Corey Cesare
Corey Cesare is Talent Recap's Managing Editor and featured YouTube Host. She has a love of all things pop culture and an unhealthy obsession with celebrities. Corey earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Cinema/Screen Studies from the State University of New York at Oswego in 2021. She spends her spare time shooting astro, nature, and portrait photography, and coming up with movie ideas that she hopes to make into a film someday.
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| November 3, 2021 SIGN IN TO SAVE POST
Patrick Wymore/FOXReading Time: 4 minutes
Alter Ego quickly took over as one of our favorite new shows. This virtual reality talent competition shared a bunch of amazing stories, but this one really pulled at out heart strings. On Alter Ego, Mia Cherise Hall, also known as Fern, shared that she is a performer who was recently diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.
Mia auditioned for Alter Ego singing “Love me Like You do” by Ellie Goulding. Her voice portrayed emotion through the virtual avatar and gave everyone goosebumps. The judges didn’t know it at the time, but they actually were listening to one of the youngest contestants. At the time of filming, Mia was only 18 years-old and just finished her first year of college. She’s now 19 years-old and is extremely ready to book her first Broadway show.
What it’s Like to be a Young Contestant on Alter Ego
When talking about Alter Ego as a whole, Mia expressed a large amount of gratitude. Not only was she excited for the opportunity, she hoped to become the person on TV that she always wished to see. When asked about her experience on the show she shared that it was scary.
“There’s the idea that the older you get the most experience you have. So of course I was a little nervous about a lot of people being older than me,” Mia said. “But luckily enough there were a few other younger contestants and we kind of like became really good friends and had a little group together and that helped us stay grounded.”
Even though there were some contestants that were a lot older than her, they quickly turned into family.
“We were all best friends it was so chill the whole time,” said Mia. “We were there over 4th of July so one of the dads of the cast cooked for us, we had a little grill outside of the hotel patio and we had a whole cookout for july fourth and I thought that was the sweetest thing.”
Although Mia has grown up performing in theater she expressed that Alter Ego was still nerve racking. Mostly because of how big of a deal it was. Overall, she shared that the avatar aspect took away from her nervousness, but she was still pretty shaken at first.
Mia explained that producers found her through TikTok near the end of her freshman year of college and asked if she wanted to be a part of the show.
“At first I was super nervous because it was so ominous,” said Mia. “It was this email from one of the producers saying hey I’ve seen your TikTok and I would love you for this singing competition show, it doesn’t have a name yet, don’t know when we’re going to film, but we want to see you.”
From there, the singer began the lengthy audition process. She mentioned how excited she was to be filming self tapes in her college dorm.
Mia’s Journey as a Performer with Tourette Syndrome
The summer before her freshman year of college, Mia was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome after a past diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People who have OCD can have qualities similar to a person with Tourettes, but they typically happen less often.
“It’s been tricky as a performer, specifically because there’s a huge stigma behind mental health in the industry,” said Mia. “I just kind of want to be that person for other people that when they see me on tv it’s like oh my God someone like me is on TV! When I was a kid I never really had that.”
This show gave her the opportunity to be judged on only her voice throughout the competition. Although Fern was able to take Mia’s looks out of the competition, she shared the real secret behind competing in the show.
“If you want to audition for the show in the future I would say staying true to yourself is number one,” said Mia. “While you do have this Alter Ego that can portray you in a different light you are still you, your voice is still you. So bring what you can to the table and don’t let anybody take that away from you.”
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