{"id":380607,"date":"2026-04-03T21:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/380607\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:41:10","slug":"anthony-norman-reveals-what-the-show-left-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/380607\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Norman Reveals What the Show Left Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the finale of \u201cJury Duty Presents: Company Retreat<\/a>,\u201d now streaming on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnthony Norman, a 26-year-old father from Nashville, can finally update his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 with a particularly odd job from more than a year ago. After previously working as a valet, he was a temporary assistant at a family-owned hot sauce company called Rockin\u2019 Grandmas \u2014 but he was the only real employee.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust as in Prime Video\u2019s 2023 comedy hit \u201cJury Duty,\u201d Norman found himself as the oblivious main character of \u201cCompany Retreat.\u201d In Season 1, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden became a near-household name as the unknowing star of a fictional court case and absurd panel of jurors. Now, Norman follows in his footsteps as the breakout star of the fake Rockin\u2019 Grandmas company retreat in Season 2.<\/p>\n

\n\tHired as a temporary assistant, Norman flies from Tennessee to California to help Rockin\u2019 Grandmas CEO Doug Womack (Jerry Hauck) throw one last retreat before he retires and gives the business to his son Dougie Womack Jr. (Alex Bonifer). However, just about everything goes wrong. Norman\u2019s HR boss Kevin (Ryan Perez) surprises a co-worker with a proposal, gets rejected, abandons the retreat and leaves Norman as the de facto leader. Womack Jr.\u2019s ascension to CEO is also derailed after his new hot sauce recipe uses Taco Bell ingredients and embarrasses everyone at a client luncheon.<\/p>\n

\n\tTriukas Group, a shady corporate conglomerate, then swoops in to acquire Rockin\u2019 Grandmas, but Norman and Womack Jr. uncover the company\u2019s plan for layoffs in the penultimate episode. In the stirring conclusion, Norman bursts into the meeting room to stop Womack from signing the Triukas deal. With Rockin\u2019 Grandmas saved, Norman is hailed as a hero \u2014 and then the truth about the show is finally revealed. The actors drop their roles, the hidden cameras come out and Norman\u2019s mind is blown. The final episode unpacks the months of preparation that went into making \u201cCompany Retreat,\u201d and Norman is given a $150,000 check.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, Norman can finally discuss his unbelievable time at Rockin\u2019 Grandmas as the \u201cCompany Retreat\u201d finale streams on Prime Video. With Variety, he talks about what didn\u2019t make it onto the show, how one actor nearly slipped up and how his mom almost ruined the entire retreat.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Prime<\/p>\n

\t\tNow that they know what really happened on the retreat, what does your family think about the show?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMy mom was so excited. She actually came with me to the premiere, and within the first 10 minutes of the first episode, she was already crying. She\u2019s happy about it. And then my dad, I can tell he\u2019s happy about it, but he\u2019s more of a hardass, if you will please excuse my language. He was just like, \u201cOK, cool.\u201d No \u201cI\u2019m proud of you,\u201d but I can tell he\u2019s happy. It\u2019s a good mix of both tears of joy and from laughing. My mom and dad, more than anybody, can read my facial expressions. So they get a little bit of an inside scoop of what I might have been thinking in those moments.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019ve been keeping the show a secret for over a year. When did you tell your parents about it, and what was their reaction?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI wanted to play it safe. As much as I love and trust my family, I just kept it to myself. I had to live life normal. If I did tell my parents, they might have expressed something to somebody else. My mom was like, \u201cNo way! Get out!\u201d We hadn\u2019t really seen the first season of \u201cJury Duty,\u201d so that was the first thing that we jumped on. It also helped me explain what I was going through. So we sat down and watched it. I was pointing out characters like, \u201cWe have a character like this\u201d and breaking down all the details and giving her some of the inside scoops.<\/p>\n

\t\tGoing back to the very beginning, what was the application process like? What kind of job did you think you were applying to?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWith my schedule with my son, I have a week-off, week-on schedule, so I\u2019ve always been on the lookout for little jobs or gigs that I could make work in my schedule. I applied to a temp company. I wasn\u2019t applying to Rockin\u2019 Grandma\u2019s. I was expecting to go and work for a short amount of time, come back and just go back to looking for new jobs. I have a few jobs that I do consistently now, but I didn\u2019t really expect too much to come out of it.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow many interviews did you do for it?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first interview I had was with the temp company that I was hired through. I believe I actually had two interviews with them. A month later, I almost forgot about it, and they reached back out through email and were like, \u201cWe liked you. We would love to move forward in the interview process.\u201d Then that\u2019s when I had the first interview with Kevin \u2014 sorry, Ryan [Perez].<\/p>\n

\t\tIs it hard to not mix up everyone\u2019s real name and character name?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it first ended, I told them, \u201cY\u2019all are staying with your characters\u2019 names.\u201d But now I\u2019ve had plenty of time to talk to them and keep up with them through social media. I got their names down now.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat do you think the interviewers saw in you that made them choose you for the job? Did they ask about what TV shows you watch or any of your interests in case you recognized the actors?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHonestly, I don\u2019t know, because looking back at some of the interviews that they put on there, I\u2019m like, \u201cWhy did they even pick me?\u201d I kind of question it. I would like to say that I think I lead with being authentic and just being real. And I think they could see that. So I think that\u2019s one of the things that they leaned on when they picked me. They definitely asked about some of the things that I\u2019m interested in and things I do in my day-to-day life, but they never pried into what kind of TV I watch. They never said anything that might have tipped their hand at what they were looking for.<\/p>\n

\t\tIn the first episode, Marjorie gave you an opportunity to leave and not deal with the retreat. Did you ever wish you would\u2019ve taken her offer?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tTo be honest, when they offered it, I kind of considered it just because the offer was on the table. But no, not really. Regardless of what happened, I knew I was showing up to do a job and I wanted to do the best that I could. So I really never had the thought to leave.<\/p>\n

\t\tDid you have access to your phone at all during the retreat?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThey actually used that as a seminar; basically they were doing a digital detox. But with that being said, I always did have access to my phone if I needed it. And then there was also a landline and an iPad in the computer lab, which I could always go in if I wanted to call home or FaceTime anybody. I always had that. But just carrying my phone around in my pocket everyday, I couldn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

\t\tDid you call anyone to tell them the crazy stuff that was happening?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYes, several times I called home to my mom. It seemed just about every day I was just telling her, \u201cYou can\u2019t even imagine what happened today.\u201d My mom actually called it. She was like, \u201cSomething\u2019s off. Something is weird about what\u2019s going on out there.\u201d One day she called the landline and I wasn\u2019t available to pick up. She said she was so scared, she almost called the cops because I had sent her the address. Looking back, I\u2019m like, \u201cMom, you could have blew the whole thing.\u201d But it was her just being a worrying mom.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Prime<\/p>\n

\t\tDid you ever google Rockin\u2019 Grandmas or search for any of the characters\u2019 social media while you were becoming friends with them?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, not while I was there, because I didn\u2019t really have the time. I guess I could have went in the computer lab and looked up their social media, but not really. I gave Dougie my phone number if they ever needed me to come back, because I was more than happy to because I genuinely was enjoying myself. I didn\u2019t google Rockin\u2019 Grandma\u2019s, but when they sent me all the information about my hotel, I definitely called up there and asked if the room was under my name. If anything else, I needed to at least have a place to lay my head.<\/p>\n

\t\tIs there anything you did on the retreat that didn\u2019t make it into the show?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m a big baseball guy, they knew that, and they had wiffle ball stuff. I was actually able to get everybody to come and play wiffle ball with me, which meant a lot to me because if I hit up all my friends here in Nashville I could probably get two of them to come and play. It was so fun. There was a moment we were playing Uno, they caught a little bit of that. Alex [Bonifer] and Warren [Burke], after we did all our seminars at the end of the day, we had a big chess board and we would go sit out there talk and play chess. So just some of those moments where we\u2019re really sitting down and getting to know each other is what I wish they would have put more in there.<\/p>\n

\t\tWas there anything you noticed at the time that seemed odd and should\u2019ve tipped you off to what was going on?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was only one moment like that, and I didn\u2019t really take it in. I don\u2019t think they show it. One day was Warren\u2019s birthday. I don\u2019t know if it was actually his birthday or not, so one of my jobs was to go to the store and get anything they might need. With me knowing that it was his birthday, I got him a big chocolate cupcake with a candle. Later that same day, I was talking to Doug and telling him about the cupcake and he said, \u201cOh yeah, I got one of those cupcakes.\u201d And I was like, \u201cThere was only one cupcake.\u201d He said it as if I got a bunch of them, but in the moment, I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know, maybe it was a misunderstanding.\u201d But looking back, I\u2019m like, \u201cHe slipped up!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tOne of the biggest moments in the finale for me was when you stop Doug from signing the deal by talking to him \u201cfather to father.\u201d We don\u2019t learn much about your personal life in the show or that you have a child. Did you talk to the cast about that very much off-camera?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDefinitely. It\u2019s hard for me to not talk about my son. He\u2019s my world. They knew all about my son. He\u2019s 3.<\/p>\n

\t\tSo you\u2019ll probably wait a few years before you have him watch the show?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHe was at the premiere as well, but he\u2019s not old enough to really understand what\u2019s going on. But he thought it was cool. When he first saw me, he was like, \u201cDad, that\u2019s you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tHave you kept in touch with any of the actors since you finished filming?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, all of them. They\u2019ve extended an open mind for any questions or anything that I might need. And on social media \u2014 with me being from Nashville and pretty much all of them being in L.A., it\u2019s hard for us to really get together, but we\u2019ve definitely been keeping up with each other. We had a dinner party almost immediately on the very last day of filming.<\/p>\n

\t\tI saw that at the premiere you met Ronald Gladden from Season 1. Did you know who he was, and did you get a chance to talk and bond over what you both have been through?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThey showed me a picture of Ronald almost immediately after all the cameras came out. He looked familiar, so I probably had just seen him around, but didn\u2019t realize what he was from. It was real crazy. Have you seen the Spider-Man meme of them pointing at each other? At the premiere, we didn\u2019t really have too much time to sit down and talk. There was so much going on. But after, we had a couple good phone conversations. Before I left town, we grabbed a drink and talked about what the future may hold for me and how he got to where he was at and some of the steps that he took.<\/p>\n

\t\tRonald starred in a commercial after \u201cJury Duty\u201d and signed a deal with Amazon MGM. Do you want to do more TV in your future?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m not against it. I never grew up dreaming to be an actor or being on TV. But now that I have the opportunity, and it\u2019s here, I\u2019m open to everything. Whatever comes, I\u2019m not necessarily saying that I\u2019ll take everything, but if good opportunities come that I really like and I really resonate with, I\u2019ll definitely jump in.<\/p>\n

\t\tReflecting on everything now, how do you view your time at the retreat and being part of the show?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking back, I\u2019m grateful to be a part of the experience. I\u2019m very proud and happy that I get to be a part of something so positive. A lot of the entertainment that we take in nowadays is not the healthiest, so to be a part of that is amazing. It\u2019s funny, because I\u2019m the youngest of three, so I was the kid always pulling pranks and joking and scaring people. So to be on the other side of it, especially in this manner, it\u2019s a dream come true.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the finale of \u201cJury Duty Presents: Company Retreat,\u201d now streaming on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,169798,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-380607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-jury-duty-presents-company-retreat","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}