By Danielle Smith
Staff Writer
After nine years of sending out almost identical cards each December, it was finally time for the Druilhets to spice up their holiday cheer. Sophomore Paris Druilhet and her family were chosen to be featured on Tyra Banks’s new daytime talk show, FABLife.
For her special holiday episode of FABLife, Tyra Banks looked for a family whose holiday card she could give a makeover. Perla Druilhet, Paris’s mother, was contacted by her agent who heard about Tyra Banks’ idea, and thought Ms. Druilhet and her daughters would be perfect for the show.
“When my agent called me, I was so excited,” Ms. Druilhet said. “I thought it would be a great way to get the girls together and do something fun.”
The Druilhet family submitted their nine consecutive Holiday cards, in which the sisters are wearing white shirts and jeans with the Manhattan Beach Pier in the background, to the FABLife website where viewers can apply to be on the show. Within a day, they were chosen to be the featured family during the holiday card makeover segment of FABLife.
“They thought we were perfect for the segment they had in mind,” Ms. Druilhet said. “Tyra told my agent it was one of the funniest things she had ever seen with the girls always in the same place each year, the only difference being their age.”
Soleil booked a flight from Sonoma State University to Los Angeles with only a day’s notice to be in the episode. Ms. Druilhet, Paris, and Soleil were rushed into makeup and wardrobe, given microphones, and outfitted in designer brands to show a transformation from their normal holiday card.
“I think the really cool thing is that it is rare for a whole entire family to be on a nationally recognized show and I’m so glad we were all able to do this together,” Ms. Druilhet said.
Jeff Wilson from JW Party Pictures normally photographs the Druilhet family for their holiday card pictures. According to Karen Wilson, approximately five hundred to a thousand other families also use JW Party Pictures each year and photo featuring the Manhattan Beach Pier has become a favorite among beach cities residents.
“There are quite a few people that take the same photos with us every year, but we do offer a few locations to take holiday photos at, so some of our clients choose to mix it up each holiday season,” Ms. Wilson said.
In future years, the Druilhet family plans to bring more variety to their holiday cards by sending out greetings with different backgrounds, but for 2015, they may send out a backup photo taken on the beach because they are unsure about how the FABLife card will turn out.
“On the set of FABLife, there was no holiday background for us to stand in front of,” Soleil said, “They did not give us any tips to work with for future years.”
The special holiday episode of FABLife aired on Dec 9 on KABC at 3pm. During the episode, the Druilhet family skyped their family members that receive their holiday cards each year to find out if people really do notice their repeating photo.
“Each card is a little different I swear,” Paris said. “We pick out a different card to put the photo on and sometimes they are more of a headshot while other years are more zoomed out.”
Leave a Reply