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Inventors compete for spot on 'Pitchmen' in Tampa

Staff photo by JIM REED

Billy Mays III was on hand at Wednesday's auditions to help choose potential inventors to appear on Discovery Channel's "Pitchmen."

By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2009

Updated: 11/04/2009 02:07 pm

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TAMPA - Rick Davis hopes that his Noodle Nanny will be the next great product to be pitched on TV.

The Bradenton landscaper came up with the idea 11 years ago: a little plastic caddy (made from old Frisbees) that holds those long skinny noodle-shaped floating devices.

"If you've got a lot of kids and a lot of noodles laying around the pool, this gets rid of the clutter," says Davis who is one of more than 200 inventors auditioning today for a chance to get on the reality TV series "Pitchmen."

"We have people coming in from all over the country and there hundreds more who wanted to come," says WFLZ radio morning personality Uncle Fester (Dominic Siciliano). "This has grown into something bigger than I expected," he added.

"We've got some wacky inventions, like a guy from Colorado who has a toilet paper holder swivel. He says it allows the paper to come over the top or the roll or from under the roll. I didn't know there was need for this."

The day-long audition is being held as a promotional event sponsored by "The MJ Morning Show" on WFLZ (93.3 FM).

The inventors and their products will be narrowed down to about a dozen by 5 p.m. today, Fester says. And then "Pitchmen" co-host Anthony Sullivan will help cut the field to five. Those five will make their pitches on Friday morning during MJ Kelli's morning show.

"We think we've got something that every family needs," says Tara Mollick, of Clearwater. She and her friend Canna Mercer have designed a "singing faucet" device that attaches to a faucet to play 20-second songs to encourage kids to wash their hands.The best product picked today could make its way on to the "Pitchmen" program, if and when there is a second season of the Discovery network series. Officials at Discovery haven't announced a second season yet.

The first season, which teamed Sullivan with famed pitchman Billy Mays, was a ratings success. But Mays died of a heart attack in June.

Helping judge the inventions today is Billy Mays III. He says they are looking for items that solve a problem, can be easily demonstrated, already have a patent, and are not expensive to produce.

"Some inventions are great ideas and are useful but they can't be sold on TV," Mays said.

Also judging today is Arwen Saxon, a producer at Sullivan Productions. She says that if a product is good enough, they may market it. "This is what we do all the time," she says. "We're always seeking new products."

Sullivan, whose infomercial company is based in Tampa, has said he wants to continue the series with a new co-host.

"Pitchmen" takes viewers behind the scenes of how products are developed and marketed via infomercials.

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654.