S1 • E3 Jan 21, 2004 46m
Leslea Vinet agrees to be Crash Test Mommy to her cousin Sharla and Henrik Kragh's five kids, aged 14, 12, 9, 5 and 3, for 48 hours at their suburban home in Langley, B.C. From the get-go, the single, thirty-something Leslea, although up for the challenge, clearly has little concept of the chaos that awaits her. Our host, Dagmar Midcap, sweeps real mom Sharla off for two full days of the Cinderella treatment, including a night at the casino tables with her best girlfriend, one-on-one coffee brewing instruction from a world champion brew master and, with husband Henrik, a romantic salsa dancing lesson. Back at home, Leslea's philosophy of winging it seems to work for awhile, but then is stretched to its limits with the demands of putting on a birthday party for 25 six-year-old. Turns out the main attraction of the party is a visit by members of the Vancouver Giants, who stage a ball hockey exhibition, featuring Leslea's debut as a goalie. Battling exhaustion, headache, and ignorance about how to cook hot dogs, Leslea bends and bends, but does not break, despite mischievous ganging up from the kids and our co-host Charlie David. By the end of the 48 hours Leslea has won a small victory, but her bigger prize is a newfound knowledge and appreciation of the exhausting challenges Sharla deals with every day as a real Mom of five young children.
