Speaker 1: Welcome back, Dave Thornton.
Speaker 2: Good to be here.
Speaker 1: Look, I normally don't have an order of business, but
Speaker 1: there's two stories that I've really been desperate to share
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm here for up a stool. It's story team.
Speaker 1: The first one is yes, I can't. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: my brain is just so full of other sheet at
Speaker 1: the moment. But when this happened to me at the supermarket,
Speaker 1: I was like, Dave's gonna love this.
Speaker 2: Don't feel bad about it. Last week I was so tired.
Speaker 2: You know, when you're doing the old I do the
Speaker 2: old main click, you know, and it's something really easy. Yes,
Speaker 2: you know when you're driving like a car. Yes, that's
Speaker 2: what I was. That's the word. I was looking for.
Speaker 1: The click click? Yes, what do I do?
Speaker 2: Do?
Speaker 1: I do the click? I know, I go, I do
Speaker 1: the shake, get the wave.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll get there.
Speaker 1: God. Anyway, I was at the IgA. Someone's doing it right,
Speaker 1: I know. And let me tell you I was. I
Speaker 1: never go there, very very rarely, but I was in
Speaker 1: such a rush and I hadn't done dinner, and I
Speaker 1: was like, it's there, I'm going to get some chicken
Speaker 1: or whatever.
Speaker 2: But does it throw you off?
Speaker 1: Not being specifically I needed sour dough bread. My kids
Speaker 1: won't eat wonder white. It's wrong with them.
Speaker 2: Okay, I love wonder Wine, it's wrong with your kids.
Speaker 2: But you know, when you're not on your home turf
Speaker 2: for a supermarket, I get thrown off because I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: I'm at six and sevens. Where's the aisles? I need this?
Speaker 2: What's going on?
Speaker 1: Have we talked about this before? God?
Speaker 2: Those Yeah, it sends me batty not having Oh there's
Speaker 2: nothing more stress. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I have left many supermarkets because I don't know where
Speaker 1: anything is and I'm wandering the aisles, going I need
Speaker 1: a paperback to breathe into because I just want some
Speaker 1: sandray my egg pop there.
Speaker 2: You know what always does impress me though, I finally
Speaker 2: bite the bullet, ask the staff, and I love it
Speaker 2: when they got like they just go into their own zone.
Speaker 2: You're like, hey, mat, I just need you know, some paprika,
Speaker 2: and they just go at aisle three down the end
Speaker 2: on the left. If you're coming from the fact the
Speaker 2: left hand side, and you go, oh, that's incredible, You've
Speaker 2: got it in there.
Speaker 1: But it's one or the other. You either get that
Speaker 1: person or you get the equivalent of me or my
Speaker 1: casual job going. I'm so sorry. I've got no idea,
Speaker 1: no idea, that's true.
Speaker 2: I've got a couple of guys who I think, because
Speaker 2: I'm in Brunswick, I think they're in bands because they've
Speaker 2: got mutton chops. Yeah for days, got the growth.
Speaker 1: They wouldn't know and they just go, Man, come on, man, I.
Speaker 2: Really wouldn't be here. Bro, Like, I get you, man,
Speaker 2: but I can't help you.
Speaker 1: I I think I'm about to blow your mind. Did
Speaker 1: you know that at the end of every aisle is
Speaker 1: a little plastic clipboard with where to find everything?
Speaker 2: No? What, I thought you were going to talk about
Speaker 2: the signs hanging from the roof because there's never enough information,
Speaker 2: But there's a clipboard.
Speaker 1: Yes, day fucking water.
Speaker 2: I know I don't know this. Yes, what do you mean?
Speaker 2: A cook bloket?
Speaker 1: So at the end of every aisle, or sometimes every
Speaker 1: alternate aisle, there is a hard like perspecs file. Did
Speaker 1: you know this, Marcel?
Speaker 2: Yeah, a fire come out that NOD was condescending because
Speaker 2: that's like yeah, most people.
Speaker 1: Because no, because I thought, I mean, this is an
Speaker 1: ultimate community service announcement. If you don't know, I don't
Speaker 1: know this is it's like on attached to the end
Speaker 1: of the aisle on a big metal ring, and it
Speaker 1: is not comprehensive, as in, not every single item is listed.
Speaker 1: But and I love playing this game too. Let's say
Speaker 1: I need condensed milk. You'll go to see and it
Speaker 1: might not have condensed milk. Having said that it might
Speaker 1: condensed milk, and then it goes six and then you
Speaker 1: go straight to L six if you're looking for condensed
Speaker 1: milk and it's not there. It's the funnest game because
Speaker 1: you go, if I was doing the categories for this
Speaker 1: supermarket and I had to put condensed milk somewhere, where
Speaker 1: would I put it? What I might put it with
Speaker 1: baking goods? And then you look up b baking goods five,
Speaker 1: You go to five, Bang it's there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's your food friend? Like? Who were they sitting with?
Speaker 1: What generally would you vibe with? Is what I do.
Speaker 2: This is freaking me out because I have proposed this
Speaker 2: to mate, so I said, I wish I wish Google
Speaker 2: Maps did supermarkets so that I could go, you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: where is it? Where is it in this little street section?
Speaker 1: I what the minute you said you have to ask someone.
Speaker 1: I thought, Oh my god, he doesn't know about the
Speaker 1: magic called clipboard.
Speaker 2: I didn't know.
Speaker 1: When do you have to go to the supermarket again.
Speaker 2: I'm forty four years old and I just learned this
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: That is really amazing.
Speaker 2: Look it's not great, but we have a shopping center
Speaker 2: that hasn't been touched I think for forty years, North
Speaker 2: col Plaza. Oh no, this is Union Square in Brunswick, Okay,
Speaker 2: And we do call we do call it bag Dad
Speaker 2: Coles because you're turning up and going nos. It's martial
Speaker 2: law here. And I would I now need to go
Speaker 2: to find out if they have the clipboards.
Speaker 1: Oh they will.
Speaker 2: You'll get a text either way.
Speaker 1: Particularly if it hasn't been changing forty years. Absolutely they'll
Speaker 1: have a clipboard. They might not even have the perspex
Speaker 1: ones like they might just have the vinyl clipboards that
Speaker 1: you used to have to get for school, just in
Speaker 1: case you went to the.
Speaker 2: Zoomah and oh this is this is going to change
Speaker 2: my life.
Speaker 1: You must report back. I need a photograph of you
Speaker 1: with the clipboard as soon as you can.
Speaker 2: And is it it attached like pens at a bank,
Speaker 2: like is attached by a little Metal.
Speaker 1: Metal Ring can't go anywhere. You love it so much,
Speaker 1: and I can't wait. Let's go back to when I
Speaker 1: was at the checkout at the fair, very fancy. I
Speaker 1: gae the woman that was putting through my It was
Speaker 1: one of those shops where I had I'd had nothing
Speaker 1: for school lunches. I had nothing, so I had to
Speaker 1: pay full price for the the yo play tabs. Anyway,
Speaker 1: very annoying. Going through. She says to me, I'm nervous
Speaker 1: to do her voice.
Speaker 2: Oh fuck it, I'll do it.
Speaker 1: He's still on the telly And I said, yeah, look,
Speaker 1: you know occasionally but you know, mainly radio, but yes,
Speaker 1: occasionally she goes I was on the telly recently. I said, oh,
Speaker 1: were you so exciting? What shows? She goes? So grant
Speaker 1: genius deal or no deal? Oh yeah, And I went,
Speaker 1: He's great, isn't he's good value? Such a pro. I've
Speaker 1: got the same lines that I use about people that
Speaker 1: I know in the biz, like about you, I would say,
Speaker 1: one of the great assholes, isn't he? If if anyone
Speaker 1: mentions you.
Speaker 2: Didn't explain the grand Danya story that I can never
Speaker 2: get out of my mind of.
Speaker 1: You and him, of him dreaming of me breastfeeding him.
Speaker 1: And then, because I'm a yes and person, I said
Speaker 1: on air, did I have you in the football hold
Speaker 1: looking down at that big cheesy grid.
Speaker 2: Look at your wheedle. You're hosting a show, won't you,
Speaker 2: little fell Look at you you burping grand Danya over
Speaker 2: your shoulder. We'll never leave.
Speaker 1: I might have to get him on this podcast with you,
Speaker 1: and we can just do a full deep dive on
Speaker 1: that dream. I want all the details.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you and me and the scouts tea in the highchair.
Speaker 1: Back to great Dania in the check out check said
Speaker 1: your thoughts on Delonde and I said, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: he's a pro. Was it great fun? She said, yea.
Speaker 1: I got to the last round and I had a
Speaker 1: because are you familiar with how deal or no deal works?
Speaker 2: Not?
Speaker 1: It's the one that involves the briefcases and like some
Speaker 1: sort of clairvoyance, because you've got to hold the briefcase
Speaker 1: and get a vibe from it and guess how much
Speaker 1: money is in it. I mean, it's the hardest game ever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I mean it won't die. It's nice.
Speaker 1: Anyway. So she's made it to the last round and
Speaker 1: she's holding this briefcase and it's come to the psychic
Speaker 1: medium part of the show, where you've just got to
Speaker 1: get a vibe from what's inside. And she says, is
Speaker 1: it five dollars? And she goes to me and I
Speaker 1: guess it was five dollars, but it turned out to
Speaker 1: be one hundred thousand, and we just looked at each
Speaker 1: other and I didn't know what to say. And then
Speaker 1: she filled the silence with grant gave me a nice
Speaker 1: stubby holder though.
Speaker 2: Oh, a stubby holder.
Speaker 1: Then she just kept beeping, beeped my I play six
Speaker 1: pack while berry and.
Speaker 2: Then moved on and did you see like the color
Speaker 2: in her eyes just drop? Like did you see her thinking, oh,
Speaker 2: that was a real fork in there.
Speaker 1: I don't think she thought it was as sad as
Speaker 1: I did. But as soon as I heard it, I thought,
Speaker 1: I've got a tell Thorne.
Speaker 2: I know. And just as you said, the silence is
Speaker 2: then broken by you have fly bys.
Speaker 1: I don't have fly bys at THEA.
Speaker 2: And you can't get out of that awkward conversation, can you,
Speaker 2: because you're like, I need this food. I got to
Speaker 2: stand here and sit in this awkwardness.
Speaker 1: Oh it was really, Oh, five dollars could have been
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Yeah, next time he's nuzzling in on me, like, grand
Speaker 2: you could have done better what you're doing, and good
Speaker 2: on you for like as in you're still holding on
Speaker 2: to it, like you know what I mean, Like you
Speaker 2: haven't gone it sucks to be you and moved on.
Speaker 1: I'm very sensitive to people's hopes being dashed though. It's
Speaker 1: the one part of my radio job that even yesterday
Speaker 1: we had a carryover champion mechanic at work on the radio,
Speaker 1: where you know, someone calls up on Monday, and then
Speaker 1: if they get through to Tuesday and win against someone else,
Speaker 1: and then they get through on Wednesday, they've got to
Speaker 1: get through to Friday. And then this woman was set
Speaker 1: to win a you know, a return flight to Hong
Speaker 1: Kong to eat um. I mean, it was just such
Speaker 1: a gorgeous prize and she wanted it so badly. Of course,
Speaker 1: I wanted her to have it so badly. But the
Speaker 1: day before she's done four in a row, and then
Speaker 1: the day before it was laid out miss of course
Speaker 1: she was going to and someone beat her. And then
Speaker 1: I just heard her little voice going, oh, well done, Nikita,
Speaker 1: and to the person that one, and I just was like,
Speaker 1: I just don't like it. I don't like people. I
Speaker 1: don't like to see people dealing with disappointments.
Speaker 2: I know, because it's in that situation they've been not
Speaker 2: set up. But you know what I mean, the hopes, Well, of.
Speaker 1: Course, you know, when she's driving along, she'd be thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm going to get a new pair of walking shoes
Speaker 1: because it was just so much walking in Hong Kong,
Speaker 1: or you know, all I better shait my passport, God
Speaker 1: haven't oh.
Speaker 2: And then done, And then just like that, I remembered
Speaker 2: the situation where when I was younger, I was a
Speaker 2: single man and met someone. Things went okay to the point,
Speaker 2: went back to her place, and then there was a
Speaker 2: grand piano just in the in the apartment. Because it
Speaker 2: didn't stand out. I was like, that's a big piano,
Speaker 2: and how did you get it up here? And then
Speaker 2: she was she just said, oh.
Speaker 1: She said, we're gonna we're gonna relive the scene from
Speaker 1: Fabulous Baker Boys. But if I've arrives all over the.
Speaker 2: Gold while I played chopsticks, then the one with the knuckles,
Speaker 2: how about it? That got you in the mood. But
Speaker 2: she but she said that. She said, ah, I was
Speaker 2: a classical pianist, and I said, okay, I've got a classical,
Speaker 2: but I.
Speaker 1: Member check out this concerto.
Speaker 2: But honestly, she said, oh yeah, I spent like when
Speaker 2: I was young, from when I was eight, becoming a
Speaker 2: classical pianist. And I remember I got to an age
Speaker 2: in my late teens and they said your fingers aren't
Speaker 2: long enough and I said, no, no, I will make
Speaker 2: this happen. And she said she kept pushing till she
Speaker 2: was like twenty eight, but it didn't happen. And then
Speaker 2: she's like, yeah, it was always my dream and now
Speaker 2: it sits there and I can't play it because it's
Speaker 2: just represented for my broken dreams. Sick.
Speaker 1: You didn't sleep with her. Then it was.
Speaker 2: Almost like she, you know, was willing to press on
Speaker 2: and I was like, I don't think I kid really,
Speaker 2: I just felt really, I was like, oh, this is
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. It was just an absolute mood killing.
Speaker 1: Then you just organized for that piano to be removed.
Speaker 2: Either the piano goes or I do. This is how
Speaker 2: it works.
Speaker 1: I would not if there was something that reminded me
Speaker 1: of something sad, I get rid of it.
Speaker 2: It was this like we were just having a really fun,
Speaker 2: just night and then it was like it sucked the
Speaker 2: oxygen out of the room moment.
Speaker 1: Oh I'm so did you ever see her again? No?
Speaker 2: Because I was yeah, no we weren't.
Speaker 1: So she missed out on a career as a concert pianist,
Speaker 1: and she missed out on a relationship with you Dodge
Speaker 1: two bullets. That is a sad story.
Speaker 2: I just I mean, yeah, it was. It was, honestly,
Speaker 2: I mean it was. It wasn't an elephant in the room,
Speaker 2: was it. It was the ivory in the room that
Speaker 2: was just like why is it here? You know what
Speaker 2: I mean? Yes, I was like that. I'm like, this
Speaker 2: is You've got this huge reminder of all your broken dreams.
Speaker 1: I no, no, no, it killed me. Did you have
Speaker 1: a dream of anything growing up? Did you did you
Speaker 1: want to be something and then you didn't get there?
Speaker 1: Or have you ever dealt with a massive disappointment? Have
Speaker 1: you loved someone that hasn't loved you back?
Speaker 2: Or oh yeah, plenty of that? Oh yeah yeah, I
Speaker 2: would four for people real quick. And then and but
Speaker 2: the funny thing is when I was a young teenager
Speaker 2: and like, what do you want to be I wanted
Speaker 2: to be a stand up comedian or a professional basketball player, and.
Speaker 1: So well, then you would have understood the fingers girl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yeah, because you're.
Speaker 1: Not tall enough to be a basketball player.
Speaker 2: No, and so like I'm pretty lucky like that I'm
Speaker 2: doing it.
Speaker 1: That felt quite insulting to say, but it's a fact.
Speaker 1: When I said you're not tall enough to be a
Speaker 1: basketball player, it came out. It sounded mean coming out
Speaker 1: of my mouth. And when it was coming out of
Speaker 1: my mouth and I was looking at your beautiful face,
Speaker 1: I thought I'd never say these sorts of things. But
Speaker 1: it's a fact.
Speaker 2: I'm not tall enough. I'm about six two and a
Speaker 2: half or so. My voice broke. Then was I confident
Speaker 2: in that? Ah? And I haven't hit puberty evidently, hah.
Speaker 2: But did you because you've got a like you've got
Speaker 2: an awesome career, and I'm sure yeah, it was always
Speaker 2: an accident, No, but it was just always something that
Speaker 2: you wanted to know.
Speaker 1: Really Nope, No, never crossed my mind.
Speaker 2: You're very good at this. I always feel like like
Speaker 2: you've obviously dedicated hours and do you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: you're an extremely good broadcaster. I would think that that
Speaker 2: only comes from someone doing something that they love.
Speaker 1: No, I think, I mean, thank you very much for
Speaker 1: saying so, But I think for me, this whole career
Speaker 1: was a complete surprise, and there is no way I
Speaker 1: have known that I could do it, no way. Like
Speaker 1: I was a sort of kid at school that in
Speaker 1: the school arts festivals when my how my whole house,
Speaker 1: you know, they have colors and whatever, and they would
Speaker 1: have their turn in the big performance the concerts. I
Speaker 1: would not only never put my hand up to be
Speaker 1: on stage doing anything, I would sit in an opposing
Speaker 1: house when they were performing. I would hide in playing
Speaker 1: sight to avoid being part of anything performance related. I
Speaker 1: never like, I would never accept awards. I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: all of that stuff, absolutely not.
Speaker 2: So then what flicked the switch?
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed radio? That was it? So are you
Speaker 1: talking about why did I give radio a go in
Speaker 1: the first place?
Speaker 2: So memory serves because it was Big Brother? Was it not?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Twenty one years ago?
Speaker 2: What year was that?
Speaker 1: Two thousand and three?
Speaker 2: See, because I've heard this before. You know, early in
Speaker 2: your career it was quite often you know, Chrissy from
Speaker 2: Big Brother. But I was I was a dirty backpacker.
Speaker 2: Then I was away, right, so I never saw I
Speaker 2: remember seeing the first season of Big Brother and then
Speaker 2: I missed.
Speaker 1: It was massive in Australia.
Speaker 2: Seven or something. So you did that, But did you
Speaker 2: do that on a whim?
Speaker 1: Yes? I did that because at that time there was
Speaker 1: nothing else on Australian television. Was the biggest show. You've
Speaker 1: got no concept of it now, Like I try and
Speaker 1: explain it to my kids, It's like, can you imagine
Speaker 1: everybody you know watching one show and then talking about it,
Speaker 1: talking about it, talking about it was massive.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it was a completely different experience watching something. Last
Speaker 2: time I ever felt it was Game of Thrones. That
Speaker 2: was the last I agree show where people are like,
Speaker 2: I can't wait for next week, what's going on? But
Speaker 2: that was every show, every primetime show. It was very
Speaker 2: much like, oh, what's happening next week?
Speaker 1: Well, that's right. And I was thirty at the time,
Speaker 1: like I was old and old, but do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? I wasn't nineteen, and you know, and
Speaker 1: me and my griovy friends, I was a copywriter advertising
Speaker 1: at the time. Me my grivy friends would watch it religiously,
Speaker 1: religiously and back before WhatsApp or whatever. There were text
Speaker 1: messages and phone calls and I would have viewing parties
Speaker 1: at my house where I would make you know, vegan
Speaker 1: dull and we would drink red wine, and you know,
Speaker 1: we just loved it, absolutely loved it. And you know,
Speaker 1: in a way that thirty year old creatives that live
Speaker 1: in South Aera I love.
Speaker 2: Something working advertise it's not a big thing.
Speaker 1: We were addicted, and I thought so that the biggest
Speaker 1: event on our calendar for the viewing party was opening night.
Speaker 1: And if you cast your mind back to be brother
Speaker 1: opening Night, it was on a Sunday night at dream
Speaker 1: World Live, and it was the first time we got
Speaker 1: to see the housemates that were going in. And you know,
Speaker 1: there would have been teasers in the newspapers, leaks apparently
Speaker 1: there's a twenty one year old from dalrymple wway and
Speaker 1: a shadowed out photograph of their silhouette. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was just massive, you can't believe it. Anyway, we would
Speaker 1: have a viewing party and we would eagerly be watching
Speaker 1: on my little tiny television in my apartment and chowing
Speaker 1: down on the aforementioned vegan curry. Anyway, I hatched an idea.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't it be funny if everyone was watching it at
Speaker 1: the viewing party and they were like, who's that in
Speaker 1: the open top audi arriving at Dreamworld on opening night?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it looks like Chrissy. Fucking hell, it's Crissy.
Speaker 1: I thought that would be an amazing moment. So I
Speaker 1: sort of applied, and then, you know, got on with
Speaker 1: my life, and I just kept on getting to the
Speaker 1: next stage. And it got to the stage where it
Speaker 1: was back before the casting call one where everybody would
Speaker 1: turn up to the showgrounds and you know, put on
Speaker 1: lipstick with their boobs or whatever. You know. It was
Speaker 1: before that. It was you had to send in an application. Basically,
Speaker 1: that was it. If it was a casting call, I
Speaker 1: never would have done it anyway.
Speaker 2: So you weren't doing because a friend of mine did
Speaker 2: do that casting call and said I couldn't. He was
Speaker 2: in line going what is with these people? Because people
Speaker 2: are just going bananas to try and get the.
Speaker 1: Taller That's right. Yeah, So I wouldn't have done that anyway.
Speaker 1: Keme on getting too the next stages, and then I
Speaker 1: got a phone call saying you're in. We want you
Speaker 1: to be in the house, and I remember where I was.
Speaker 1: I was visiting my mum and I was in her
Speaker 1: son room at the back of the house, and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, I wasn't expecting this. I was running
Speaker 1: my own business and like, I can't. At that stage
Speaker 1: it was three months. I lived in a dream world
Speaker 1: for three months, I know anyway, So I wasn't expecting this.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to get back to you because I've
Speaker 1: got like a cat and rent to pay and I
Speaker 1: don't know how to get out of my life for
Speaker 1: three months and who's going to run my business? And
Speaker 1: ah anyway, so I was sort of like, no, I
Speaker 1: can't do it. I can't. I can't be out of
Speaker 1: my life that.
Speaker 2: It's a few like you need to leave in a
Speaker 2: week's time, Yes, in a week's time.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. So I sort of went between I know,
Speaker 1: I can't and then I was like, oh, but it'd
Speaker 1: be so funny imagine the moment that you know. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I thought, if I don't at least try to get
Speaker 1: my affairs in order, I'll regret this because it's going
Speaker 1: to be an amazing experience. And it turned out to
Speaker 1: be an amazing experience. But the way that I organized
Speaker 1: it was I had someone write all my copy for
Speaker 1: my clients while I was gone. I had my friend
Speaker 1: move into my house and pay my rent, and I
Speaker 1: said to them both, I am not a normal Big
Speaker 1: Brother house mate. This will be about two or three weeks.
Speaker 1: If you can just do it for two or three weeks,
Speaker 1: I think that's how long it is before the first
Speaker 1: person's voted out. See you back in our respective lives. Then. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I was not getting voted out, and I ended up
Speaker 1: staying there till the last day, and it changed my
Speaker 1: life forever.
Speaker 2: At what staged you? Is it a very short period
Speaker 2: of time relatively until you forget about the cameras.
Speaker 1: For me, it was to you know, my brain two
Speaker 1: seconds because I didn't realize then, but I realize now.
Speaker 1: The advantage for me was that if I can't see something,
Speaker 1: it doesn't exist. Okay, if I can't see it, it doesn't exist.
Speaker 1: That's why I don't really miss people or whatever, because
Speaker 1: if I don't, if you're not looking at me, it's fine.
Speaker 1: So because they're so well hidden and they're dark. In
Speaker 1: those camera runs, occasionally one of the cameramen would, like,
Speaker 1: you know, bump into the wall and I would quite
Speaker 1: seriously go what's that and one of the other housemates
Speaker 1: have to go, it's a fucking cameraman. They're everywhere, you
Speaker 1: know this, And I go, oh, yeah, that's.
Speaker 2: Right, half goldfish, and you just went yeah, yeah, because
Speaker 2: it was initially such an interesting social experiment of thinking,
Speaker 2: these people are being watched twenty.
Speaker 1: Four yeah, oh, it's fascinating. Yeah, And then they've messed
Speaker 1: it up now I think by putting in too many
Speaker 1: bells and whistles. The original concept is enough.
Speaker 2: I agree with you, because remember in France it was
Speaker 2: the most French thing where the initial housemates they went
Speaker 2: on strike to say they deserve an hour just for
Speaker 2: their own like just to bathe and do these things
Speaker 2: know that they and so on France. I remembered this story.
Speaker 2: They had to stop because they were so French, like
Speaker 2: our personal liberty has been deckoned away, just give me
Speaker 2: an hour, contract the contract. Yeah, but they just went no,
Speaker 2: it's not happening, and knew the power of the people.
Speaker 2: And it was so fascinating to think. Because reality TV
Speaker 2: now it's so ubiquitous that we all just think, oh,
Speaker 2: so and so is in it, and probably people go
Speaker 2: in thinking too like you know, well, they'll get a
Speaker 2: book dealer out of this, or I can do this,
Speaker 2: and you know what I mean. Sometimes I'm not saying
Speaker 2: all of them, but back then it was like this
Speaker 2: is crazy, this is unprecedented areas who knows, And yeah,
Speaker 2: for that, I think if you, I think there was
Speaker 2: more interesting people in there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so to your point.
Speaker 2: You were like, oh, do this for a laugh or
Speaker 2: do whatever, not knowing what you're getting into.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that came later. That that sort of that mindset
Speaker 1: came later when you know, people saw people with no
Speaker 1: skills having these fun jobs. So I do understand why
Speaker 1: people would look at, you know, someone like me or
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzgerald or you know, anyone that got their start
Speaker 1: on Bie Brother or similar and go, I want to
Speaker 1: have a crack at that. I can do that. I
Speaker 1: think I was just supremely lucky in my timing that
Speaker 1: that hadn't fully started, you know, in full swing. It
Speaker 1: was very very, very very new, and I had the
Speaker 1: So Mike Purso, who you would know or you'd know
Speaker 1: his name at least, old radio dog, still doing breakfast
Speaker 1: on Smooth at the time. He was the group PD
Speaker 1: for Nova stations regionally and I told one story about
Speaker 1: falling over at Campbell Market and showing my vagina Mayo. Man.
Speaker 1: I remember I told one story. It went to air
Speaker 1: and Mike Perso was casting the breakfast show for a
Speaker 1: new station that they were opening on the Sunshine Coast,
Speaker 1: and he was like, bitch, can tell a story. And
Speaker 1: that was it. It just had me in my sights.
Speaker 1: And I've never been pursued by a man more than
Speaker 1: Mike Perso for that job. Would not hear of it.
Speaker 1: I knocked him back so many times because I was like, no,
Speaker 1: I've never done radio. You just for me.
Speaker 2: I'll just go back to my Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I did. I did go back to my
Speaker 1: copy running job. But it was too weird by that state.
Speaker 2: What was that like? As you said, it was three
Speaker 2: months and then you come out. You wouldn't know the
Speaker 2: magnitude of the popularity of the show. I think you've
Speaker 2: seen it. You don't know personally yourself, whether what people
Speaker 2: think of that season. Yeah, people in the house.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I'll never forget getting out of the
Speaker 1: car after being you know, after ending and walking down
Speaker 1: that gangplank towards Gretel and seeing people dressed as me,
Speaker 1: my face on signs, people screaming my name. I never
Speaker 1: forget it. The weirdest, most like new sign apps, bursting
Speaker 1: experience of my life. It was like a dream.
Speaker 2: Were you because I remember those interviews. Again, I don't
Speaker 2: remember your season, but I do remember all those interviews
Speaker 2: and people coming out. Are you just dumb struck?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Your eyes can't take it in enough. Yeah.
Speaker 2: But they also lived in a house. Yeah, just a
Speaker 2: couple of people who were slowly leaving.
Speaker 1: Utterly isolated. Yeah. It was the most interesting experience really,
Speaker 1: I've ever had. Was so incredible. Never forget it. And
Speaker 1: to your point about anxiety, I guess about what do
Speaker 1: people think of me? Now? After this? You know I'm
Speaker 1: not I don't care and I didn't then either. But
Speaker 1: in terms of how you know what you're coming out to,
Speaker 1: whether you're facing fire or love. Literally, I got into
Speaker 1: a car and was driven to that throng of people
Speaker 1: and the colosseum essentially, and a psychologist was already in
Speaker 1: the car when I got in, and she said, they
Speaker 1: love you, don't worry five words.
Speaker 2: Wow, Yeah, Because I mean that is a crazy experiment.
Speaker 2: And if you think about it's like the TV version
Speaker 2: of castaway with Tom Hanks. You've been left there and
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden found and thrown back.
Speaker 1: Into Would you does that sort of thing appeal to
Speaker 1: your senses? Like, how would you? You know, let's assume
Speaker 1: that kind of format exists now it doesn't, but would
Speaker 1: you do that or what feelings come up at the
Speaker 1: idea of literally unplugging Dave Thornton from his entire life
Speaker 1: and putting him in a situation where there are no preconceptions,
Speaker 1: you don't know anyone, no one knows you, and living
Speaker 1: in those circumstances for three months. That means you have
Speaker 1: to describe your family, no one knows, no one even
Speaker 1: knows your name when you arrive. It's extraordinary.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I initially would balk at the idea, and this
Speaker 2: the fact that I do like being like alone and
Speaker 2: away from people a lot, like I can't be around
Speaker 2: people all the time. Yeah, me too, I get very yeah,
Speaker 2: but then I don't know. So it's funny how you
Speaker 2: said you don't think about people if they're not in
Speaker 2: front of you. I'm quite the opposite, Like I ruminate
Speaker 2: about not paranoid thoughts. Just so, what's going on there?
Speaker 2: What's going on? There, my brain will just run off
Speaker 2: into all different directions. So I don't know if it'll
Speaker 2: do my head in thinking there is a guy behind
Speaker 2: that wall and he's filming me like that would kind
Speaker 2: of wreck my head a bit, right, Yeah, so i'd
Speaker 2: be the opposite, I think, But I don't know. But again,
Speaker 2: it could be a couple of days in and I
Speaker 2: did forget because that's their intention for you to drop.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was just lucky that that's how I'm wired,
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: But then enormously to get me out of here. Yeah,
Speaker 2: by then you were obviously you guys are all there
Speaker 2: because you have profile.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: Did you find it was a similar run or was it?
Speaker 2: Was it anything from Big Brother that you thought translated
Speaker 2: to that or was it just felt.
Speaker 1: Like yeah, I like in terms of my experience or
Speaker 1: the format of the show both. Well, Yeah, I forgot
Speaker 1: about the camera straight away, and that wasn't as good
Speaker 1: of an experience for me. No. Yeah, I just I'd
Speaker 1: come off a very sad experience. I've just been fired
Speaker 1: from my radio show that I thought was going to
Speaker 1: go forever, and I had three babies under four or five.
Speaker 1: I was completely financially responsible for I.
Speaker 2: Remember seeing that when they brought your kids. Oh god,
Speaker 2: And I think about that now, like when you ask
Speaker 2: that question for me, I'll be like, I couldn't take
Speaker 2: three months away from the kids.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well Big Brother was. I mean, I'm a celebrity.
Speaker 1: Was six weeks and I didn't want to go. I
Speaker 1: had to go because I had to keep my kids
Speaker 1: in clothes and roof over their head. I had no choice.
Speaker 1: I had no choice. So it came at the experience
Speaker 1: very very differently. A. I had children and I didn't
Speaker 1: on Big Brother, and I didn't have a choice but
Speaker 1: to do it. I had to do it because I
Speaker 1: just lo was my job.
Speaker 2: Isn't that funny? They feel diametrically opposed, don't they? Like
Speaker 2: you went in the first one thinking this will be
Speaker 2: a laugh. Your responsibilities were rent and I've got to
Speaker 2: write some copy. Yeah, And the other one is which absolutely.
Speaker 1: And again I stayed till the last day. That one
Speaker 1: that devastated me. I would go in and beg the
Speaker 1: producers tell me how to get out of here, please,
Speaker 1: because if you say, obviously, to get me out of here,
Speaker 1: you don't get the money. I needed the money, ah god,
Speaker 1: because I was unemployed. Yeah, I had to move out
Speaker 1: of my house to go like it was just the
Speaker 1: worst time.
Speaker 2: It's funny because as we were recording this, the Olympics
Speaker 2: are on and that's trying to highlight and it is
Speaker 2: for athletes. It's to think of like, this is your
Speaker 2: moment of glory, and then after that, what do you
Speaker 2: do when you're scratching yourself and you've got to find
Speaker 2: ways and means.
Speaker 1: To speaking of disappointments? That's hard.
Speaker 2: But then I often think there's I mean, in essence,
Speaker 2: sporting people are entertainers. We're watching it for entertainment. That's
Speaker 2: how the money is made. And so I always think
Speaker 2: the insecurity of what we do. It's not I'm not
Speaker 2: crying poor, but it's such a big factor in what
Speaker 2: we do because you're going, I don't know, mate, Look
Speaker 2: I might know a couple of months down the track.
Speaker 2: But as you said, contracts disappear, things go, and we've
Speaker 2: been we're both.
Speaker 1: The addisions they do. Like I have had that open
Speaker 1: and it's have you ever had that happen that your
Speaker 1: entire livelihood has just disappeared in one second.
Speaker 2: It's happened a fair few times. I think of myself
Speaker 2: as lucky in this and that. I started stand up
Speaker 2: two thousand and four and the GFC hit two thousand
Speaker 2: and eight, and I went from think I was earning,
Speaker 2: you know, starting to realize I could stand on mine
Speaker 2: and two feet with pardon the pun, we stand up.
Speaker 2: But then GFC hit. Now I didn't pay any tax
Speaker 2: that year.
Speaker 1: No tax, that's.
Speaker 2: How little I earned in that year, Like the taxman
Speaker 2: didn't have to look at me, and it was I
Speaker 2: just realized. Then I was like, oh, we're the last out,
Speaker 2: like they should say the first out of the boat
Speaker 2: as the Titanic is sinking. In that analogy, the band
Speaker 2: is playing as the water is coming up, but in reality,
Speaker 2: no lifeboats are thrown at the enter.
Speaker 1: Tame the band or at the bottom of the ocean already.
Speaker 2: Totally and then just enjoying the cold plunge before it taxes.
Speaker 1: Oh god.
Speaker 2: But I realized to live behind my money, which is,
Speaker 2: you know, I've never been too risky because I'm like, oh, okay,
Speaker 2: this can go like that. So I have had constant
Speaker 2: situations where you know your thought to pay you come in,
Speaker 2: it doesn't. You're kind of wondering if this and to
Speaker 2: live through that yoyo. I found it easier to live
Speaker 2: behind my money and just go this is like I
Speaker 2: don't bite off a lot. So I don't like being
Speaker 2: in debt and things like that because I don't like
Speaker 2: that feeling. Yeah, often there's times you can't dodge it.
Speaker 1: Oh, of course, most of the time you can't dodge
Speaker 1: it because you know, in my experience, those sorts of
Speaker 1: situations have nothing to do with you. You would never
Speaker 1: choose it, but somebody has chosen it and you've got
Speaker 1: to wear it. But the biggest lesson I was so devastated,
Speaker 1: like flat, I've never been flatter after I'd lost my job,
Speaker 1: and I was like, there's got to be a lesson
Speaker 1: in this, Like once you threw the deep sadness, sure
Speaker 1: and panic of being responsible for so many people that
Speaker 1: you love with no means to do anything, after you've
Speaker 1: sort of had out that feeling of desperation, see if
Speaker 1: there's something in it. And it turned out there was,
Speaker 1: and I've kept that. So that would have been Leo.
Speaker 1: I was fifteen. He was maybe four or five when
Speaker 1: he came into the jungle, so ten years ago more.
Speaker 1: And the biggest lesson I've taken I took from that
Speaker 1: was I don't get my self esteem from my work
Speaker 1: anymore because it's I was I was. I thought I
Speaker 1: thought it mattered more than it did, and so when
Speaker 1: it went, I took it so personally like, I was
Speaker 1: so mean to myself about it, and then I, yeah,
Speaker 1: I just realized there's no win there. You can't put
Speaker 1: all your self esteem eggs in the work basket, because
Speaker 1: the work basket can just be Q gone.
Speaker 2: Yes, And it is for me personally, I understand exactly
Speaker 2: what you're speaking about because it's your egos also because
Speaker 2: you're self worth quite often in people's eyes, come.
Speaker 1: From Yeah, I think that I was so hurt.
Speaker 2: I remember I left radio. That was the biggest gig
Speaker 2: that I'd had to that point and the biggest money maker,
Speaker 2: and I was just I was not having a good
Speaker 2: time and it was eating me up inside. And it
Speaker 2: was more of a moral decision than a financial decision.
Speaker 2: But I remember after that and if we're being honest now,
Speaker 2: and if anyone's listening to this, I'm not complaining about it.
Speaker 2: This is just was the lay of the land. I
Speaker 2: also left at a time when I think we've done
Speaker 2: an amazing job of bringing diversity into especially on TV
Speaker 2: and intermedia. I did time when the world thought that
Speaker 2: was a good idea, and I think it is a
Speaker 2: good idea. However, when you're a straight white man, and
Speaker 2: again I'm not complaining, but it was one of those
Speaker 2: things where we're like, we don't need you, and there's
Speaker 2: people a bigger profile that I understand. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of straight white guys out there, so I get it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And so again, if anyone listening to this, I'm not
Speaker 2: saying it's a complaint. I'm just saying as a matter
Speaker 2: of fact, But to your point was that I realized
Speaker 2: the same thing we like, this isn't if you're going
Speaker 2: to hang off the opinions, the thoughts of other people. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's just going to put should do a point that
Speaker 2: you're not going to recover from. So there's something nice
Speaker 2: about it when you place your importance in other areas
Speaker 2: and areas that because I often think about this, think
Speaker 2: about it when you're young, they go, if someone jumped
Speaker 2: off a cliff, would you like, it's something you teach
Speaker 2: your child. But when you're in the performance space, you're
Speaker 2: quite off and everyone's like they're doing that. Yes, yes,
Speaker 2: It's like things you tell a child not to do
Speaker 2: is what we're working. Yes, but that's fashionable. Do the
Speaker 2: fashionable thing, and that's not what we tell people growing up. Like,
Speaker 2: you be you and you do what you do and
Speaker 2: you know you have security and knowing that you're making
Speaker 2: the right decision yourself. Yeah, but the industry you're in
Speaker 2: constantly tells you no, no, do this, and then do that,
Speaker 2: and why don't you're copying them and do this, and
Speaker 2: you're like, oh god.
Speaker 1: What happens if you do that? It feels like amaze.
Speaker 1: You've gone left because everyone's gone left, and then you've
Speaker 1: gone right because everyone's gone right, and then you've gone
Speaker 1: straight ahead, so oh, yes, everyone's going there. Eventually everyone
Speaker 1: else fucks off and you're left going how do I
Speaker 1: get back to where I was? I can't remember how
Speaker 1: to undo all the shit that I've done. So when
Speaker 1: I was in that situation where I was so devastated,
Speaker 1: I was like, let's unpack why I am even doing this.
Speaker 1: And it came back to my family and I realized
Speaker 1: that my kids are never going to fire me. You're
Speaker 1: never going to fire me, and I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: going to focus on that I'm going to I'm going
Speaker 1: to get my self esteem and how I feel about
Speaker 1: myself from how they look at me and how we
Speaker 1: talk to each other and how much they share with me,
Speaker 1: not from work.
Speaker 2: Well also, it sounds like you may have done the same,
Speaker 2: but I know I hand it over way too much
Speaker 2: to my job. Like it's almost like, I'll do it,
Speaker 2: I'll do whatever, I'll do this.
Speaker 1: You know that my saying one of my mantras is
Speaker 1: something's up for sale, and you've got to be real
Speaker 1: firm with that totally. You're not to start with oh no.
Speaker 2: And quite often that early energy and the way that
Speaker 2: you do it, I'm like, yeah, of course you would.
Speaker 2: Of course you've got energy to burn, You've got time
Speaker 2: to burn. You're only responsible for yourself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, have at it, have had it. That's another one
Speaker 1: of my face it says, have at it.
Speaker 2: Like I remember talking to you know, I've learned to
Speaker 2: you just meet people in sport and especially AFL players,
Speaker 2: and I remember them saying a couple of them saying, oh,
Speaker 2: once you get kids, it's kind of nice because you
Speaker 2: can have the most heartbreaking loss and your kids just like, hey,
Speaker 2: you were out in the field, how good was that?
Speaker 2: And then you go, yeah, you don't give a shit.
Speaker 2: Now you can't even read the score.
Speaker 1: I don't care about it, absolutely not.
Speaker 2: And there's something nice about that when you do come
Speaker 2: home and they could not care less, like they might
Speaker 2: tell them some stories about something cool that happened, you know,
Speaker 2: at whatever, at your job. And this happened.
Speaker 1: A pert example of it. I came home from winning
Speaker 1: the logi, Yeah, and Leo was with a babysitter and
Speaker 1: he was up, he was about four and he was
Speaker 1: up doing a pooh like one in the morning. How
Speaker 1: much do you hate in the middle of the night pooh? Anyway,
Speaker 1: I walked in, you know, the frock the logi, you know, amazing,
Speaker 1: and the first words I heard screaming from the toilet
Speaker 1: were mom. I went, yeah, he goes, will you wipe
Speaker 1: my bobbin? I had to put down the clutch, take
Speaker 1: of the vip necklace, go and wipe his ass, perfect picture, take.
Speaker 2: Off the satin glove. Yes, I don't want to ruin
Speaker 2: the pearls.
Speaker 1: That is exactly what it's like. And that is, you
Speaker 1: know a perfect example of don't get yourself astone from work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there has to be some kind of almost
Speaker 2: a stoic not detachment, but you're like, yeah, and there's
Speaker 2: been some really great things that have happened and you
Speaker 2: try and soak it up. Yeah, and then some really
Speaker 2: bad things that you're like, could have better. But then
Speaker 2: I've tried to teach myself because it will still take
Speaker 2: it on a roller coaster ride. You know, you take
Speaker 2: a breath and go, no, it happened, and whatever happened,
Speaker 2: and we'll move through it. And there's something kind of
Speaker 2: nice about that. But yeah, Jesus can put you through
Speaker 2: the ringers.
Speaker 1: See, well, there's something nice about this podcast, talk about
Speaker 1: a roller coaster. We started at the supermarket with handy
Speaker 1: hints on how to find condensed milk, and we've ended
Speaker 1: up with self esteem shortcuts.
Speaker 2: Like this is like Andrew Parkinson, do you know what?
Speaker 1: Do you know what I did? If I can understand you,
Speaker 1: that's what it is. I can't wait for next time.
Speaker 1: I'm going to re listen to this. That was. That
Speaker 1: was good. That was You are a very interesting person,
Speaker 1: even more so than I thought.
Speaker 2: Very low initially.
Speaker 1: We're talking about that inside by