A new star: Pud’n Waller – The former Baton Rouge resident is making a splash on a new reality show

When Pud’n Waller retired from “the corporate world” in November 2012, she says she never expected to be running around all the time.

“I never dreamed when I retired I would be so busy,” she says. “But it’s like a whole new chapter in my life.”

Waller was the former director of marketing for Junior Achievement of Greater Baton Rouge. (Full disclosure: Waller also was an assistant to Rolfe McCollister at Baton Rouge Business Report.)

Most recently, she has been helping her husband, Jerry, with his steadily growing Gulf South Yacht Sales, a houseboat dealership in Mandeville.

But at the beginning of this year, she got an interesting call from two young ladies who wanted to meet her about a houseboat.

“We met at McDonald’s late one afternoon,” Waller says. “Over the phone, this girl said she was looking for a houseboat, and I told her I would pull some things together and see what I could find. When I meet them, I’m showing them all this, and it’s two young girls, maybe in their 20s. The girl on the left starts getting her iPhone out and snapping pictures. She looks at the other girl and says ‘She’s perfect.’ I went, ‘What are you doing?'”

They were scouts for The History Channel, and while they were looking for a houseboat, they were also looking for cast members for a new reality show, The Legend of Shelby the Swamp Man. The show focuses on Shelby Stanga, a popular cast member from Ax Men, whose houseboat was destroyed during Hurricane Isaac.

Being a boat broker, Waller would be Stanga’s guide for finding a new house on the show. At first, Waller was hesitant.

“I told them, ‘Oh no. I don’t act,'” she says. “They told me to just be myself. So, I went home and thought about it, and said to myself, ‘Well, OK, this might be fun.'”

After signing a contract “as thick as The Bible,” they started filming. Waller appears in a few episodes of the show, which is currently airing on The History Channel.

Waller filmed her scenes from February to June, and she says it was an absolute blast. Part of the joy of filming was getting to know Stanga, who she calls “a modern-day Tarzan.”

“Shelby is just so different,” she says. “He is just wild. Every day I’ve been with him, I’ve had so much fun. I got filthy dirty, which is not me at all. I was in the swamp. It was hot. I was sweaty. But, he’s a wonderful person. He has a heart of gold, and he would do anything for anybody. Even though he comes out with these crazy things, he’s absolutely adorable.”

Each day, Waller was surprised, and it was difficult to hide her initial reactions.

“I know the look on my face for some of this stuff,” she says. “I talk to myself all the time, and I’m sure the mic picks up when I’m saying, ‘Is this guy for real?’ or ‘What in the world am I doing here?'”

Though the show is just in its first season, Waller is already getting response from new fans, people who know her and a few interested buyers on the market for houseboats.

“It’s getting crazy,” she says. “I probably have 400 e-mails, at least. They’re contacting me through my business, telling me if they ever buy a boat, they’re going to call me. I’m incredibly busy. I’m even learning how to Tweet.”

You can watch an episode in full here. Click here for an episode guide with times.