I can finally talk about it! Last year, I filmed an episode of House Hunters International in Lisbon with my mom. I saw the casting post in a group for people moving to Portugal and decided to apply. And thus began a year-plus process including interviews, legal permissions, filming, and production. But the time finally came that my episode, My House, My Rules in Lisbon, aired.

Pre-Production Process for House Hunters International

I signed up for the show to have a fun and unique bonding experience with my mom. With such an easy application process, I thought my profile would get lost in the shuffle. The next steps were where the waiting began. Intro calls, filming audition tapes, and legal paperwork took months, with lots of radio silence.

Day One Filming House Hunters International

Day one started bright and early as we met with the crew at our first filming location. We started with filming the initial interview with my agent, Marta. This was also the first time I learned how much I would have to repeat myself. Since the crew only had one camera we had to redo each conversation 3 times. Once for a wide shot, once for a shot of my mom and me, and once for the shot of Marta. Throughout the shoot, our first conversation was always the best, but if we struggled later our director was there with reminders of what had been said.

After filming that first scene my mom and I were released so they could film Marta’s interview. Since she wasn’t joining us for the travel vlogs, she was free to leave every day after lunch. We rejoined the team for a delicious lunch (including dessert), and then it was off to start travel vlogging.

Travel Vlog Day One

The first travel vlog we filmed was a walk through Alfama, and, to be honest, it was the most awkward conversation I have ever had. It was the first day of filming. We had five people that we had met maybe, six hours ago staring at us. We were expected to have a heart-to-heart conversation. And then repeat that conversation so that they could get multiple angles! Of course, don’t forget all the tourists and locals who stopped to watch us. I suppose what I’m thankful for is that while this went on for a painfully long time, it only ended up as one minute of airtime.

After our awkward heart-to-heart, we went to a different hotel to film one-on-one interviews. I found these much more comfortable and I was shocked when I finished the 90 minutes of questioning. It felt like maybe 30 minutes had passed. Joe, our director, asked questions about every single part of my life. As it turns out, I love to talk about myself. Then my mom had her, slightly shorter, turn. During this, I stood outside the door and listened to her compliment me.

Day Two Filming House Hunters International

Day two started with us meeting at our first house tour location. It was a stunning property, but you’ll have to watch the show to see our full thoughts. This was also our first time with the full House Hunters International Experience. I mentioned that every conversation was filmed from three angles. But this went beyond that. If we touched something in the kitchen, we got a close-up. If we pointed at something, we got a close-up. Every thing we did was documented from multiple angles.

For lunch on day two we went to a great restaurant by the April 25th Bridge. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be our first travel vlog was canceled due to the weather. They tried to reschedule, but the rain never let up for all four days of filming. We ended up going directly from lunch to film the tile scene.

Travel Vlog Day Two

Creating the tiles with my mom was my favorite travel vlog. My mom and I both got to channel our inner children to create these gorgeous tiles. It was also interesting to learn the backstory of how each tile is created. Of course, since we were filming with only an hour some of the steps we cheated on. For example, the stencils had been pre-made for us. After we finished filming, Ana, the owner, gave everyone on the crew a free ornament. She then took a Polaroid of my mom and me holding our tiles. I still keep it on my desk. That’s a wrap on day two!

Day Three Filming House Hunters International

Just like day two, day three of filming started with a house tour. This house was one of the smallest and truly proved some challenges for Adam, our cameraman, to film. I honestly believe part of the reason that you see people comment on how small things are on House Hunters International is due to how crowded it gets while filming. This house also taught us another fun fact about filming. Since the editor had so many hours of footage, and only needed 20 minutes, it was easy to make this seem like concussions were our only talking point.

After we finished filming the house, we once again took our lunch break. The lunches were one of my favorite parts of filming. I love collecting travel stories, and everyone on the crew had some to share.

Travel Vlog Day Three

Post-lunch was the barnacle scene. This was hands down the most stressful scene for me. It was the only part that I thought had the potential to make me look stupid. I have never eaten barnacles before and my nerves were shot. My first time even seeing what they look like, was when the plate was set down in front of me. They even forbade me from eating one off-camera, to capture the full experience. However, I did think that at least I knew what I was doing. Raul, our sound tech, had taken the time to explain how he eats barnacles.

How to Eat Barnacles According to Raul:

• Bite down on the shell and suck the juices out
• Split the shell open and eat the small amount of meat inside
• Take your thumbnail and separate the leatherish casing from the shell
• Pull the casing off
• Bite the meat off the shell

It wasn’t until I had started eating the barnacle, on camera, that I realized I had been led astray. Paula, our Portuguese “fixer”, was shaking her head no. There’s nothing quite like the panic of realizing you’re eating something wrong on camera.

How to Eat Barnacles According to Paula:

• Separate the casing from the shell
• Eat the meat

The barnacles, or Parcebes, were enjoyable. The taste is very salty, but I couldn’t stop eating them. Please, to any Portuguese readers don’t cancel me for this comparison, but I felt like this dish was most similar to eating a bag of chips. You just can’t eat one.

Day Four Filming House Hunters International

By the morning of day four, I honestly couldn’t believe that we were on the last day. Every day of filming had been fun, but long. 

To start our day, we completed the final hour tour of the three. This house was by far the most interesting. I don’t want to go into too many details, but every room in this house had unique decor. However, I can talk about the bathroom since it never made it on the show. In this particular apartment, the bathroom door swung inward. The crew decided the best option was to remove the door from its hinges until we finished filming. There was one final rule I haven’t mentioned yet. Always call out items they can’t edit. In this case, the bathroom door could not be edited back in post-production.

Here is how the conversation went when I pointed out the missing door:

Me: Why isn’t there a door here? Will the landlord fix this before I move in? 

Marta (my lovely agent, who was not prepared for this question): It’s an open concept.

All three of us lost it and could not stop laughing for the next 5 minutes. Was it that funny? No. But I think it’s the best example of just how exhausted we were after four days. In the end, they cut the entire bathroom from the show. 

After filming wrapped, we went for our final lunch of the show. During this lunch, my mom finally revealed that she does eat fish products. A fact that she had been hiding until after the barnacle scene. 

Final Decision Scene

Sadly, we have reached the last scene of the show. The decision scene. You might notice when watching this that my mom has a very tiny dish in front of her, and I have a bowl of pasta large enough to feed a small army. The reason behind that odd distribution of food is the original plan was to have us split both items. But the director, Joe, decided that getting the shot of the food being served and then distributed would be too much work. We ended up taking one dish each. I mentioned above that my first time eating barnacles was recorded. However, during the filming This scene also captured another first for me, my first time eating clams. I enjoyed them. 

While we were filming I also got to find out the names that each house would be given. We had some say in the matter, I believe we renamed one of them. But, most of the choices had already been made. 

I had so much fun filming House Hunters International with my mom. I highly recommend anyone moving to a foreign country to reach out to the team at Leopard USA and apply for the show. 

Since moving to Portugal I have started a new adventure, running a half marathon every month in a new country. Check out my review of my first race on the Portuguese island of Madeira here.