1. You have to arrive at 4 p.m.
2. There's a lot of standing around in lines, waiting to be ushered to your seat.
3. Once you sit down, that is basically your home for the next six hours.
4. The stage looks a lot smaller IRL.
It does mean that each audience seat has a really great view, though.
5. They pre-record parts of the show, like when featured artists perform.
6. And when the featured artists perform, they film a couple of takes.
7. By the time they're about to start the live show, you're so hungry from just sitting around with nothing to do.
8. So just before the show starts, they give you a snack from one of the show's sponsors, and water.
9. They give you another snack later during a commercial, and then you have to worry about how to get food out of your teeth while also possibly being on camera.
10. When filming, you're not allowed to have your phone out.
11. It's a huge rigmarole to get out of your seat to go to the bathroom, so you end up just trying to hold it.
12. There's a warm-up guy who tells the lamest jokes you've ever heard, trying to get the crowd ~in the mood~.
13. Also you get told when and how to cheer, when to stand up, and when to be quiet.
14. They put the sets together really, really fast.
15. Also, there's one person whose only job is to wipe the floors.
16. The judges have a little pocket in their chairs for their phones.
17. Ricky has a notebook where he records the feedback he's given the contestants.
18. And, if we're being honest, being that close to Ricky is truly a #blessed experience.
19. The judges get their hair and make-up touched up during the commercial breaks.
20. They can also have bites of food in the commercial breaks.
21. Whenever Darren and Sonia are filming near the judges, the Madden brothers are always trying to creep in the background of their shot.
22. Delta dances a lot, and during commercials, she goes into the audience and talks to her fans.
23. It's a long night, but goddamn it's entertaining.
