Menifee 10-year-old appears on 'Kids Say Darndest Things'

Elijah Russell, a 10-year-old from Menifee, poses on the set with television host Tiffany Haddish. Photos courtesy of ABC Publicity

A bright, engaging young man from Menifee will make his television debut on Sunday when he appears on the ABC show "Kids Say the Darndest Things".

Elijah Russell, age 10, answered a casting call in Riverside and wowed the producers with his camera presence and personality. Known as Eli to family and friends, he answers a series of questions from host Tiffany Haddish along with other youngsters on the show, which is patterned after the original show of that name with host Art Linkletter in the 1960s and a later version featuring Bill Cosby.

Sunday's show will air at 8 p.m. on ABC.

"I think it's just because I talked a lot," Eli said when asked why he thought producers selected him for the show. His parents, Eric and Amberlyn Russell, believe it's because he was just being himself and stood out in a crowd of children who auditioned for the show. While other kids were trained to perform rehearsed talent displays, Eli stood out in the interview portion of the show with his unassuming style.

"He’s very smart and he’s very proper," Amberlyn Russell said. "He made it more because he’s low-key. He’s quirky and different."

"Some of the parents had their kids like they were in beauty pageants," Eric Russell said. "Eli is not like that."

It all began early this summer when Eli auditioned during a casting call in Riverside. Soon thereafter, he was invited to a callback audition in Los Angeles -- on the day his family was leaving for Montana on vacation.

"It was the day we were leaving for Montana and they wanted us to go to LA," Eric Russell recalled. "I thought, 'Do we take four hours out of our way to go there?' They (Eli and Amberlyn) convinced me to drive all the way over there.

"They had different producers. They put him in front of panels and then in front of a camera. Then we're up in Montana on vacation, like two weeks in, and they call and say 'You’re on the show.' We were still going to be up there [on vacation], but they said they really want him so they paid for a flight and hotel and flew him down from Montana."

What kinds of questions did they ask Eli on the show?

"She asked like, 'What do your parents look like in the morning' and 'What do they look like when they’re mad?' " said Eli, who was also asked what he wants to be when he grows up. Eli said he wasn't really nervous, except for the first few minutes he was called out on stage.

"She [Haddish] first comes out and then she leaves and you all go on stage and sit for like five minutes with this huge audience just sitting there staring at you," Eli said. "You just wait with the music. Then she comes out and it’s kind of scary."

Eli was asked whether he believes he will be famous after the show airs. Is it time to get an agent?

"I don’t know," he answered. "I was just on one episode for like 30 minutes. But they gave me $200!

"It was really fun, but I have no clue how to do any of this [show business]. I just asked to go on the show and I did it. I don’t know anything about agents of financials or anything like that."

Give him time.

Tiffany Haddish interviewed Elijah Russell along with other youngsters on the set.

Elijan and his mother Amberlyn during a break in shooting for the ABC show "Kids Say the Darndest Things."