Carrollton girl makes it big
Published 9:20 pm Tuesday, April 5, 2016
When her older brother threw dirt in her face, 5-year-old Saige Stowell was finished. “I’m moving on,” declared Saige, in a spirited exchange caught on video by her mother, Lisa Stowell, last year. “I’ve been in this house way too long. I’m moving to Jen’s house … and I’m going to make it as clean as I can.”
Initially, Stowell recorded the video to share with her best friend — and her daughter’s prospective new roomie — Jen, and her husband, Scott Stowell.
That was last April — and 2.2 million YouTube viewers ago.
On Sunday, the Carrollton Elementary School first-grader, now 6, will pick up plenty more fans when she appears in Steve Harvey’s new NBC series, “Little Big Shots,” a showcase of talented children between the ages of 3 and 14. The show airs at 8 p.m.
With the encouragement of friends and family, Lisa Stowell put her daughter’s video on YouTube and Facebook last April. The video went viral within a week, airing on both the Today show and Inside Edition.
Then over the summer, a Little Big Shots casting member emailed Lisa Stowell and followed up with a Skype interview with Saige.
In November, Saige and her family flew to Hollywood to tape “Little Big Shots” with Steve Harvey, Stowell said.
The experience was fun — mostly, Saige said.
“It was kind of awesome,” Saige said. Highlights included flying on a plane, eating cheese pizza for dinner and meeting Steve Harvey.
“It was also kind of scary … because everyone was staring at me,” Saige said. “I just told them they needed to stop looking at me.
“I want my own show one day. I want to take Steve Harvey’s job one day.”
On Sunday, Saige, her parents, brother, Tanner, 11, and sister, Jaelynn, 13, along with family friends, will gather to watch Saige’s acting debut on “Little Big Shots.”
No one in the family had the opportunity to get a sneak peek, Lisa Stowell said.
While Saige realizes her video has gone viral, she doesn’t seem to realize the sheer magnitude of the numbers. On Tuesday, she estimated 568 people had seen her video.
Saige, who was allowed to buy a new television for her bedroom with her television earnings, said only one person has asked for her autograph. That could change after Sunday.