: short lines for security AND customs, random upgrades, and your luggage is always the first to come down the carousel. Basically, I travel like a 45-year old male businessman. And if I must say so, I look good for a dude.

This is a huge thanks to Ultra, which has me traveling all over Asia, South America and Europe hosting the livestream of their music festivals. In 2014 we’ll be adding South Africa, Tokyo, and maybe other locations that haven’t been announced yet. Stay tuned…

8. Close Calls

2013 was the year of getting on the proverbial podium. I tested for a network game show for Freemantle (aka my dream job) and a Discovery travel series, made it to the top three for an NBC travel show, and was the runner-up in the nationwide search for FX’s DVD on TV replacement. In Hollywood, it’s usually considered a big accomplishment just to get a call back, but luckily for me, I was cast in other shows based on these auditions: SOS Island with Survivorman’s Les Stroud and FX’s Hershey’s Sweet Cinema.

9. I’m Home Alone

I put my big girl pants on this year and am now living in total freedom with my own place in the heart of Hollywood. You don’t want to know what goes down when a girl has a place to herself… or maybe you’re going to find out. My princess pad was decorated by Frugal but Fabulous‘ Georgie Smith. The Webisode on the Feczko Residence Makeover will arrive early 2014.

10. I fell more in love with Ibiza

I mean look at it! I went there for the second year in a row, which means this could just be the start of a serious relationship. And seriously, why can’t Ibiza be man? Because then he’d be blue and perfect… and things just got weird.

Can’t wait for what’s ahead in 2014. Looking forward to seeing your sexy selves in the new year!
TV Host Jobs

Andrea v Katniss — Hunger Games Challenge on SOS Island

This week is the Hunger Games inspired challenge on Samsung’s SOS Island: Survival of the Smartest.

Which begs the question- who rocks the side braid better- Katniss or me?

Check out this week’s challenge here:
Travels, TV Host Jobs

My Favorite Moments LIVE on SOS Island

For the month of October, I was stranded on a deserted island in Puerto Rico hosting the survivalist game show series Samsung’s SOS Island: Survival of the Smartest. It is one of my favorite jobs to date.

I put our contestants through the wringer, as well as myself. Not only did we have to battle the elements – 105 heat with 70% humidity and ravenous daytime mosquitoes- but we were also putting together a live show in the midst of an already tight shooting schedule… in the middle of nowhere! Luxuries like a teleprompter or multiple takes were left on the mainland.

We shot a live stream every other day during our intense shooting schedule, usually with no rehearsal. I had no teleprompter and sometimes a barely functioning IFB (ear piece to hear the director). It was 45 minutes of pure adrenaline… and a lot of fun. Everyone involved in this project is supremely talented; they turned challenges into opportunities to shine. It was awesome to be around.

For anyone who has had a challenge and has overcome it, you can understand why I am so proud of this show.

Here are my favorite live episodes from Samsung’s SOS Island.

This “Sur-Vine-Al” live stream is my favorite episode by far.
At this time we were all a family and it really comes across on screen. I’ve literally watched it all the way through multiple times. Yes, that means I’ve spent hours of my life reliving something I’ve already done. And dammit, it’s worth it!

I like to call this one “Andrea’s Island Party.”
At the time, the contestants had been on the island for three days and were really starting to feel the realities of being on a deserted island. They were given three pieces of fruit- a banana, pineapple, and mango- and that’s it! So it was great to see their excitement amongst all the food. And I must say, Graham’s dish was by far the winner! Wow, he knows how to cook.
7:45 –> Karen’s hilarious video
22:00 –> We start the cooking!

Beach Party!
Like the above episode, this live stream had a great concept around it. We were well into our second week on the island and everyone was missing home, so we had our contestants use their imagination and take random stuff on the beach and turn it into their creature comforts.
22:00 –> Mert’s hilarious video on how he ordered pizza to the island!!
29:00 –> Great laughs with the survivalists.
32:00 –> The challenge starts. Make sure to check out Graham and Brittany’s “comforts,” they make me laugh to this day.

Home!
This was our final episode and they were in a great mood! But really, I like this episode for selfish reasons:
1:30 –> The survivalists gave me a round of applause that made my heart soar.
34:00 –> We all get a beer! I hadn’t had a sip of alcohol in a few weeks and let me tell you, Medalla hits the spot.
Travels, TV Host Jobs

Behind the Scenes with Les Stroud

Hello from Puerto Rico!!

I’m here in PR right now for an awesome new survivalist game show called Samsung’s SOS Island: Survival of the Smartest. Eight contestants are marooned on a deserted island and, taking a cue from Survivorman’s Les Stroud, they must survive on the island all while documenting their experiences in real time via their Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom smart phones and Samsung NX cameras. Oh, and the winner gets their own private island!!! That pretty much has to be the coolest grand prize for a game show. Yes, I think it’s a sexier than just straight up cash, even if it is a million dollars.

This past week the 16 Survivalists have been training with Les, all of which have been livestreamed and can be viewed here. On Friday, Les and I had the chance to get together as the eight finalists were chosen and he handed me the reigns for the start of the competition. Bootcamp is over. Now it’s time to put Les’ training to the test: no food, no shelter, no AC, not even any toilet trees. That toothbrush is going to feel like heaven for our finalists after a few weeks on the island. And in the video above, you see why I have a vested interest in our contestants’ hygiene.

I was only with Les for a few hours, but I had a great time working with him. You would think he is super intense like he is in his show, and while he’s really passionate about teaching our survivalists, he is also really laid back and has an excellent sense of humor. If you don’t know who he is, check him out on The Discovery and Science Channel; what he does is incredible.

The behind the scenes video above was taken by Graham Hughes, one of the eight Survivalists. The still shots below are courtesy of SOS Island.

Les Stroud and I talking to the eight finalists.

Explaining to the Survivalists about the challenges ahead.

Les training the Survivalists shortly before the elimination.

Categories