Their Niagara Falls audition featured a campy comedy routine displaying their animals' talents — from Milo the sugar glider shooting out of a fake cannon, to King Tut the savannah cat jumping through hoops and scootering across the stage. The act also featured saucy jokes and a dramatic tear-away costume change.
Falk has been performing with animals for over a decade through his business, Hands On Exotics. He performs with his animals at nursing homes, hospitals, events and even in film and television.
But despite his expertise, Falk didn't make the cut to the semi-finals. Nevertheless, Falk says the experience was "wonderful," although there were a few surprises along the way that everyday viewers might not know.
How much it costs to be a contestant
While most people have dreamed of being on a reality show or talent competition of some kind, they may not have daydreamed about the costs associated with being on a show like Canada's Got Talent.
Falk says he spent around $20,000 to be on the show, and he didn't even know if he would make it on screen.
"It was about $20,000 for us. And we're a team of three, so I don't want to complain. I can only imagine teams flying in with 50 dancers from Vancouver."
Falk says the large cost came from paying his staff during training hours, costumes, hotels, travel, food and props.
"There are so many costs that go into it."
How long your filming day is
"The length of the day, I think, out of everything, was the most shocking."
Falk says he and the other contestants arrived on set for the audition at 6 a.m. and that some didn't get their chance to perform until 1 or 2 a.m.
During that time, Falk says they were bouncing from interview to interview, filming segments and waiting with other contestants for around an estimated 17 hours on set.
When asked for comment, Canada's Got Talent told Narcity that "production was required to clear the building at 11 p.m. each day per venue security protocols."
You don't always know what time you're going to go on
Schedules don't always work out as planned in a big production like Canada's Got Talent.
Since Falk works with animals, he says he was promised a daytime slot, but upon arrival, they found out they had been scheduled for a 1 a.m. audition time.
"They had us on at 1 a.m. — I guess by accident — which is impossible for the animals, so they had to move us to an earlier time, but then we didn't know what time we were supposed to go out, so we were left in Howie Mandel's... basically change room, for maybe over an hour, hearing people getting buzzed in the distance," he recounted.
"It was like a pressure cooker. And we just didn't know what was happening and when we were going to go out. And then all of a sudden, they were like, 'Go, go, go, go, go!' We just had to run out."
Canada's Got Talent confirmed to Narcity that "a request for an earlier time slot was made upon check-in, and production moved Seth's act up to accommodate."
Some conversations on the show are produced
While some people may be more surprised to learn this than others, not everything you see on reality TV happens naturally.
"We were placed with other contestants, and we had conversations with them," said Falk. "They just kind of plop you with strangers, but you're all kind of like... it's a breather to talk. So a lot of them were organic, and then some were not."
"Some were definitely more produced, which I love a produced conversation. I live for it. Also relieves my brain of having to think through a conversation if I'm being fed a storyline. I love it!"
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
