One of Poplar Bluff's familiar faces, Jo Nell Seifert, recently was featured as "The Trivia Dancer" on Live with Kelly during her 10-day trip to New York City.
"It may be the most fun I've ever had in my life," said Seifert, of her April appearance on the morning television show featuring guest-host John Leguizamo.
According to Seifert, it all started when the show's executive producer, Michael Gelman, asked audience members to volunteer to be the featured trivia dancer.
Seifert said she enthusiastically caught his attention and was selected, along with three other audience members, to dance for applause. The dancer garnering the most applause would then be featured on live television, Gelman told the audience.
"He stopped the music and had the audience vote... I thought I'd gotten the most applause but I wasn't sure," Seifert said. "Then he started the music and we did it again, and I won again."
Seifert said Gelman then motioned for the others to return to their audience seats, while she was led backstage to "get mic'd" and have a bottle of water in the five minutes before the show.
"That's when I thought to myself 'oh my gosh, what have I done; I'm about to be on national television,'" she said.
When it was her moment to shine, Seifert said she showcased her best moves to make the most of her "15 seconds of fame."
"After the show, the audience was hysterical," she said. "They kept coming up and saying there was no way they could have done that."
During her trip, Seifert attended 13 Broadway shows, Live with Kelly, and tapings of The View and The Chew.
"The day I danced, I also went to see "Dear Evan Hansen" (on Broadway) and while we were there I was talking with a woman, a New Yorker, and she stopped the conversation and told me I looked so familiar," Seifert said. "I asked her if she'd watched Live with Kelly that morning and she said yes. It's just been a riot."
Seifert spent many years teaching theater at Poplar Bluff High School and is no stranger to the stage. She said she has been featured on KFVS-12 but as for national television, this was a first.
"A couple of days later I was watching the show, and the (trivia dancer) fell," she said. "I thought to myself 'I'm so lucky that didn't happen to me.'"
Seifert said she made lots of wonderful memories during her vacation and offered a piece of advice for anyone traveling to New York City.
"...try to be the trivia dancer," she said. "It was so much fun."