Settis’ journey to $50K Christmas prize was tiring, to say the least

NORWALK, Conn. – Fame may be fleeting, but the road to the top is not. The 10 minutes of national television that showed America the bounty of Norwalk’s Christmas treasure, Setti’s Christmas Village, took hours upon hours of filming at the home of Rick and Joan Setti.

And that’s in addition to the 26 years of building and perfecting the display.

“They focused on every little thing, every little display,” Rick Setti said, of the filming that began in October. “They took pictures of every character, big or small. It was something new to me and Joanie. It was something new for us, but we had a lot of fun doing it. But we’re a little tired.”

It paid off – judge Sabrina Soto of HGTV named the Settis’ display as the top dog among the four Christmas light extravaganzas showcased in the finale hour of the second season of ABC’s “Great Christmas Light Fight,” including one in Dover, Fla., that featured a train for the kids to ride.

The Settis won $50,000 and a trophy.

“The display is so magical my eyes started tearing up. I just felt the emotion of not only of Rick and Joan but this entire community,” Soto said in the show, calling them “the cutest couple in the world.”

They won by one point, she said. “They are the spokespeople for Christmas spirit. They really decorate with love,” she said.

The Settis are the second family showcased in the show, which you can eventually see here. Early in their first 10-minute segment, the couple are briefly shown creating a Mickey Mouse plywood cutout – and if you think, after watching those five seconds that Joan looks tired, you’re right. The reason why? It was about 3 a.m.

The crew started at about 1 p.m. on their first day of filming, a Friday, Rick said. They finished shooting outside at 4:30 a.m. Saturday. Then they went inside and kept shooting to 6.

At 2 a.m., they were asked to show how they make a plywood cutout. Rick chose a Mickey Mouse character because it was easy and it was small – oh, yes, it’s also licensed to be on ABC, which is owned by Disney.

Rick cut the plywood, and then Joan spent an hour painting it. Two cameras filmed her. All for a few seconds on television.

Then they signed the character and gave it to the producer who had asked them to make it.

“We signed it to him because it was the last piece we’ll ever do. He’s such a great guy,” Joan said.

Also early in the segment, you’ll see Rick and Joan sitting in front of their fireplace, explaining their work. If you think it odd that she’s wearing a wig, you’re right. They had been asked to dress as Mr. and Mrs. Claus. It was warm. “They told me to change,” she said. “I said, ‘Do you know what I’m going to look like?”

The wig was a compromise, she said, grimacing.

This all started three or four days after last Christmas, he said. He got a phone call out of the blue, and agreed to be on television in spite of their plans to go half speed in their last year as Norwalk’s Santa couple, a reluctant retirement.

“We spoke and that was the first of many phone calls, from them to me and from me to them. A lot of emails were sent,” he said.

There was a 45-minute Skype session. All of the contestants, from different parts of the country, listened via a conference call as a lawyer explained the rules.

“For the most part that was it until I got an email saying they were going to start coming up in October,” Rick said.

They were originally told they would have 26 days to set up a display that has taken them three months to put up every year. But contestants protested and they were given more time – on the condition that the additional days be spent only on putting things up in the side and back yards.

First the crew – which previously shot “Dancing with the Stars” – came and shot the front of the house without anything set up. Then, “They came up after the 26 days. They knew that they were not going to get the full display. But I made sure that they were going to get most of it. I called in a lot of favors. I called all my buddies, their wives, some of my friends, some of the kids,” he said.

It might have been less work because ABC disallowed more than 150 of the Setti’s characters.

“Because of copyrights,” he said.

“It couldn’t be Warner Brothers, Universal, Looney Tunes,” she said.

Things were set up in different locations. “We shifted everything around to make it look full,” he said.

“It was something because we pushed. We pushed. And all during that time, my knee was killing me. But I wouldn’t give in,” he said.

Even at that, some of the characters had to be pulled when the crew returned to do the night shots of the finished display.

The scene where the Settis walk past their fireplace was shot nine times because of a malfunctioning camera, they said. There were problems with noise. That included airplanes, and helicopters going to Merritt 7. Once a blackbird chased bluejays, screeching.

“He says, ‘you live in a neighborhood that is so quiet and then all of a sudden we have to shut down for a train?’” Rick said.

About 170 of the Settis friends were there for the filming of the judging, which got called off after two hours when the rain got too bad, they said. When the crew came back days later, there were more people, they said. Eddie Marini showed up with a catering truck and kept them fed.

They also got cake – ABC bought it as a retirement gift for the Settis. Michael Spremulli served as master of ceremonies for the surprised couple.

“It was such a shock. I mean that cake was huge, and it had our picture on it,” Joan said.

“They were fantastic people to work with,” Rick said of the crew. “Like Joanie said, they were part of the family.”

The crew told them they were a “category two,” meaning two thumbs up, they said.

Then it was pins and needles as they waited to find out who won.

“Then I got an email saying that they might have to shoot some more footage on Nov. 7 and that Sabrina Soto would be in the area and she would tell us if we won or lost,” Rick said.

OK….

“All of a sudden all of these cars, a caravan, with a boom and everything, and we’re thinking, ‘That’s strange,’” Joan said. “I thought it would be like one camera and Sabrina saying whether we lost or not. Then the cops are at each end of the road, blocking off the street. I mean, that’s strange. Then, we were in lock down here. We couldn’t go out, nothing.”

That was at about 9 p.m. on Nov. 7.

“She said, ‘Well, you know why I am here. I’m going to let you know if you won or you lost. But first of all I’m going to tell you what I liked about your display, and my dislike about your display,” Rick said.

That didn’t sound good.

“Then she steps back and she lets us think about that for maybe 10 seconds and then all of a sudden she goes, ‘You won!’ I went off the wall. I went off the wall. Joanie, she was crying. It was something. I never expected it,” Rick said.

“Because it’s nerve wracking,” Joan Setti said. “You’re waiting all this time, you don’t know. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of beautiful homes out there people work hard trying to do this.”

The crew stayed another two hours.

Actually, the first person in Norwalk to know they won was a woman who issues permits at City Hall. The Settis talked to her a few days after Soto’s visit, as she is a friend. She said she had been sworn to secrecy, the Settis said.

Now it’s time for Joan to pick a new kitchen, as that is where some of the $50,000 is going.

Her double oven is 50 years old. It was avocado green but was spray-painted white some while ago, she said. “They’re chipping and everything, they are so old,” she said.

Rick will get a computer, and bills will be paid, he said.

This is the last Christmas for Setti’s Christmas Village. They plan to sell all the decorations at a tag sale, probably on the weekend of Jan. 10, they said.

That will save them the tiring work of dismantling it.

“I’m not going to miss cleaning those houses out, and decorating 35 Christmas trees,” she said.

“The biggest thing I am going to miss is the children,” he said.

But, “It’s a nice way to go out,” he said. “It’s an honor. It really is.”