They say you should never meet your heroes.
Well, one lucky journalism student from Perth ran into one of hers - British documentary maker Louis Theroux - while she was hunting down a story on the census and got to tick far more boxes than she'd ever set out to.
Stephanie Garnaut is a Broadcasting student at Edith Cowan University and is currently placed as an intern at the ABC, having also written for WAtoday.
She was asked to interview people in the street about what they thought of the recent census, and when she'd wrapped up the work in the city centre on Wednesday, she spotted a big crowd gathering around an unmistakeable spectacled figure.
"I turned to the cameraman and said that's Louis Theroux! And we decided to go over and check it out. And he started speaking to Louis' producers - he had a few assistants and they said why don't we speak to each other?"
Louis Theroux is a filmmaker famous for tackling difficult subjects like paedophilia, scientology and neo-Nazism with an immersive approach that often yields strange and previously unknown insights.
He's in Perth to perform a live stage show that offers a behind-the-scenes look into his work - but for Ms Garnaut, she found herself at the pointy end of Mr Theroux's microphone.
'We were joking around that we should interview each other and that I should ask him about the census. So I asked him what he thought and he said he didn't do it and joked that maybe he wasn't the best person to speak to. And that's when he started interviewing me!"
Mr Theroux begins by asking Ms Garnaut if she knew who he was and what he does - and as a keen journalism student she answered that she did, and praised his documentaries.
"I remember one in particular where you went into that high security prison with the paedophiles and you spoke to them about why they were there and it was just so incredible. I just love how non-judgemental you are in whatever situation you're in," Ms Garnaut said.
Mr Theroux thanks her for the feedback, saying, I"m sorry I couldn't help with your census questions," to which Ms Garnaut replied, "It's a bummer."
Ms Garnaut is still glowing from the experience, and said it's fired up her long-term ambition to make documentaries herself.
"Louis is just a legend. How you can not admire his work - he gives such incredible insight into peoples' lives and in such a confident way that's non-judgemental. It was amazing to speak with him."
