Keith Urban brings Winnipeggers on stage, helps them win bet with boss

Country music superstar Keith Urban scored a day off work for a pair of women when he phoned their boss live on stage at his Winnipeg concert on Wednesday.

Amid a sea of signs proclaiming love for Urban, a bright yellow sign promoting an orthodontics business got Urban's attention at Bell MTS Place.

The words, scrawled in bold script with black marker: "Visit Kildonan Ortho for your perfect smile."

Urban called up the women, Jenna Paddock and Lauren Bilenky, to find out the story behind the sign.

"Kildonan Orthodontics? Legendary in Winnipeg," he said after getting a closer look, prompting screams from the crowd and laughter from Paddock and Bilenky.

The sign was made in response to a promise from their boss, Dr. Brent Nickolaychuk.

"If you can get Keith Urban to say to go to Kildonan Orthodontics to get your teeth straightened, he would give us a day off," Paddock said.

Urban replied, "We should call him."

With the crowd roaring in the background, Urban introduced himself to Nickolaychuk on the phone and asked him to make good on the bet.

"I'll tell you what, if you give them the day off work, maybe a little pay rise, it'll all work out and I will promote your company through and through," Urban said, holding the microphone to the cellphone so the entire audience could hear.

"You got it. It's a deal," Nickolaychuk said.

Urban then took the sign and gave his widest smile for a photo.

"It was amazing, I can't even explain it," Paddock said about the experience, talking to CBC Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Thursday.

"I was shaking. I was crying. We couldn't believe it was happening."

Bilenky said they were "extremely surprised" that it worked.

"We thought there really wasn't much of a chance, but I did know that he always interacts with his fans," she said. "I couldn't believe it actually happened."

Nickolaychuk​ has since told his staff that everyone is going to get a day off.

"We're all going to pick and choose when we want to take our day. He's calling it the Keith Urban day," Paddock said.

Nickolaychuk said he doesn't typically answer the phone at night and was getting ready to put it on the charger when Urban called him using Paddock's phone.

"For the first third of the conversation, I actually thought it was her boyfriend trying to prank me," he said.

"It wasn't until I heard some of the roars from the crowd and heard Keith's Australian accent that I actually realized that he was speaking to me through her phone."

Asked about being put on the spot by Urban, Nickolaychuk said he's happy to keep his promise because Paddock and Bilenky deserve it.

"I didn't think that they would even stand a remote chance of pulling that off because there's so many people holding signs," he said. "I said it was a deal, 13,000 people heard me say it was a deal so I'm following through so far on our paid time off.

"We're going to talk about the raise."

Meanwhile, there's already been talk in the office about the the next time Urban stops in the city, Nickolaychuk said.

"The expectation is that I'm going to be taking the entire staff to the concert."

'Good teeth'

Just before leading Paddock and Bilenky back off the stage on Wednesday, Urban suggested the three take a selfie together — something Bilenky said she almost overlooked in all of the excitement.

"I'm going to frame that picture for sure, blown up," Bilenky said.

On their way back to their seats after meeting Urban, the women were high-fived by other concert goers and were quickly nicknamed "the dental girls."

"I said, 'This is our 15 seconds, Jenna. It'll all be over in a few days,'" said Bilenky, who didn't sleep at all Wednesday night after the concert.

"It was a pretty surreal moment."

For the record, "he's got good teeth," she said.

With files from Marcy Markusa