On Feb. 26, the syndicated morning show Live with Regis and
Kelly welcomed two students from Mississippi State University. The
students, twin brothers Douglas and Draper Mauldin, appeared on the
show after winning a national turkey-calling contest.
Douglas and Draper won the gobbling division in the Grand
National World Championship Turkey Calling Contest. It was after
their win that they were asked to appear on some shows, said
Draper. Originally they were supposed to be on The David Letterman
Show, but they did not receive the tickets in time. Instead the
brothers were booked for Live with Regis and Kelly.
Wednesday morning, Feb. 26, audiences tuned in to see Douglas
and Draper perform their turkey calls on live television. While on
the show, the twins befriended host Regis Philbin. “He absolutely
loved it,” said Draper. “He was excited, and he asked us to come
back,”
“We hung out with Regis after the show in his office,” added
Douglas. “He was a really nice guy.”
While they were in New York the Mauldins enjoyed their stay.
Douglas commented on the hospitality they received. Draper spoke
about visiting a celebrity party, courtesy of their new friend
Regis, and a visit to ground zero. He summed up his trip as being
unbelievable.
The visit to morning television is not the last people will hear
of them. They plan to return to New York to demonstrate their
turkey calling skills to David Letterman. They also hope to appear
on the Jay Leno’s show.
In addition, the Maudlin twins have a band. While they were on
Live with Regis and Kelly the twins performed for Regis off-air.
They are preparing to release a CD of their songs soon.
The success of the brothers was no surprise to the people who
know them from MSU. Douglas and Drapers’ speech teacher, Marianne
Ulmer, had only good things to say as she discussed the
personalities of the brothers and described them as fun, outgoing
and very enthusiastic about turkey calling. She smiled as she
explained that whenever Douglas and Draper were together it was
almost impossible to get a word in otherwise.
“I was very proud of them,” said Ulmer, referring to the
brother’s visit on the morning talk show.
“They represented us [MSU] very well,” Ulmer said.