It wasn’t a fairy tale or an old love story.
It was just a makeover story with a happy ending.
Douglas J Salon, 4663 Ardmore Ave. in Okemos, was host to an episode of The Learning Channel’s “A Makeover Story.”
The episode will be shown at 12:30 p.m. Friday and at noon Nov. 8.
The spa was chosen as the setting for the makeover of Mason residents Libby White and John Paul Blonshine.
The couple also used the chance to get engaged on national television.
Blonshine said he wrote in to the show because he knew his fiancée liked to watch it.
“I wrote in to the show as a surprise to Libby, I honestly didn’t think they would pick our story,” he said.
Blonshine said he thought if the couple was picked for the episode it would be an excellent way for him to propose.
Once the filming began he said his opinion of the experience quickly changed.
He said for three days the couple was treated to free meals, clothes, spa-type baths and a massage.
“I’m a guy, and I really don’t like to get pampered, but I enjoyed it,” he said. “We got to keep everything, from Monday to Wednesday they paid for everything.”
But trying on clothes in front of the camera isn’t all that easy.
“It was kind of hard because they are asking you to twist and turn,” Blonshine said.
He said White got a new dress and jewelry and he got a new suit for the final shooting of the episode.
Melissa Steelman, marketing and sales director for the salon, said it was an exciting experience.
“TLC called us and told us that a couple had been picked from Lansing area and asked if we were interested,” she said.
Steelman said the two were separated the entire time. The couple received vishcy showers, a massage for him and makeup for her, haircuts and hair coloring.
“They got here at about 8 a.m. and they left around 7 p.m.,” she said. “It was a lot of them getting shots set up and filming it.”
Marissa Giunta, a researcher for Banyan Productions, the company that produces the show, said it wasn’t hard to pick the contestants.
“They had great personalities, and they were young and they wanted to get married and needed a makeover,” she said.
Associate Producer Matthew Vafiadis was there for the entire shooting of the episode and was impressed with the couple’s ability to relax in front of the camera.
“They were very professional, they were given an amazing makeover, they both looked very good,” he said. “We travel around quite a bit and smaller cities like Lansing and Douglas J definitely did a good job.”
