Jan and Linz Franklin, pictured here on location, got to see and try the very best of what New Zealand has to offer while filming the show.Photo / supplied
They are the onesie wearing, crazy cat people of Stratford, and they are coming to a TV screen near you this month.
Jan and Lindsay (Linz) Franklin are two of the five groups of Kiwis selected to be part of the New Zealand version of Travel Guides, screening this month on TVNZ 2, an experience they say has been "unforgettable".
Jan and Linz sent in an audition video for the New Zealand version of the popular reality TV show late last year, after Linz kept seeing adverts on television for people to apply.
"The ads kept showing and they got my attention. I thought Jan and I should have a go, so eventually I paused the ad, got the website details and we went from there."
As they started filling in the online application, they saw they needed to include a video, so quickly filmed one in just one take just before they went to bed, says Jan.
Introducing themselves as "crazy cat people" who are "a little bit nutty, a little bit fun" in the video, Jan and Linz promised the producers not only would they be "fun to watch on telly" but the cameras would be sure to capture "plenty of face pulling at each other" if they were to be successful in getting selected.
Soon after submitting the video, Jan and Linz were invited to the next stage of auditions, done via video call and Jan says they took the opportunity to continue showing producers their "fun side".
"For the first video call we were dressed in our onesies, so they interviewed us while Linz was dressed in a penguin onesie and I was in a unicorn one. When it came to the next video call, we thought we couldn't just be normal so we went for a superhero theme, with Linz as Spiderman and I was Supergirl."
While the producers haven't told them if it was the fact they own nine cats, the nuttiness, the costumes or the promise of face pulling, the Franklins did make it through and became two of the 13 people set to feature in the show.
Within six weeks of submitting the first audition video, Jan and Linz were on a plane headed to their first location ready for filming to begin.
"It was pretty fast, from first hearing about the show to being there, with cameras following us around, mics on us and doing all these crazy things."
Linz says not only was the timeframe tight from acceptance to filming, but the filming schedule itself was fast paced, with a total of six weeks travel and filming over a three month period.
Linz says being part of the show appealed to them as they are both already keen travellers, having visited around 15 or so different countries over the past decade.
They didn't know where they would be going or what sort of activities they would be doing throughout the show, says Jan, making packing quite tricky at times.
"We would get an email telling us what we needed to bring, but without knowing exactly what you are going to be doing or where you will be made it hard at times. Especially for me at the start, I am a real planner, when we go on holiday normally, I have spreadsheets ready with everything we need to do, see and bring. After a while though, I really relaxed and enjoyed the experience of other people planning for me."
Just what was planned ranged from delicious meals out and gorgeous boutique or five star accommodation, to what Jan calls, "an unforgettable, and ideally unrepeatable camping experience".
She says before filming started they were taken through a range of scenarios and asked what they thought about them.
"When camping came up my response was pretty much no, with a rude word or two inserted. I think they took that as a challenge."
Confronted with a tent for one of the episodes, Jan says it was certainly a challenge.
"Linz had never put a tent up before and the most I had ever done was held a guide rope and helped put a peg or two in. So it was en experience all right."
Outside of the camping, activities the couple experienced ranged from calm and enjoyable to adrenalin fuelled and crazy, all of which Jan says are sure to make great viewing.
Asked about their fellow cast members, Jan says she thinks audiences will find something to love in them all.
"It's not like some reality type shows where there is someone you all love to hate. I think the mix of people on the show will give everyone watching something to relate to and connect with."
When it comes to people seeing them on television, Linz says he reckons the reaction will be a mix between laughing at the antics the couple get up to "and a fair bit of 'oh no, what are they going to do now' sort of reaction".
With filming over, the couple is now back in Stratford and have returned to work.
"One of the hardest bits was keeping it a secret as to what we were up to as we couldn't tell people before," says Jan, who was described by Linz as being 'loquacious" in their audition video.
Now the cat is out of the bag and the Franklins are back home with their nine cats, juggling the press calls and media attention with their regular jobs at Fonterra in Eltham where Jan is a lead technologist and Linz a forklift driver.
As for the nine cats, who spent the filming schedule in a cattery at times, and with pet sitters the rest of the time, were they pleased to see the return of the travellers, and will they be watching the show?
"They have all told us all about it," says Jan. "I just don't know what they have been saying - are they complaining we were gone, that they missed us, or they just want more food now. We missed them though of course."
Travel Guides NZ premieres Thursday, February 18, 8pm on TVNZ 2.