HOTSEATED- Secrets of the 2009 HotSeat sitters
They are public figures, movers and shakers, the forces behind local businesses. But getting to know the HotSeat sitters on a more personal level reveals surprising tidbits. From nailbiting to underage drinking to going one on one with Michael Jordan, answers to the Hot Seat questions prove you never know what they'll say until you ask.
New director of the Virginia Film Festival Jody Kielbasa spent some time in front of the camera as a doomed submarine commander in SeaQuest DSV. Kielbasa's episode aired only in Europe, and he received a residual check for a whopping four cents.
As spokesperson for the Albemarle County Police Department, Lt. Todd Hopwood might occasionally have to take some heat, but he regularly cools off as a participant in the Polar Plunge, dipping into the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach in February.
Jay James is a radio fixture reporting on all things local, but his food preferences go national as he reports the worst thing about Charlottesville is its lack of an Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory, or Popeye's.
During her tenure as head of the Sexual Assault Resource Agency, Walker Thornton was trouble for anyone who'd blame the victim, but she got in some trouble herself in 10th grade when she tried alcohol for the first time and almost got suspended.
Nerves don't get the best of UVA baseball standout turned pro Ryan Zimmerman when he steps up to the plate, but he does have a nervous habit: nailbiting.
Don't leave sportscaster Adam Gottschalk a phone message and expect to hear back from him; "I haven't checked my voicemail in more than two years," he revealed.
When UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett went up against Michael Jordan in an NBA game, he always passed the ball away. "I wish I had tried to score on him," Bennett admitted.
Founder of the shelter providing nonprofit Building Goodness, Jack Stoner is zealous about providing homes for the needy in Haiti, New Orleans and other stricken locations, but radical religious fundamentalism makes him rant.
Staunton prosecutor and pornography fighter Ray Robertson wishes he were "more considerate of others, especially my loved ones."
Long before State Senator and ultimately defeated contender for Governor Creigh Deeds got into trouble in a political race, he was in trouble for racing cars on Warm Springs Mountain when he was in high school.
For a man whose life's work is books, renowned author and Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda has a shocking admission: "I never read for pleasure anymore."
Best known for his 1970s role as Venus Flytrap in WKRP in Cincinnati, actor, author and producer Tim Reid is disenchanted with this decade's crop of reality show programs save one: America's Next Top Model.
Charlottesville Commissioner of Revenue Lee Richards saves plenty of money on gas: he walks 12 miles a day.
#