Discovery

NEWTON - Who could imagine that calling a wrong number would result in your family being chosen to star in an episode of the Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet series? That’s exactly what happened to the Iliff family of Newton. The family will be featured in “Get Out There,” an hour-long show to be broadcast in June. Fate was really toying with the Iliffs when mom Theresa was searching for a telephone number on the Internet. In going down the listing, she accidentally dialed the number above the one she needed and wound up calling someone in California. When the connection was made, she joked with the person on the other side about making the error. Apparently, her personality shone through. The person on the other side turned out to be the casting director for the Discovery Channel, who was conducting a search for a family to feature on a nature program. The Iliffs fit the bill of representing the typical American family: Andy is a math teacher at Newton High School and a lifelong resident of the town; Theresa is an entrepreneur as owner of Camp Iliff Child Care and Recreation Center; and son Thatcher, 14, and daughter, Ashley, 12, are students at the Halsted School in Newton. “At first I was skeptical,” said Theresa, “but when I looked down at caller ID, it read ‘Discovery Network,’ and I was convinced.” The next day she received a package that held the information that would begin their journey. Their audition was a speaker telephone interview which took place on a Sunday morning at breakfast that was taped and became one of the hundreds submissions collected by the company. “The interview was funny; we all sang ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight,’ and I think that’s why we were selected,” said Theresa. A camera crew flew in and taped the Iliffs at their home, and then the family traveled to Point Reyes National Seashore in northwest California for a ten-day adventure. Accompanied by the network’s biologists, the family had close encounters with bats, tule elk, salmon, snow plover sea birds, whitetail deer, red-legged frogs, sea lions, and several other endangered species. “It was surreal; we almost couldn’t believe it was actually happening,” said Theresa. Of the whole experience, her encounter with a tule elk was her most poignant memory. “One came walking up right behind me, and I turned as it walked toward me. There are only 4,000 left in the world,” she said. Andy was impressed by a different sort of animal. “There were so many good experiences, but getting up close and personal with the elephant seals was amazing. We were brought right down to an area off limits to the public where hundreds of sleeping animals covered the beach, animals that were 7,000 pounds,” he said. Thatcher, who recently played Curly in his school’s production of Oklahoma and sings in a barbershop quartet, agreed that meeting with the seals was the most memorable part of his adventure. “I loved the seals. I could reach out and touch them,” he said, and added that he came away from the experience with a new-found responsibility to the environment. “I think everyone should get out and experience nature and protect it.” Ashley’s favorite activities ran the gamut for immense to tiny, from whales to birds. “I’ve seen whales on television, but seeing them in person was very interesting. I went to see a hummingbird, and I got to hold it in my hand,” she said. The show featuring Newton’s own Iliff family will air on the Discovery Channel at 8 and 11 p.m. on June 15; at 3 a.m. and 2 p.m. on June 16; and at 2 p.m. on June 17. “We all took something from this trip that we will never forget,” said Theresa. Her husband Andy agreed, “It was one of the neatest things I have ever done.” The experience has had such impact on the Iliffs that they are planning a family camping trip this summer to return to the wild.