‘Jury Duty’: Ronald Gladden Goes Into the ‘Arduous’ Application Process, How He Felt About the Reveal, and What He’s Been up to Since Filming
It could have only been Ronald Gladden.
Gladden called the interview process for Jury Duty, Amazon Freevee’s experimental documentary show, “long” and “arduous.” He was between jobs when he decided to randomly apply to a craigslist ad seeking participants to be involved in a documentary about what it’s like to be on a jury. The whole application process took a month and a half and was so extensive that Gladden seriously considered dropping out.
“I had to submit probably a dozen videos of myself, I had phone calls, interviews, I had doctors appointments, physicals, I talked to a psychiatrist, the whole nine yards,” he told Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
One question Gladden gets asked a lot about his experience is: “How did you not recognize any of the actors involved?”
The show features such actors as Mekki Leeper of Sex Lives of College Girls, Susan Berger of American Horror Story, and Pramode Kumar Of My Name is Earl acting as members of the jury along with Gladden. Only the San Diego resident doesn’t know the case is fake.
“That was part of the vetting process during my interview,” explained Gladden. “They specifically asked me, ‘Hey, have you heard of shows like this, do you watch this, do you have HBO Max?’ They made sure to ask specific titles because obviously Mekki being in Sex Lives of College Girls, it was a fairly new show when I did this, if I would have recognized him — whole thing was blown.”
In the finale, after the reveal that the whole charade solely revolved around Gladden, the unknowing reality star can be seen saying things like “I should have known.” But, looking back, he knew things were off.
“There were multiple times on multiple days where I would tell people, ‘Dude, this is absolutely crazy,’” he said. “I said multiple times, ‘I’m on reality TV.’ So anytime I would have those conversations with people where I would actually start to say that, the actors that they are, they would shoot it down or they would just kind of agree and move on.”
The other question that Gladden seems to receive a lot online is: “Were your feelings hurt?” The show is advertised as a “hero’s journey” rather than a prank show. And you can feel the love for Gladden among the cast, especially during the reveal. But he was still deceived for three weeks. Gladden has said previously that it took him several days to process what he’d just been through following the reveal. He grappled with some complicated emotions.
“Truthfully, I didn’t even begin to process this until the Monday after,” he said. “The reveal was on a Friday. They spent the whole day just showing me around and I was just trying to accept my reality for what it was. I went home on that weekend, I didn’t really do a whole lot. Just kind of tried to de-stress and just hang out. On Monday I actually got a phone call from James [Marsden] because I was messaging him and I was telling him like, ‘Hey, I’m feeling these sorts of things, I’m feeling a little paranoid, are there cameras following me around…’ And so James just being the wonderful human being that he is, he calls me right up, we talk for like 30, 45 minutes. He reassures me that there are no cameras following me around. And he really started to help me just talk through all of those feelings and emotions that I was feeling. Because I didn’t even begin to process it. Like, it was sensory overload when they just dumped everything on me all at once. So James honestly was the first step in that process just helping me come to terms with and realize what I had gone through.”
Over a year later, with plenty of time to process the experience, Gladden says he’s “so grateful” to be a part of the show.
“I love it,” he said. “I know I have a biased opinion, but I think it’s hilarious. If I wasn’t involved in it, I would still watch it. It’s a phenomenal show.”
Since the show has aired, Gladden’s life hasn’t changed very much. He works at Home Depot as a project manager. He still comes home every day after working eight hours to take care of his dog. He hasn’t even been recognized at work yet — though this may be in part to the “camouflage” he’s grown on his face. His online life, though, is bustling — “I’m having thousands of people reach out to me,” he said. “I’m honored and I’m very thankful for it. But I literally just can’t even keep up.”
He also has a slew of new friends in the entertainment industry. He and the cast and crew still keep in touch.
“Everyone there was so kind-hearted,” he said. “They couldn’t have gotten a better group of people to do a feel-good comedy show. Everyone was just wonderful human beings. So I stay in contact with literally everyone.”
While Gladden has never previously had any interest in show business, he says he’s open to it after this experience. He’s not opposed to being on reality TV again (and this time, hopefully, he’d be fully aware of the terms of filming).
With that, I will leave you with Gladden’s life philosophy: “Change your mind, change your life.” An appropriate sentiment for a member of a jury.
