André Jebbinson, Staff Reporter

Tyrone Thompson of CVM-TV. - Contributed

It may come as a surprise to many that Tyrone Thompson was once a teacher. This goes to show that there are a few things viewers do not know about the local teen show host. Tyrone is currently the host of Wadup and also a producer at CVM-TV.

Gleaner: How did you get started in the media?

Tyrone Thompson: I was always interested in television, so after university I submitted a youth entertainment programme treatment to CVM-TV. I was then called in to do an audition for a programme called 'Summer Heat' and though at the time I never thought of myself as an on-screen person, I figured it wouldn't hurt. I realised that being on TV was cool, because it gave me the chance to be myself, all crazy and stuff, so I guess I never left.

G: What is your dream job?

TT: I guess this is my dream job. It's really stressful and really pressuring, but it's also very rewarding when as a producer you can see something you imagine in your head shared with all the entire country. That's pretty cool.

G: What is your best moment working in the media?

TT: It was a few years ago when I was doing 'Movie Hang Time'. Someone wrote to me and told me that she was depressed and was about to kill her daughter and kill herself, but she watched my show and heard some joke that made her change her mind. She wrote me to tell me that.

G: Have you been faced with negative remarks?

TT: All the time, there are people who don't get my humour and this is sometimes communicated to me quite bluntly, but I learned a long time ago that to work in television you need to have a broad back and know how to roll with the punches.

G: If not television, what would you be doing?

TT: I would probably be teaching, because I did that before I came to CVM and sometimes I miss the interaction I use to have with my students.

G: What is your favourite show, local or international?

TT: There are so many. Besides everything on CVM, I like Family Guy on Fox because its quirky fun, The Wire on HBO cause 'a the real ghetto man ting and Religious Hardtalk on TVJ because it brings together intellectualism and religion in an interesting way.

G: Who are your favourite media personalities, local or international?

TT: Besides from everybody at CVM, I like Jenny-Jenny, Francois and Cliff Hughes. And though I mentioned everybody at CVM, I must mention Kerlyn Brown because she is such a sweetheart. Plus, of course, people like Bill O'Reily and Bryant Gumble.

G: What turns you off about people?

TT: I don't like people who think they are better than others for whatever. I find snobbery very offensive to me 'cause I accept people no matter where they come from or what they look like.

G: If you could meet any one person, who would he or she be?

TT: Probably Halle Berry, 'cause she's hot.

G: What is one thing that people would be surprised to know about you?

TT: People are surprised to know that I'm very religious. I am not one of those people who preach on the bus, but I do think that Christ is coming back soon and we should try to live morally upright lives.