Hello there, it's me, Jeannie, and I
am so excited to be back for a brand new season of Life's
First Evers.
This show is all about amazing people
doing something great for the very first time.
We're kicking this one off with two gals, Lauren and Madi.
They are best friends, but they've never
actually met in person.
They met online, where they bonded over their mutual love
of Ellen.
And, get this, they're both huge fans of me.
We devised a plan to help these two long-lost friends meet
each other and me for the first time ever.
Here we go.
11 years ago, Ellen made my dreams
come true by giving me my first ever job,
right here on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
We want to offer you a job here.
Oh my gosh.
And now I'm paying it forward by helping some very special Ellen
fans do incredible things for the first time ever.
This is Life's First Evers.
I actually met my best friend because of Ellen and Jeannie.
Lauren and I met on Jeannie's Instagram
and now we're best friends.
Madi and I have become actual friends.
We talk on the weekly.
Just the other day, I got engaged,
and she was one of the first people that I called to tell,
on FaceTime.
And that's exactly what Ellen and Jeannie do best,
is they bring people together from all places, all
walks of life.
Madi and I haven't met yet because we live so far apart.
I'm in Louisiana, she's in Iowa.
And the craziest thing is we have never
met in person before.
We're just meant to meet each other.
At some point, it's going to happen.
OK, so here is the plan.
We are setting up this space to look like an Ellen shop
photoshoot that we've asked each of the girls to be part of.
Neither one of them knows that the other one is here.
And of course, I don't want them to know who I am.
So I'm going to get in to disguise as their photographer.
OK, makeup's off.
I am ready for my transformation.
Ooh, this is going to be good.
Do you think I'll be a handsome man?
I think you will.
Thank you.
So we're just going to apply a little bit of light adhesive.
We are going to add this beautiful mustache,
a nice little goatee.
We've got a wig.
It's going to be a complete transformation.
[POP ROCK MUSIC PLAYING]
(PITCHED-DOWN VOICE) All right, I'm Jay, I'm your photographer.
It's nice to meet you.
(WITH NATURAL VOICE) This is going
to be so much harder than I thought it was going to be.
Ooh, boy.
OK, I am nervous today.
I'm very nervous.
I've just never done anything like this before.
The lens cap is on.
Oh.
I'm just so pumped to do this surprise for them,
and I just (PITCHED-DOWN VOICE) hope I can keep my voice down
here the entire time.
[POP MUSIC PLAYING]
[FLASH BULB SOUND EFFECT]
Awesome.
Looks good, looks good.
Is this a photo shoot or what?
There it is.
Oh, that's great.
All right.
Oh my gosh, if I got to meet Jeannie,
I think I would just lose it completely.
Honestly, it makes me emotional just thinking about it,
let alone if it would actually happen.
Next model, please.
Next model.
[FLASH BULB SOUND EFFECT]
Smile, smile.
Nice, nice.
Have fun with it.
Looks good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, man, yeah yeah.
If I were to ever meet Jeannie and Madi in the same room,
I would probably cry and freak out.
It would possibly be a little bit better than being engaged.
That's sad.
Don't tell my fiancé.
All right, great, guys.
I think it's time for a group shot.
Let's bring out the other models, please.
Shut up, what?
Oh my god.
What is happening?
Oh my gosh.
Oh my god, that was so good.
That was absolutely amazing.
I'm literally so shocked.
I can't even-- pinch me, is this real?
Like, are you real?
I was like, you're tall.
[BOTH CHUCKLING]
I am so shocked right now.
Holy cow.
This is amazing.
And so what was it that brought you two together?
It was Jeannie.
Actually, yes, Jeannie that brought us together.
I love the fact that Jeannie is, like,
the sweetest person in the entire world, just so bubbly.
Oh my gosh, that was so nice of you to say.
(SQUEALING) Surprise!
[ALL SCREAMING GLEEFULLY]
It's amazing.
Meeting Jeannie for the first time was absolutely crazy.
Meeting Jeannie was amazing.
Best thing, best thing ever.
Best moment ever.
I cannot believe this is real life.
[SCREAMING GLEEFULLY]
When Ellen surprises people on the show, I'll sit at home,
I'm like, how did they not know?
And then she did it to us, to where I was like, oh my gosh,
how did we not know?
Yeah, I know.
I'm glad that we were able to trick you.
Yes, mission accomplished, and I still
have some of my beard glue on.
Oh my gosh.
I have one more surprise for these girls.
I just love the fact so much that you guys get to meet,
you know, for the first time.
So I was so nervous being that photographer.
I did not eat all day.
Are you guys hungry?
Yes.
OK, good.
Do you like Dove chocolate?
Oh, yeah.
OK, they have ice cream bars.
We've got vanilla, we have chocolate,
they have tons of flavors.
What do you guys like?
I'll have vanilla.
Vanilla is fine.
Vanilla, OK, perfect.
I like [INAUDIBLE].
You can eat it wherever you want and whenever you want.
Ice cream cheers.
Cha-cheers.
Cheers.
[CRUNCH]
Now that you've gotten to meet, you
need to have an experience together.
So here's the thing-- later on today, you
two girls are getting two VIP tickets to the show,
and you're going this afternoon.
[POP MUSIC PLAYING]
[SCREAMING GLEEFULLY]
This is literally the best thing ever.
You need to go to the show together.
We're going to the show.
[CHUCKLING]
Oh my gosh.
I'm so excited.
I'm trying not to cry.
This is crazy.
No, here's the thing--
I get it.
When I was, you know 22, 23 years old--
I got the job when I was 22--
I loved this show more than anything.
And I know that that's exactly how it is for you guys.
And the only difference between my story and yours
is that I didn't find that person that
loved this thing just as much as I did
and that's why doing this for you guys
was so special and so important.
And if we don't leave soon, you're
going to be late, so we got to go.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
Having Jeannie walk us to our seats felt amazing.
We definitely felt like the celebrity treatment.
This is something I've been wanting
to do with Lauren for as long as I've known her,
so it was absolutely a dream come true.
Here she is now, Ellen DeGeneres.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
Whenever the music starts playing and Ellen walks out,
I instantly cried.
There were so many tears.
Yes, happy tears.
Happy tears.
[CHUCKLING]
Jeannie grabbed us from our seats
and took us onto the stage.
We were both like, what is happening right now?
We got to hug Ellen.
It was amazing.
It was incredible.
It was so surprising, but just amazing.
Yes.
To get to experience this together, it was surreal.
Literally the best experience of our life.
This means so much to us.
We just love Jeanne so much, and we love the Ellen show so much.
And we feel so lucky, and we are so
grateful for this opportunity.