Tom wrote:I think I've heard in the past that auditions are now done over the phone; is this true or do they still do them at a hotel with about half a dozen people?
Some (most?) auditions are now done over the phone, but in-person auditions still happen. In my case, they explained that they weren't going to be doing in-person auditions near me for ages, so they offered me the phone audition.
Tom wrote:When I auditioned it took 11 months between applying and getting an audition. I remember emailing Damian to 9 months in to check my application hadn't been lost and then had a response to say I'd be invited to the next set 2 months later. As I was based in London I guess there probably would have been a higher number of applicants hence the long wait. But once I'd passed I did get confirmation of a filming date about 3 weeks later to film in a months time.
As there seems to be more ex-contestants being allowed back on, does anyone know if they have to re-audition? I have also had the impression that certainly for players who have the potential to be a big hitter, the time passing and getting on has taken a while (maybe up to several months) especially as I've no doubt the people carrying out the auditions and sorting the order of play can just check Apterous and find out who the big hitters are. Whether that's because letting big hitters on earlier might create a top heavy series finals or making the following series a great standard which would accommodate 2-3 big hitters. If anyone wants to fill me in I'd be grateful
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It's been rumoured before that they look up applicants on apterous, and until a couple of years ago I and many others assumed this was the norm. However, Damian later said that they hardly ever research applicants on apterous, if at all. There have been one or two occasions in the past where apterous players have been asked to wait for the next series for one reason or another, but I don't believe that applicants are deliberately placed at any particular point in the running order because of their perceived strength at the game (see
this post on the subject).
Sometimes applicants are offered a recording date immediately after their audition. Other times, applicants don't hear back for ages. It might seem like most of the people in the latter category are apterous players, but that's probably because most of the stories we hear about the application experience are from people on this forum, and a lot of the people on this forum play on apterous.