Behind the Scenes: Randall Shelley

In the Guide to Baseball Episode, after admiring the size of the men in the showers Borat decides it is time to prove he is a man. He challenges a big lad to a wrestle. "You want to do a wrestle?". The big lad obviously doesn't really want to wrestle. Borat leaves him with little choice as he starts to grapple with him. Borat is easily pinned to the floor. Our Kazakhstani pretends to be hurt but then declares with a big smile, "I OK!!!". Borat then proceeds to start further wrestles, losing each time.

The Unofficial Borat website was delighted when Borat's wrestling partner, Randall Shelley agreed to an interview with us.

1. Had you heard of Ali G prior to the Borat interview?

No i was clueless of the fact of Ali G or Borat....

2. How did you find out he was coming into the changing room with a TV crew?

We had lost our game that day horribly. The other team, who was an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox had beat us by at least 10 runs. Our coach, Paul Carey, told us that, some guy wants to interview you all just be courteous and answer his questions he bought you all dinner.. So we were thinking, "cool free food."

3. At any time during the session did you suspect that it was a hoax?

after the game I called my wife and parents and told them the story of an interesting guy named Borat who came in our clubhouse and interviewed us.. For me at the time it was just a crazy story about a crazy man who didn't act normal. Sacha never comes out of character the entire time. so there was no reason to not believe that he was a fake.

4. Can you remember any of the questions Borat asked which where not included on the video?

Well this is my story.. you know how he gives the kisses on the cheeks? well all the people on my team had never seen that custom and i was familiar of it because i have Persian friends who do it. So everyone was thinking he actually wanted to kiss us. I was the only person who kissed him on the cheeks cause I felt bad for the guy and wanted to give him respect. I started asking him questions about what he was doing, and he said he was from Kazakhstan etc. I asked him about the pin on his smelly jacket. and he told me that it was the pin of his mens' club where they hunt the bear.

He then started asking me questions to why we lost? he couldn't understand why
we lost because. in his country they would have paid the umpires or referee's with money, woman, drugs etc... I told him that's a good idea but we aren't allowed to do that. He then started telling me that in his country wrestling was a big sport and in his mens' club they would wrestle but with less clothes on.. I laughed.. Then we kind of stopped talking and he asked me to wrestle and he basically let me pin him.. what they didn't show.. was after I pinned him the final time.. he whispered in my ear. "You have to let me win because if I lose all the people in Kazakhstan will think I'm a loo lee loo (gay). I told him that I couldn't let him win because then I would be a loo lee loo. So he offered money and women and I said laughing ok pin me... He pinned me then moved asked if there was a bathroom around.

5. When did you first realise that you were going to be on HBO and the Ali G show?

I went home after the season and a good friend of mine had been talking to me about the Ali G show in the UK where he had downloaded some of his videos. He then told me that his favourite character was BORAT. And I said, "did you just say BORAT?" and then i realized that it all had been a fake and I was wondering why I didn't sign any waivers for me to appear on his show.. I then went to his website and looked to see when his show would air, and I couldn't find when it was coming to the US. From then, I realized sooner or later it would be on TV and when people started calling me telling me they saw me on HBO i realized i was on HBO...

6. How did your team mates react when Borat started going in the shower with
them all naked?

Well what they didn't show was, when Borat said that one of the guys had a penis like one of his friends. The guy kind of played it off for a second and laughed. Well soon after the player on my team didn't think it was funny and started using bad language at Borat to get him out of the shower. He was very upset and we all laughed at the guy Borat picked out of the shower.

The general response to Borat going in the shower was that we thought it was hilarious.. I couldn't believe he just walked in there with his suit but he didn't care he was making a TV show.

7. Have you a message for Sacha (Borat) in case he is reading this?

My message to Borat is. Dude! hook me up with a shirt or something personal from him to remember and tell stories of being the guy who wrestled Borat to the floor!

8. ...and finally - do you think if Borat wanted a wrestling re-match, could
you beat him again?

oh he wrestled like a girl. He wasn't trying to hurt me of course cause he would of been in serious trouble legally. But i would like to meet him and talk about the times we had making people laugh on TV...