Starring in her own reality TV show

By Dan Hilborn
Published May 7, 2005


Burnaby finally has its own reality TV show. The Knowledge Network, based out of Discovery Park, has taken the latest trend in television in an effort to tackle one of the greatest scourges of modern public health - cigarette smoking.

Kick Butt is a new five-episode reality television series that follows five young people, including a film location manager from Burnaby, as they try to kick the nasty habit.

"When I first saw the call for auditions in the Women in Film newsletter, I thought to myself 'Wow! This would be neat. Someone to help me quit smoking,'" said Cheryl Uphill, one of the lucky subjects chosen to be part of the series.

And so last Jan. 19 - a day known as Weedless Wednesday across Canada - Uphill and her four co-stars began a three-month program to try to quit smoking, while allowing a professional television crew to film the whole ordeal.

"I remember when they asked why I wanted to quit and I told them that I had lost my father a year ago," Uphill said. "During the audition I realized, this time, I could do it for my dad above."

Of course, Uphill had other, personal reasons for wanting to quit smoking, too.

"I had been coughing a lot," she admitted. "I was also teaching karate - I'm a black belt in Shotokan - and I work out and go to tournaments, so I just felt that smoking didn't fit well with my martial arts.

"But mostly, I was smoking and it bothered me. That was the catalyst I used."

The first episode introduces the viewer to the five subjects - Cheryl, Jessika, Shauna, Bryn and Steve - plus Dr. David Aboussafy, a smoking cessation psychologist whose job was to help prepare the five quitters for the task unenviable ahead of them.

While Uphill doesn't want to give away the ending - the final episode was filmed just two weeks ago - she does admit that trying to quit was never easy.

"I used the show as one big support system," said Uphill, who admits she'd tried quitting in the past, with no real success.

In addition to the huge incentive of having attempt to quit documented in a television series, Uphill said she used every device in the book in the hopes of successfully achieving her goal.

"They gave us huge amounts of information," she said. "And I tried everything they threw at me."

the long list of stop smoking methods that Uphill tied included the drug Zyban, acupuncture, a psychologist, a nico-inhaler, a visit to stop-smoking hypnotist Romane and naturopathic medicines.

"I will say it was the first time I hadn't gone through withdrawal when I tried to quit, because I had prepared myself beforehand," she said.

And, as for the finished television show, Uphill said the producers captured both the good and bad times of trying to quit smoking. "There's funny things that happen, and there's sad things, too. The show will give a general mix of the ups and downs and around the corners of our lives," she said.

Uphill also admits that her good physical condition also helped her prepare for one of the more sensitive aspects of quitting smoking, especially for women - an expected weight gain.

"I'm a fairly lean person and that's one thing that scared the crap out of me," she said. "I could have aimed to become just a part-time smoker, but I told myself 'No. I am a nonsmoker now.'

"Sure, I've gained weight. I've gained over 10 pounds, but it's healthy and I'm fine with it," she said triumphantly.

Kick Butt, a made-in Burnaby reality TV show, airs on the Knowledge Network, Shaw Cable 5, on Tuesdays at 8 p.m., and repeats on Saturdays at 6:30 p.m., and Sundays and Mondays at 11 p.m.