Cape ou on Friends reunion show
SUPERFAN: Jerome Swarts from Muizenberg
Friends superfan Jerome Swartz had his few seconds of fame when he was featured in the aired Friends reunion special.
The lucky Muizenberg outjie was selected to be included in a montage of fans that was part of the episode.
Jerome pops up on screen with Table Mountain in the background, as he shouts, “Pivot, pivot!” repeatedly, a reference to a scene in Friends when the characters attempt to get a couch up a flight of stairs.
Jerome explains: “I belong to a lot of the different Friends fan pages on Facebook and on one of the fan pages they asked a simple question, ’Where in the world do you watch Friends?’
“I got a Facebook message from a stranger asking if I would be available for a conversation. I was hesitant so I replied and said, ’please explain yourself’ via Messenger and this woman responded that she preferred Skype.”
He agreed and soon learnt he was chatting with one of the show’s producers who asked if she could record their Skype conversation and share it with her colleagues. Jerome said: “ [The next day] this guy Dave reached out to me and he asked if I would mind just doing some stuff for this reunion that they were considering. At that stage it was just a concept; they asked if I would mind almost just to play along. They sent me some scripts and instructions.”
He roped in a buddy and the duo filmed clips and sent it to the producers.
“I only told my wife about this and my buddy who helped me, so even when the reunion aired, my mom called, shouting at me about why I never told them about it,” he said.
Just like the characters from Friends, Jerome loves coffee and owns a coffee truck business – Barista Muiz.