The instruction was simple: Do not lick the lip balm.
Still, despite agreeing to her father’s directive, Charlotte Cummings, the then 2-year-old daughter of Leo Cummings III ’13 and Whitney Cummings ’08 acted on her affinity for tasting flavored Chapstick at the time. The moment was caught on camera and made for a comical home video that landed the family a $10,000 prize from “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
Leo and Whitney, who have been married for seven and a half years, shared the video to Facebook shortly after it was recorded three years ago, and many found it funny. This spring, Whitney’s sister gave her the idea to submit the video to “AFV.”
“Everyone said, ‘Oh, my gosh, that video is so funny. You should submit it,’” said Whitney, who serves as the Arkansas marketing coordinator for Pediatrics Plus. “We were like, ‘Nobody cares to see our kid licking Chapstick.’”
In June, the couple learned their video might appear on an episode of “AFV,” and a couple of weeks after that, they were informed they were indeed a finalist. The show crowns a winner each episode, awarding them $10,000, and those winners compete for a $100,000 grand prize.
The Cummings—and their daughters, Charlotte, 5, and Naomi, 3—learned they won the $10,000 prize during a taping for the show in August, but they couldn’t discuss the news with anyone until the episode aired in November, which they celebrated with a watch party with family.
“The coolest part for me was getting to share that with people that we watched it with but then with everyone on social media and everyone I’ve ran into since then, random people that I don’t know or know very well,” said Leo, director of sales at the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce.
The couple recorded their responses for the episode’s taping in their living room. For portions of it, they heard host Alfonso Ribeiro of “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” fame record his introduction, describe the other videos that aired and interact with the audience.
“I grew up watching ‘Fresh Prince,’” Leo said. “I think everyone has an affinity for him if they watched that show. Even the minimal dialogue I got to have with him was really cool.”
The couple began recording their reaction for the episode at 8:30 p.m. and wrapped up at 10 p.m. To keep their daughters awake and interested, they bribed them with candy. Luckily, the couple says, Charlotte and Naomi also kept the secret of the family’s win for months.
Aside from worrying about what their kids might do or say, the couple wasn’t nervous to tape the episode, thanks to their UCA education.
“I felt like our majors having been PR and communications prepared us to be on camera in a random setting and not be super nervous,” Whitney said. “Because we knew how to handle ourselves in front of whoever it would be because we’re pretty good at communicating, but we already have that skill set that we built at UCA.”
Nowadays, Naomi eats lip balm, and Charlotte has moved on from it.
“She’s more sophisticated now. It’s all about lipstick and lip gloss,” Whitney said. “She has really matured, just putting them on, trying to be extra pretty or something.”
The show will highlight the top three finalists for the $100,000 prize. The couple is waiting to learn if they are among the top three.
“It’s kind of been humbling to have all these people that you know, but maybe you don’t know very well, are all kind of following this journey with us and congratulating us, which is another experience all together,” Whitney said.
Writer: Syd Hayman