One gal from Kildare gave us an insight.
Image via Instagram/@samanthatabascoThe Grammys.
It's the biggest event for the music industry and last month, the likes of Billie Eilish, Lewis Capaldi and Ariana Grande descended on the Staples Center in Los Angeles to eagerly await the results of the winners.
Among them was Samantha Tabaldo from Kildare who's on a grad visa in LA.
How exactly did she get a pass to this exclusive event?
She didn't. She was one of the many 'seat-fillers' brought in to, you've guessed it, fill seats. These seat-fillers are drafted in for major A-lister events like The Grammys and The Oscars to fill the seats when a famous face nips out to the loo or leaves the event early. They take the place of the famous bums so that when the cameras pan to the audience, the event looks jam-packed. Because let's face it, empty seats at The Grammys is not a good look.
This week, Samantha told Sharron on iRL that like all of us, she was doing it for the 'gram:
"I was kind of just like, "Oh, this isn't a big deal. It's just going to be something for my Instagram ..."
"No one's really going to see this because I mean, I come from the middle of nowhere so no one's really watching the Grammys."
Samantha's from the town of Rathangan in County Kildare. She graduated college in 2018 and straight from there, worked for Image magazine for a few months before taking the leap across the pond. She explains:
"I'd done everything. I went to school, I went straight to college. I just need to do something that's not so linear." So I was like, "I'll move out to America."
After originally setting her sights on being a seat filler at The Oscars, Samantha stumbled upon another option:
"There was this website, it's called seatfillersandmore.com, they do the Emmys and everything like that, and they also did the Grammys."
"I was just like, "Oh, I'll just sign up." I literally just put down my name and whatever, there was nothing else to it. And then I got an email, "Your application has been confirmed and you're going to be going as a seat filler."
So what's next?
This isn't just any old party. The celebrities took to the Grammys red carpet in all sorts of designer gear with Dua Lipa in Alexander Wang and Lil Nas X in Versace. So did Samantha splash the cash and go all out too?
Nope - she went to Penneys.
"I was so broke. I was like, "Oh God, I don't want to spend anything right now." So then I went to the Zara in downtown and then I just got a dress"
"I was like, "Okay, this will be fine. I have heels at home." You know the nude barely there heels from Penneys?"
A woman after our own heart!
Image via Instagram/@samanthatabascoAll dolled up in her Zara dress and Penneys heels, Samantha got up close and personal with some of the biggest names in the business. She told iRadio who she was rubbing shoulders with:
"I moved a few times. I think it was our third move, they moved us really close to the front, so we were literally three rows beside the stage."
"I was freaking out because I was like, "Oh my God, Chrissy Teigen is three or four feet away from us."
"And then Billie Eilish, her brother and his girlfriend came and they sat right in front of us."
"Then during the break Khalid came over and gave her a hug, and I love him, and I was like, "Oh my God, it's Khalid." I was freaking out."
Her new found fame hasn't gone to her head just yet though. However, she added that her Grammys appearance has caused quite a stir in Kildare:
"My town is so small, Rathangan is probably 2000 people are living in it"
"Everyone's like, "This is so amazing. You've achieved so much." And I'm like, "I literally just sat down."
