LOUIS BURKE | Culture | CONTACT
Despite being a normal man in most respects, Betoota local Markus Willis (40) decided to apply to be a contestant on a reality TV show and actually made it through.
Slated to appear on the 3rd season of Baking Famous, a cooking show where home chefs try to make ouija board style cakes to speak to dead celebrities, Willis is realising he will need more than baking, decorating and witchcraft skills to edge out his competition.
Since hard yakka runner-outer of luck Shannon Noll came second to Our Guy in 2003, marketing profiles written about Australians state we like to root for an underdog and that there will be no further discussion on the topic.
Aware of the reality TV climate in Australia, Willis has decided he needs a personal tragedy to give himself a chance at the $25K prize money and chance to cook a cake for John Edward from Crossing Over with John Edward (2001 – 2004).
Unfortunately for Willis, his life has been nothing but idyllic since his conception, forcing the retired investment banker to dive deep into his family tree in order to get a good sob story for TV.
“My opa came to this country with nothing but the clothes on his back, a dream and a suitcase full of ivory,” Willis practised in the mirror, well aware he may be going up against the descendants of the people his ancestors continually displaced.
“And his connections at the gold mine. Shit, I might need to find another relative with a tragic backstory.”
After his wife refused to leave him to give him the single dad angle, Willis returned to ancestry.com and combed through his family history to find someone who could provide him with the perfect sob story.
“Unfortunately I never got to meet my great great uncle but he was a brave man. No one else wanted to send all those young soldiers to die so needlessly but he made a call so bold that they hanged him for a traitor at the end of the war. It was very hard on my family the day they tore his statue down.”
MORE TO COME.
