Dear everyone I went to college with:

It’s me: guy you recognize, kinda. How are you? No way! I’m glad that panned out. We always knew you’d land on your feet (or: way to prove everybody wrong and land on your feet)! Anyway, I wanted to take a break from clicking “hide” on your Facebook statuses whenever they pop up in my news feed to tell you a bit about what I’ve got going on. I’m going to be on a reality show, and not the type that we thought was being filmed on campus but just turned out to be a bunch of creepy 40 year olds with cameras trying to get co-eds to kiss each other (but hey, it worked, right?)

I’m going to be on a new reality show on NBC called Escape Routes. It’s kind of like The Amazing Race meets Ford where six teams compete in different challenges across the country. But the interesting part of it is the Social Networking aspect of it. I’m sure you have Twitter (that thing that you use to tell people you’re sad/happy/horny/hungry/funny) and I know you have Facebook (that thing you use to tell people that you read blogs/take pictures/like food/browse reddit). Using those two things, you can do something really cool that would help me out over the next 7 weeks.

The show will be airing pretty much simultaneously as it’s filming which allows people to join up digitally with the different teams and help them along the way, resulting in you being able to get really awesome prizes (plane tickets, speakers, etc.) and possibly a new car (the same one I’d get if I win).

Right now you’re probably saying “But, guy I kinda recognize, why should I help you out?” or “A third paragraph? That’s a bit more then I signed on for when clicking this link. Bye.”

So here’s why you should join MY team (and a fourth paragraph)

1. You know someone on TV. Automatically that makes you cooler and is at the very least a talking point to bring up around people you are struggling to have a conversation with.

2. You can actually win cool prizes. In fact, the more people you recruit using your special link, the more times you’re entered to win the cool prize. Think of it like The Hunger Games but instead of winning a battle to the death you could win a car (which you could still battle to the death in should you choose).

3. You’d be helping me out. It’s always good to have someone indebted to you. If you see me and you tell me that you helped me out on my reality show I am obligated under contract to give you a piggy back ride. (Side note: every reality show has this in their contracts so if you ever see The Situation…)

4. It’s something to do. You play Scramble with Friends, Farmville, Scrabble, Minecraft, etc. Why not do it on a bigger stage where you can see how you match up against thousands of other players online. By joining our team you’re giving yourself another site to go on at work to take a break from your spreadsheets/patients/customers (bonus points if you can get your boss to block the site on your server)

5. Interactive television. Sure yelling at your TV during a football game/Real Housewives/ Family Feud feels good, but it doesn’t do anything. For once you have more say in the outcome of a show than using The Voice hashtag at the bottom of the screen while you tweet about how Cee-Lo’s cat needs a spin-off (but seriously about that cat spin-off. Get on it NBC).

But more importantly you’d be doing something fun with a guy you kinda once knew back when life was easier. And that goes a long way.

You can join my team by clicking this link: http://bit.ly/escaperoutes

and sign up is a matter of seconds.

We should TOTALLY catch up soon,

Ross

PS - Do you still have that DVD of Anchorman I leant you? That wasn’t you? I could’ve sworn it was you. Ah, whatever. Thanks!