Maple Ridge resident Rina Varley never expected to star a reality TV show.
In fact, the part-time Nurse Next Door sales manager had no idea she was being recruited to compete in Corus Entertainment’s Be The Boss Canada on W Network. The show pits two employees against each other to complete a series of challenges for a chance to win a promotion, or their own franchise location.
“I had no idea what I was in store for,” admitted Varley. “I was told that it was a documentary for great Canadian businesses. I was just excited to be picked to represent Nurse Next Door.”
Roughly twenty contestants were chosen from Nurse Next Door’s Canadian franchise locations and from that list, the number was whittled down to eight based on their applications. A camera crew from Be The Boss Canada travelled to each one, conducting individual interviews, though the candidates thought they were part of an inter-company documentary.
From there, Rina Varley, a sales manager from the Nurse Next Door Maple Ridge franchise and Diane Neudorf, a caregiver with Nurse Next Door Vernon were chosen to compete for a chance at the big prize. Throughout a week of filming in Vancouver, the two were given challenges to prove their business acumen, leadership skills, marketing and sales skills, plus their ability to hold up under pressure.
“We never knew what we were doing until the day of the challenge,” recalls Varley. “It’s easy to think that reality TV is scripted, but this really wasn’t. We weren’t given very much time at all to think about our challenges. An hour, if we’re lucky. Other times, there was 10 minutes to collect my thoughts and just dive in.”
“It was a very interesting, unique and rewarding experience,” she said. “I had a lot of fun during the shooting. Since my background is in sales and marketing, I was really motivated to win the prize.”
The hour-long show focuses on Canadian franchise businesses and has featured businesses including Pizza Pizza, Quizno’s and Anytime Fitness in the past. The Nurse Next Door episode airs Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on W Network.