Blake Lively films on location for 'Gossip Girl' on August 28, 2012 in New York City.
Visit New York City? Check. Spot the stars of your favorite TV show? Check. Sneak onto the set and wind up appearing on the show as an extra? Check.
Kate Robertson, a 26-year-old tourist from Melbourne, Australia was visiting the Big Apple when she decided to try to find where her favorite TV show, Gossip Girl, was filming. She visited the city’s iconic Waldorf-Astoria hotel — a popular filming location for the CW drama, now in its sixth and final season — in hopes of catching some of the show’s stars in action, and ended up sneaking into the Grand Ballroom where the show was shooting. The crew mistook her for an extra and let her stay – a great way for Robertson to put the cherry on top of her New York trip.
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“I just couldn’t believe that I had gotten that far without anyone noticing,” Robertson told the New York Daily News. “I sat down and I just waited for someone to tell me to leave.”
But Robertson’s day was about to get even better. She was accosted by hair and makeup and thrown into a ball gown, and ended up spending six hours on set as the cast filmed their lines. By coincidence, she later ran into Ed Westwick, who plays Gossip Girl‘s Chuck Bass, later that week in Brooklyn, who chuckled when she she slyly revealed her little feat. “I nearly died, I just couldn’t believe it,” she told the Daily News.
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Hey, it’s not every day that you stumble on to the set of your favorite TV show and get cast as an extra, but it does get easier if you go where the action is. It’s probably a good thing Robertson’s favorite show wasn’t Game of Thrones.
Erica Ho is a contributor at TIME and the editor of Map Happy. Find her on Twitter at @ericamho and Google+. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.