By Jessica Lewis
Brock Groombridge says he is the only Brock at Ryerson. That is not true. But, he’s the only Brock with 40 lbs. of Skittles.
Groombridge, a 19-year old third-year RTA student, started his commercial career began a couple years ago with TD Bank, Robitussin, and a Burger King commercial only aired in Spain. He can now be seen in a Diet Pepsi ad all over Canada and the United States, (you know that one where the couple wants to feel young by making out all time? That’s him. Not the guy making out, he’s the guy working the drive through waiting for the couple to come up for air). But his most popular ones are his Skittles spots from last spring. They can be found on YouTube, of course, with thousands of views.
There is a sequence of three commercials; all where he sits in class but is then transported to a strange world, either turning into a bike, a muscle man or chopping the earth in half. In the latter, he was actually injured during the karate chop.
Skittles consoled him with 40 lbs. of candy.
Groombridge is also known for his run on Canadian Idol’s second season. But if you inexplicably don’t remember entire Canadian Idol casts from three years ago, you still might vaguely recognize him.
When he auditioned for Canadian Idol in 2004 at age 16, he went with the intention of just getting an extra day on his vacation.
“I slept over at the SkyDome and somehow got through the first audition, but I wasn’t expecting to get anywhere,” he said.
He made it to the third round with the star judges. “I went from being your average grade 11 high school student to being on the biggest television show in Canada,” said Groombridge.
It wasn’t just the competition that was overwhelming, but the crazy fans as well. Groombridge had calls at home asking him out on dates and he also received presents like cookies, video montages of his footage and a pen set with his name engraved.
“I learned a lot about the human race being on the show,” he said. “There are some crazy people out there that stalked me. I feel for Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. They are in the public eye. I had been on the show a couple weeks and I had what I had and I can’t even fathom what they go through.”
Although Groombridge just did a Sony ad, he admits the industry has been hurting. He doesn’t mind though, because he appreciates the time he can spend on school work.
“It’s good because I’m here at Ryerson learning how to work on television and then I’m on the other side and it all kind of morphs together,” he said. “RTA provides something to fall back on; it’s something interesting and in the same field. I just love learning new things.”
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