PAEROA'S PETROL PUMP PRINCESS:
stunt double Geraldine Jacobsen in her Xena costume
by Geraldine Jacobsen
Waikato Times
Xena's stunt double Geraldine Jacobsen has become Paeroa's petrol pumping princess.
The xendo kai blackbelt, who grew up in Paeroa, does most of the stunt work for Lucy Lawless -- Xena in TV3's Xena: Warrior Princess. But during a break from filming she has been filling in for a friend, who broke his arm, as a forecourt attendant. She says the work has been a change from staging fight scenes with barbarian warriors. She goes back to the set in Auckland this week.
Her work involves long hours, lots of waiting between scenes, and getting to do things that many people would pay to do -- such as bungy jumping.
She expects extra work while Lucy Lawless recovers in the US from a broken pelvis.
Ms Jacobsen said she is barely recognised as Xena when she's not in costume. "We actually look nothing alike. I'm a lot shorter. She's got blue eyes, I've got brown.
Ms Jacobsen became Xena's double 18 months ago after she did a one-off stunt as Xena in an episode of Hercules. Now she spends nine months a year as a Lawless double.
