You’ve been watching for years. She’s made you roll on the floor with laughter and cry until your face was completely swollen. She’s taught you to love with complete kindness, to dance with all you’ve got and to laugh your way through life! She’s ELLEN of course and, you’ve been dreaming of meeting your best friend in real life. The years you’ve spent in front of your TV catching up on life with Ellen have left you feeling like she’s more than a celebrity, she’s family. If you’re dreaming of dancing across the aisle from Twitch, laughing at her pranks in real life and tearing up as she walks out on stage then you NEED to get tickets to Ellen! Lucky for you, I’ve compiled everything on what you need to know about getting on The Ellen Degeneres Show…you’re welcome!
What if you could not only go to the show but maybe, just maybe get chosen to play a game with Ellen herself? I’m sharing how I went to Ellen’s show(s) 3 times in 2 months and got chosen to play a game with the host! (Maybe, just maybe I won…)
5 years. That’s how long I applied for tickets for The Ellen Degeneres Show. Now before you give up all hope of every going, I didn’t apply every day or even every month. I spent a ton of time filling out forms and begging them to invite me to the show, none of which actually worked. Here’s what did work and what you need to start doing right now!
Getting Tickets:
First and most importantly, Go here to apply for Tickets.
But before you do that, I would HIGHLY recommend that you apply for every possible day that is open. It’s important to remember that there are hundreds of people applying for any episode she films so the more you can apply the better. I also suggest that you apply with all of your actual emails. Don’t make up fake emails to apply but if you have more than one apply with that! There aren’t a ton of men who apply for Ellen so if you’re husband is game to go to the show with you then use his email to apply as well #hacks. I applied at least 3 times a week for multiple weeks, basically any time I went online and there were opens dates available I applied. They close and open new dates as the season goes on so keep checking and don’t be discouraged. There might be a day where you go on and it says “all shows are full.” Just check back in a few days and see if any new dates have opened!
Every time you put in an application for a certain filming you have to upload a photo. Experiment with your photos! I applied sooooooooo many times using this photo below (and I’m pretty sure it’s the one that made it).
I also applied with in the moment selfies, where I was always smiling or doing something silly. Making yourself stand out via your photo will go leaps and bounds with getting chosen to go on the show.
When I saw the email come in I screamed!!!! After 5 years I didn’t expect to ever go but I was offered 4 STANDBY tickets and couldn’t even stand it. Now, Standby tickets are different than Guaranteed tickets. These tickets meant that there was no guarantee we would get in and we would have to be there much earlier than anyone else. Check-in time for standby was 9am but you get checked in on a first come, first serve basis. Basically the earlier you can get there the better with Standby tickets. Typically they allow about 10 people into the audience via standby but that is not guaranteed. We left Carlsbad at 5:30am and arrived by 7am. When you arrive you show up at Ellen’s parking garage. This is where you will spend all of the time leading up to the taping. We were the 3rd group in line at 7am and we had to sit and wait until 9am when a staff member would come out. As time passed many more standby ticket holders showed up and the line grew quite a bit. There is a bathroom in the waiting area of the parking garage so you don’t have to worry about holding it for hours and hours. Once a staff member arrived we were checked-in, she asked for the main ticket holders name and then took a photo of our group. This little photo can also be a game changer so make sure your group looks like you’re there for a GOOD time! At this point you are dismissed to leave and get food until the normal check-in time for all audience members at 1:00. We walked around the corner to a cute little brunch restaurant called Olive & Thyme for a few hours. There isn’t a ton to walk around and do while you wait but there are a few restaurants you can sit at and a few stores to pop in near the studio.
If you get guaranteed tickets you will show up by 1:00 (or whatever time your ticket says for that filming) and go straight to the garage waiting area. There are advantages to getting there a little early that I’ll talk about in the Getting Noticed section below. You will have to go through security before you can get checked in so you want to arrive with plenty of time to do that. The waiting area isn’t anything special but you get to watch clips from Ellen’s shows on the TV’s in the area.
Since we were Standby ticket holders and weren’t guaranteed to get on the show this day we were informed via email that we would receive guaranteed tickets to a later filming so it was definitely worth driving up and gambling for! We were also getting return tickets because Ellen was not filming this day but instead having a surprise guest host. If you wait in the standby line but don’t make it in to watch the filming don’t worry, you will get to sit in the Riff Raff room and watch it being filmed live via the TV’s.
PSA: You cannot go to the Ellen show and hope to get in via Standby without Standby tickets.
In Short:
-Apply for Tickets as frequently as you can
-Apply for multiple days of filming
-Use all of your emails and your husband’s email as well
-Attach a fun and colorful photo to your application
-Be patient and persistent
Getting Noticed:
Now that you’ve made it to the show this is the important part. Ellen’s staff has complete discretion with seating so the number you receive when you check in means nothing about where you will sit. A few days before the taping you will get an email with all the information you need about arriving at the show, parking, dress code and any other logistics you could think of. One of the MOST important pieces of advice is tucked into this email and I cannot tell you how many people clearly don’t read it.
“Our dress code is Nice Casual. Please wear bright colors, no black and white. Dressy jeans are permitted. Please do not wearEllen and/or WB gear, flip-flops, cut-offs, shorts, hats, t-shirts, logos or baggy clothing. Group coordinating outfits are notallowed. We reserve the right to deny entry to anyone dressed inappropriately. You may be seen on TV; please dress
appropriately.”
Did you catch that? WEAR BRIGHT COLORS! This is the biggest piece of advice I can give you! We wore bright solid colors and coordinated but didn’t match. Think about what you see in the audience when you watch Ellen. You don’t see a ton of patterns or neutrals like black and white right? That’s because they don’t look good on camera and Ellen’s team tends to seat the bright colored people up front.
Wearing bright colors won’t only help with where you’re seated in the audience but it’ll get you noticed very quickly when you show up to check in. Why is this important? Well Ellen loves to play games and sometimes she surprises audience members by inviting them to play with her. When you arrive at check in you will see a few of Ellen’s staff walking around talking to people. If you are dressed in bright colors and seem genuinely happy, outgoing and excited they may come up to you like they did to us.
Getting approached by a staff member means you get to go to the “bungalow” aka the parking lot outside. They will make an announcement inviting those that they spoke with to line up outside. You will get in a line with about 30-50 other people and they will come one by one or group by group to interview you. There are all kinds of questions they might ask at this time but mostly; “Who is the biggest Ellen fan,” “Where did you come from,” “How excited are you,” etc. At this point they are gauging your energy and excitement and will either have you walk over to the other “bungalow” aka a tree or go back in and wait in the parking garage.
The group will narrow down to a few groups or individuals and then you will spend about the next hour being interviewed and practicing your excitement. I don’t want to ruin all of the fun but just know if you make it to this point there is a much better chance that you will be chosen to play a game or selected for a giveaway. This also means you’ll end up with really great seats during the filming, so either way you scored!
When we walked in to the studio they seated us right next to twitch and another group of 3 on the opposite side of the studio in the exact same spot so I knew it was most likely going to be us getting picked. When the time came they called out our names and put them on the screen and we sprinted down the stairs screaming! We ended up playing a game similar to catch phrase and pretty much killed it, winning the game by a landslide. When they announced that we each won a trip to Vegas we went wild and the rest was history.
After that filming they contacted us about our return date at which time I also applied to go see Ellen’s Game of Games taping. This is the show she films in the summer and it’s sooooo fun to go watch in real life. None of the above information applies when it comes to this game show, the players are casted prior to the taping, your number determines where you get in line to sit and the studio is dark so you won’t be seen a ton.
A few things to note about going to Ellen:
-You cannot use your phone, take photos or film anything once you are inside the studio.
-Plan to be there for about 4 hours from the time you check-in to the time you leave.
-There is tons of dancing and clapping so make sure you’re highly caffeinated.
-You will have time to shop in the Ellen store before you make it into the studio and after the filming.
No matter what happens, don’t give up, keep applying and if you make it enjoy meeting your Best friend in real life!
