I photo-bombed "The Bachelor"

I was on a business trip to Los Angeles last October. Yup, that was the trip where I got THIS CLOSE to my hero Betty White at an event sponsored by the American Humane Association. Anyway, earlier that day, my manager and I had a few hours to kill, so we took at cab to Beverly Hills and had a great lunch at a cafe on Rodeo Drive. After we ate, we walked across the street to the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where some scenes from my manager's favorite movie, Pretty Woman, were filmed.

When we left the hotel, there a small crowd gathering on the sidewalk and a film production crew -- all young and all dressed in black -- busily setting up their cameras and sound equipment, flipping through sheafs of print-outs on their clipboards, and squawking at each other over their walkie-talkies. They'll be here in 5 minutes!" yelled one of the producers.

"Who, who?" we wondered, and that moment, decided to stick around and see some real Hollywood celebrities. Perhaps it was the Kardashians, or one of the Real Housewives, or maybe even Tori Spelling! Five minutes turned into 15 minutes, which dragged into a half hour.

"They're right around the corner!" the producer suddenly yelled, and the film crew jumped into action, crowding up to the corner of the sidewalk. A few seconds later, a zippy sports car zoomed up to the curb. A tall, handsome man got out, flashed a big smile, and walked around to the passenger side, where he opened the door for his pretty brunette companion. They stood on the sidewalk smiling at each other for just a moment before sashaying into the hotel.

 "Who the hell was that?" we wondered aloud. We had taken a few photos and quickly texted them to some friends and family to see if anyone could identify the "star". Nope, nobody knew who he was. So it was off to our event at the Beverly Hilton and all thoughts of this "celebrity sighting" were put out of my mind.

Until this morning.

Seems a colleague who works in California was watching television last night - ABC's "The Bachelor" to be specific - when he spotted some familiar faces on his big screen TV. He must have been recording the episode because he was able to pause it and take several photos of the screen, which he sent along to me this morning. 

The subject line of his first e-mail was "Could it be?". Certainly, there was no way that Mike could possibly be standing outside the Wilshire in Beverly HIlls. Certainly, his eyes were playing tricks on him…

The subject line of his second e-mail was "I am not sure". Surely, there are lots of tall tourists who might be hanging outside the Wilshire as taping for "The Bachelor" was happening. 

The subject line of his third e-mail was "IT IS!". 

And my colleague was right. That's me and my manager, smack dab between The Bachelor (aka Sean Lowe) and one of the bimbos ladies who are vying for his bank account attention on this season's show. It looks like we were Photoshopped in, but honestly, it's a real photo.

I was surprised by how many of my co-workers called or e-mailed me today to say, "Hey, I've got to ask you something. I was watching TV last night, and…" "Yes," I interrupted them, "that was me…and why were you watching 'The Bachelor'?"

So now i sit, like Lana Turner perched on a fountain stool at Schwab's Drug Store in Hollywood, just waiting for that call from some highfalutin producer, who's looking for the next big thing. My phone has been strangely quiet.