Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload, the podcast last Deep Thereby. Hey guys, welcome
Speaker 1: back to TV Reload. I want to thank you for
Speaker 1: clicking and downloading on today's episode with Grant Daniel, who
Speaker 1: is taking his Little Deal or No Deal show to
Speaker 1: primetime this week, with some celebrity editions of the hit
Speaker 1: game show lining up for the chance to win two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand dollars for their chosen charity. Is
Speaker 1: Gold Logie winning comedian Tom Gleeson, MASTERSHEF Australian judges Andy
Speaker 1: Allen and Sophie Levin, The Stars a Gogglebox Australia, and
Speaker 1: some of the I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out if
Speaker 1: You're alumni, including this year's winner Sky Wheatley. It is funny.
Speaker 1: I was super self conscious about having a cold this week,
Speaker 1: and after talking to Grant I found out that in fact,
Speaker 1: he had a cold while filming all of these TV specials.
Speaker 1: Now that I know that he had a cold, I
Speaker 1: actually went back and watched a few of the preview
Speaker 1: episodes I had. As a genius of television, he manages
Speaker 1: to hide it completely and I think most audiences unless
Speaker 1: they're listening to this podcast will have any idea that
Speaker 1: he had a cold. We will unpack Grant's relationship with
Speaker 1: Tom Gleeson from gold Logi's drama to what their relationship
Speaker 1: is really like behind the scenes. I will find out
Speaker 1: what the big differences are between having celebrities play Deal
Speaker 1: on No Deal over the general public and what Grant
Speaker 1: thought may have been a big issue with the celebrities
Speaker 1: not playing for a prize that they get to keep.
Speaker 1: We will talk about why Grant is actually the most
Speaker 1: comfortable he has ever been in his skin and which
Speaker 1: reality show was where the turning point was. We will
Speaker 1: dive deep into why he isn't on the Paramount plus
Speaker 1: reboot of Top Care Australia with some juicy details as
Speaker 1: to what actually happened, which I think is going to
Speaker 1: surprise some people. There is so much to unpack with Grant,
Speaker 1: so sit back and relax as we unpack his life
Speaker 1: and his love of television in the midst of these
Speaker 1: Deal or No Deal celebrity additions. This is quite surreal
Speaker 1: because I've just been sitting here all morning watching Deal
Speaker 1: on No Deal, watching as many episodes as I can.
Speaker 2: Too much.
Speaker 1: Danie is never an that's a policy. We've got a
Speaker 1: T shirt of that at my house. How are you,
Speaker 1: mister Grant Danny?
Speaker 2: That's really really good. What do you think?
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed? But can I just be really really honest
Speaker 1: because I noticed a couple of times through this celebrity
Speaker 1: edition that you call people out for maybe not watching
Speaker 1: the show. So I just want you to know it
Speaker 1: is often on in our house because it is one
Speaker 1: of my partner's favorite shows, so he is watching it
Speaker 1: all the time. But I've only ever been sort of
Speaker 1: like coming in and out of the room where I've
Speaker 1: now been plowing through episodes. It's kind of like scratches
Speaker 1: from down at the news agency. Once you've scratched one,
Speaker 1: you just want to keep scratching them all.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. That's so good to hear. I really appreciate that. Look,
Speaker 2: we haven't been on air that long, right, it's sort
Speaker 2: of it's a new return to Delhi, and it's still
Speaker 2: making waves and people are starting to find it now,
Speaker 2: which is really nice. So the rating driw coming up.
Speaker 2: But more importantly, it's so much fun that I thought
Speaker 2: it would be.
Speaker 1: When game shows came back around. For you, did you
Speaker 1: make a conscious decision to try and do anything differently.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, see, look, I obviously didn't hoste it in
Speaker 2: the past. You know, I was aware of it back
Speaker 2: in the day. And that's kind of like the most
Speaker 2: nerve wrecking thing about doing this is, you know, can
Speaker 2: I make it my own? How do I evolve it?
Speaker 2: How can I make it more fun? Is that even possible?
Speaker 2: So I kind of really felt the pressure about taking
Speaker 2: it on. But I'm also I'm a pretty competitive guy,
Speaker 2: and I'm up for a challenge. And I knew that
Speaker 2: six pm was a bit of a troubled slot for ten,
Speaker 2: and you know, I take great pride in kind of
Speaker 2: help driving its return. I think the show is so
Speaker 2: much more fun than I expected. It's way more dramatic
Speaker 2: than I gave it credit for, and it's just funnier
Speaker 2: and it's got more heart than I ever anticipated. So
Speaker 2: I think it's a perfect alternative to the News at
Speaker 2: six and I'm so glad that families have fallen in
Speaker 2: love with it.
Speaker 1: As I'm watching these episodes, I think to myself, do
Speaker 1: you ever turn up and not have that energy? I've
Speaker 1: got a cold. At the moment, I was thinking, what
Speaker 1: does Grant and you do when you turn up and
Speaker 1: you have a cold, or is there just like an
Speaker 1: energizer like Tesla charger thing that you plug yourself into.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll let you a little thigret. I had a
Speaker 2: cold doing those special I was starting to lose my voice.
Speaker 2: But I think the cool part is is that you
Speaker 2: don't have to fake anything. The jeopardy is real. The
Speaker 2: stakes are high because the money is genuine, but the
Speaker 2: moment that it produces of filliness and laughter coming thick
Speaker 2: and fast, right, So it's not like you're having to pretend.
Speaker 3: The vibe is.
Speaker 2: So high in the room, like it blows the roof off,
Speaker 2: you know, the crowd they go nuts like a rock
Speaker 2: constant in there because you got to remember, in normal
Speaker 2: episode they all have the chance of playing next, so
Speaker 2: everyone's really invested in how the game is going for
Speaker 2: the player. And yeah, when you're staring down the barrel
Speaker 2: of winning one hundred grand I don't need to pretend.
Speaker 2: All the ingredients are red hot. And it is such
Speaker 2: an entertaining watch. So it's a pleasure to turn up
Speaker 2: to work, and that energy of mine is genuine. I'm
Speaker 2: not a great actor. I'm not a great pretender. So
Speaker 2: what you're seeing is me just having the time of
Speaker 2: my life. I genuinely love this so much more than
Speaker 2: I anticipated. It's a beautiful surprise.
Speaker 1: Being in your audience for as long as I have
Speaker 1: been and enjoying you on television for many years, I
Speaker 1: I've noticed something about you though. You have an ability
Speaker 1: to make people feel special. And I don't know whether
Speaker 1: that's been on the ship the whole way or whether
Speaker 1: that's something that you learned. I can imagine little grand
Speaker 1: Daniel like making people feel special, like it's it's always
Speaker 1: been a part of you. What do you think about that?
Speaker 2: It's very gorgeous thing to say, and I really appreciate that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I was always trying to make people smile, you know,
Speaker 2: as a little kid, you know, a really happy, very
Speaker 2: sensitive little kid, and when life is difficult, I always
Speaker 2: wanted to put a smile on your face and make
Speaker 2: you feel better again. And that's I still have that
Speaker 2: in me as an adult. Right So I look at
Speaker 2: television and go, Okay, life hard. We're struggling to put
Speaker 2: food on the table and pay for a roof over
Speaker 2: our head. So television can be a great form of escape.
Speaker 2: It can take you a million miles away from your troubles.
Speaker 2: I love that about television, and so I feel like
Speaker 2: it's my duty that if you have been there your
Speaker 2: half hour and chosen to watch my show, it's my
Speaker 2: duty to give you the best time possible. That's how
Speaker 2: I reward you for choosing to spend your time with us.
Speaker 2: That's my only role, that's my number one job. And
Speaker 2: I like making people feel good, you know, and I
Speaker 2: think TV is a pretty unusual experience to someone who
Speaker 2: hast done it before. So with a contestant, if you
Speaker 2: can make it feel like a safe, fun space, and
Speaker 2: then the hero, they shine, and then the TV show saws.
Speaker 2: So I want them to be comfortable, you know, I
Speaker 2: want them to share their funniest stories, you know, they're
Speaker 2: saddest heartbreaks or I wanted to see what the money
Speaker 2: means to them. So I think it's very important to
Speaker 2: make the contestant the hero. Not everyone does that, no,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: They really don't. It's also I think you've got a
Speaker 1: very good, active listening face, like you're genuinely interested in
Speaker 1: what people have to say, whether they're celebrities or their
Speaker 1: every day punters.
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, I really appreciate what you're saying. You know,
Speaker 2: not everyone has noticed that or says that back to me,
Speaker 2: and that really means a lot. I want them to
Speaker 2: have a good time, you know. That's all that it's about.
Speaker 2: If the contestant has a great time, the audience really
Speaker 2: loves watching it, and that's when I know, you know,
Speaker 2: I've done my job. So I take it really seriously.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm deeply passionate about making television. I adore
Speaker 2: doing it. It's my twenty seventh year of working in Telli,
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm still refining how I do it.
Speaker 2: You know, I feel like I'm at my best at
Speaker 2: the moment, you know, and I've done a lot of
Speaker 2: great stuff. I'm also a bit more of an evolved
Speaker 2: person now and gone through hardships and I've reshaped myself
Speaker 2: and rebuilt myself and worked on myself until you know,
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm a better person. So yeah, it's
Speaker 2: you come from a place of security and evolution, and
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm giving the most that I've ever
Speaker 2: given and it's probably the first time in my life
Speaker 2: where I'm really truly me. I think as a kid
Speaker 2: growing up, I had pretty poor self confidence, you know,
Speaker 2: no self worth and smart. But yeah, to make it,
Speaker 2: I didn't think that I was enough, so I would
Speaker 2: pretend to be other people or pieces of other successful people,
Speaker 2: you know. I would take a bit of what Rod
Speaker 2: was doing, or Darryl someone was doing, or but you
Speaker 2: were doing, or Larry imd or whatever. Right, I'd just
Speaker 2: be pieces of them because I didn't feel like I
Speaker 2: could be myself, because I didn't think I was worth anything.
Speaker 2: But now I'm kind of I feel like this is
Speaker 2: the first time I've truly been one hundred percent me.
Speaker 2: It feels good.
Speaker 1: I think you collect your stories, you know, and I
Speaker 1: think it's interesting when you talk about some of those
Speaker 1: legends of television that you've probably borrowed from. It's hard
Speaker 1: not to let sort of that wash over you. And
Speaker 1: I think it's important sometimes to watch other people's work
Speaker 1: and borrow certain things that suits you, and then it
Speaker 1: still is quite authentic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we all do it. We all do
Speaker 2: it no matter what job you do. We turn up
Speaker 2: and we put on a version of ourselves, the best
Speaker 2: version of ourselves. But when you don't feel like you
Speaker 2: are very good, or if you're driven by fear, that
Speaker 2: I'm going to fail, or I'm not enough, or they're
Speaker 2: going to hate me, or I'm not smart enough. You
Speaker 2: tend to put on a manufactured facade, and I was
Speaker 2: just I was just wearing a patchwork coat of all
Speaker 2: these other personalities, and I'd wear it like a suit
Speaker 2: of armor because I just didn't think I had what
Speaker 2: it takes to be able to do it authentically. Until
Speaker 2: now it's kind of nice, you know. Maybe it was
Speaker 2: a gold LOGI I don't know. I think that gave
Speaker 2: me permission to relax, that maybe I was enough, maybe
Speaker 2: I didn't have to be anyone else, And so it
Speaker 2: gave me the kind of permission and the comfort to
Speaker 2: just be me. And it was relieving because it had
Speaker 2: been exhausting.
Speaker 1: It was funny. I went to a friend's place for lunch,
Speaker 1: actually someone that you know, Evie Jones, and she had
Speaker 1: a friend there.
Speaker 2: Gorgeous woman.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she was lovely. She said to say hello. She
Speaker 1: rang me before, but we were at her place and
Speaker 1: she brought over a girlfriend who read my cards. The
Speaker 1: interesting thing that this person told me was that I
Speaker 1: was exhausted by trying to be what I thought other
Speaker 1: people wanted me to be.
Speaker 2: Uh, huh.
Speaker 1: And that really resonated with me, and I just it
Speaker 1: was almost like she gave me permission at that point
Speaker 1: to stop having to try and lift my energy, to
Speaker 1: try and impress other people, and to just sit back
Speaker 1: and be myself. And it was just it has been
Speaker 1: a relief just to want to be me.
Speaker 2: What a beautiful gift. Yeah, And sometimes it takes someone
Speaker 2: else to point that out or say that to you
Speaker 2: for your body to believe it. Yeah, I agree, and
Speaker 2: you let that set in and it changes your life.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I couldn't have kept functioning, you know, back in
Speaker 2: the early day the way I was. I've reached chronic
Speaker 2: fatigue before, and I think that was because I was
Speaker 2: exhausted from the act that I was playing, you know.
Speaker 2: I remember Jim Grey, one of his famous sayings is
Speaker 2: depression is you need deep rest from the character that
Speaker 2: you've been playing, and that you don't want to do
Speaker 2: that anymore, or you kind of the energy to do
Speaker 2: that anymore. And I think I've been guilty of that.
Speaker 2: And that's just that little little boy again, at little
Speaker 2: seven year old, who was just trying to make everyone
Speaker 2: happy and if someone was hurting or feeling down, that
Speaker 2: you know, he would try and entertain them better. If
Speaker 2: that takes sense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean is very interesting because I think he
Speaker 1: grew up from a broken family and he wanted to
Speaker 1: make both of his parents I think laugh. I think
Speaker 1: he had a complicated relationship with them both. I think
Speaker 1: I believe I'm grabbing that fact, but I just think
Speaker 1: that there's sometimes there's that within us. I think more
Speaker 1: more sensitive boys, and we're growing up in those environments.
Speaker 1: We learn that it's a currency to make people laugh,
Speaker 1: and it's important currency.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a hundredercent agree. I completely agree with you, And
Speaker 2: I think that's why I put such value and importance
Speaker 2: on giving everyone who watches your show the best possible
Speaker 2: half hour of their lives. Because what a great gift
Speaker 2: if you can put a smile on someone's face or
Speaker 2: take them away from thinking about, you know, the issues
Speaker 2: that they've got going on in their life, give them
Speaker 2: some relief from that, even if it was just half
Speaker 2: an hour. And what a beautiful privilege to have to
Speaker 2: be a part of Deal or no Deal has reached
Speaker 2: celebrity status now, I think every star it's out.
Speaker 1: That's the plus. Yes, you've got a big budget here.
Speaker 1: Maybe they can get your milk crape. That would be
Speaker 1: good deals prime Time Celebrity Specials.
Speaker 2: I know how to host showst with the look that
Speaker 2: you've got. I think you're going to open the briefcase
Speaker 2: and drugs are going to fall out.
Speaker 1: Deal or No Deal.
Speaker 2: Celebrity Specials starts Monday, July twenty two, fin Tenants and Play.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you a really cheeky question about
Speaker 1: this show though, what's the difference. Did you notice the
Speaker 1: difference between talking to the celebrities in this format versus
Speaker 1: having your everyday punters on the show? Was there a
Speaker 1: tifferent level of energy?
Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously some of them are entertainers, so that you know,
Speaker 2: that gives you a pretty easy and instant dynamic to
Speaker 2: have fun with. I thought that because the money doesn't
Speaker 2: go to them, it goes to charity, that maybe they
Speaker 2: might not be he as invested as a regular everyday contentive.
Speaker 2: But that wasn't the case. I was surprised at how
Speaker 2: they felt the drama, Like even like Tom Gleason, right,
Speaker 2: he can stuff around a lot, like his act is
Speaker 2: obviously could be you know, he lampoons everyone. You know,
Speaker 2: he insults everyone. He's an asshole. That he's made a
Speaker 2: great living out of playing that character.
Speaker 3: Right, so on his shirt, hard quiz.
Speaker 2: You know you only get insults and a twenty dollars
Speaker 2: plastic cup at the end if you win. Here we
Speaker 2: had quarter of a million dollars, And so I wasn't
Speaker 2: sure if he would buy into the intensity of this,
Speaker 2: but it's obviously he felt it. And then to see
Speaker 2: nice qualities come out of him and kind of feel
Speaker 2: the obligation to win big and do the right thing
Speaker 2: and have a soul, have some heart. It was kind
Speaker 2: of really refreshing to see him in a slightly different light.
Speaker 2: I think he's just used to slinging mud around everywhere,
Speaker 2: but this was kind of it was really playful, you know,
Speaker 2: he was he was in my house this time, and
Speaker 2: it was nice to see him squirm, but also nice
Speaker 2: to see him, you know, do something nice and pull
Speaker 2: off a big win for a great cause. And I
Speaker 2: think it surprised him how much fun he had, and
Speaker 2: it surprised him how much he felt for it.
Speaker 1: The banter between the two of you is phenomenal. Some
Speaker 1: people might take offense to some of what he says
Speaker 1: to people, but you were very quick and you came
Speaker 1: back with things. That also is a really hard thing
Speaker 1: to do because by nature, when someone throws us something sassy,
Speaker 1: you can easily say something sassy back that can land badly.
Speaker 1: Where with you you continue to throw things back and
Speaker 1: forth between the two of you in a way that
Speaker 1: it was still funny. There was nothing mean about what
Speaker 1: the two of you were really saying.
Speaker 2: And that's a skilling's a rival game show host hate
Speaker 2: one another. And he took a lot to get to
Speaker 2: know because he doesn't let his guard down very much.
Speaker 2: And you can tell all the rest of the comedians
Speaker 2: were afraid of him because no one would pile oft right.
Speaker 2: They all had their guns in the holster like no
Speaker 2: one was. No one wants to take him out with
Speaker 2: something neat because it's hard to out.
Speaker 3: Me the bad guy, right the course, the biggest and
Speaker 3: baddest of them all.
Speaker 2: But he and I have history and respect for one another,
Speaker 2: and it was playful and it was fun. I didn't
Speaker 2: want to I didn't want to hit too hard because
Speaker 2: you know I also you want to create the space
Speaker 2: so he can perform and he can shine, because when
Speaker 2: he shines, then the whole show wins, right, So I
Speaker 2: wanted him to come in own the space just and
Speaker 2: just be Tom. So yeah, I knew he was going
Speaker 2: to take a few hits, and I wanted afraid to
Speaker 2: take a few shots in return.
Speaker 1: You know, is that your normal relationship is that the
Speaker 1: banter that you guys would normally have. Is that kind
Speaker 1: of what gets thrown back and forward when you guys
Speaker 1: run into each other at your industry events.
Speaker 2: It is It is now like I have a complicated
Speaker 2: relationship with Tom because like back in twenty eighteen, it's
Speaker 2: very last minute. He jumped on my gold Logi band
Speaker 2: and sort of hijacked the campaign and there's something I
Speaker 2: could do or say, and whilst he just used it
Speaker 2: as a pr opportunity, you know, for himself, I didn't
Speaker 2: really want him to do that, to be honest, I
Speaker 2: thought if I won, well, then people would just think
Speaker 2: that it was just because he won it for me,
Speaker 2: and so I was I was got a little shirty
Speaker 2: at the time. I could see what he was doing.
Speaker 2: He was just maximizing the moment, you know, for himself.
Speaker 2: But it sort of made my LOGI win a bit
Speaker 2: complicated because it just there were too many questions and
Speaker 2: it was sort of sort of made a little bit
Speaker 2: of a mockery of the win, which was sort of,
Speaker 2: you know, if you gotta win, I want to win
Speaker 2: on my own terms. I don't want to I don't
Speaker 2: want or need any help. And then if if if
Speaker 2: I did win, you know, everyone would just say it
Speaker 2: was only just because he he jumped on board. And
Speaker 2: so I got over that pretty quick, and we have
Speaker 2: a really great relationship now because he's although he looks
Speaker 2: very mean spirited, there's a really sweet person deep deep,
Speaker 2: deep down underneath. You have to almost get to the
Speaker 2: center of the onion defied that. But he's actually quite
Speaker 2: a sweet person in real life. So he gets me,
Speaker 2: I get him. We both go about our world very differently,
Speaker 2: but we just happened to do the same job.
Speaker 1: Do you think it kind of changed the way the
Speaker 1: logis were seen in a way? I think that there
Speaker 1: was sort of a bit of a jump the shark
Speaker 1: moment in some of that. And do you think that
Speaker 1: there's still the same respect for the logis, I guess
Speaker 1: in some ways. Or do you think it's returned back like.
Speaker 2: It's just it's an industry award and you can't expect
Speaker 2: the rest of the country to value it, that it's
Speaker 2: just an industry patting itself on the back. You're not
Speaker 2: saving lives, You're just holding a little gold trophy. But
Speaker 2: when Tom said the following year when he wanted, he said,
Speaker 2: if you want one of these, then you are a wanker.
Speaker 2: And I just wanted a previous year. And it meant
Speaker 2: the world to me because I've been in television. I
Speaker 2: sixteen and I love it with all my heart and
Speaker 2: it's given wonderful life. And because I was such a
Speaker 2: pretender my whole life, pretending you know that I knew
Speaker 2: what I was doing, that I was good enough to
Speaker 2: do the job, you know, and I finally want it
Speaker 2: didn't mean a lot to me, you know. It you know,
Speaker 2: brought me to tears, and it was beautiful culmination, you know,
Speaker 2: of a career I'm very proud of. So it really
Speaker 2: hurt my feelings when he said, if you want one
Speaker 2: of these, yere awanka, And I know he was just
Speaker 2: telling jokes and.
Speaker 1: Hard to know that though you know, with him, you know,
Speaker 1: like that's his brand, and I give you were to
Speaker 1: really sit down and talk to him about that, he
Speaker 1: liked the rest of Australia would have been so happy
Speaker 1: for you for winning that award. I think he would
Speaker 1: have been so happy about that as we all were,
Speaker 1: and he would be in your audience. But it's hard
Speaker 1: to decipher when he's being Tom Gleason and when he's
Speaker 1: being Tom Gleason, if that makes anything.
Speaker 2: What I know now is that's not what he meant,
Speaker 2: and that's not who he is. And that's when I
Speaker 2: really got to know Time and really got to like him.
Speaker 2: I love watching him sway on stage. You know, I
Speaker 2: think you know. My job has been for me to
Speaker 2: be successful in doing what I do, I have to
Speaker 2: have the least amount of people hate me as possible.
Speaker 2: That's the number one key focus for trying to have
Speaker 2: a longevity in a career. He's gone there completely out
Speaker 2: of the way where he's made himself. He's made an
Speaker 2: unlikable character lovable, which is bold and courageous and funny
Speaker 2: and daring and naughty, and that's ball the ads because
Speaker 2: Australian audiences are very judgmental. They know what they like
Speaker 2: and they don't tolerate much. And by saying everything, by
Speaker 2: saying what everyone is thinking but refuses to say, he's
Speaker 2: made this incredible mark on the industry and I couldn't
Speaker 2: do that. I couldn't walk that pass. It wouldn't work
Speaker 2: for me. But it's so exciting that he does it
Speaker 2: because it just feels risky and fun.
Speaker 1: Do We all have our superpower though? And I always
Speaker 1: think for you, your superpower is your vulnerability on television. I
Speaker 1: always think of you being like the selling Field of
Speaker 1: Australian television. I remember a review for Sally Field was
Speaker 1: when Sally Field cries, America cries when Grant ten Your cries,
Speaker 1: whether it's on Dancing with the Stars, I'm telling you
Speaker 1: cried on a lot of things. And I remember this
Speaker 1: because I cried with you, my friend. I felt like,
Speaker 1: it's such an amazing thing to be vulnerable on television
Speaker 1: with these platforms, and whenever you've done it, the sincerity
Speaker 1: of the whole thing and the fact that we're all
Speaker 1: rooting for you makes it such a big and emotional,
Speaker 1: celebrated moment of television.
Speaker 2: Oh thank you. Yeah. I think it's because I was
Speaker 2: afraid of all of those emotions for most of my life.
Speaker 2: I thought being sad or lonely or upset or like
Speaker 2: your failure was a sign of weakness, right, and it
Speaker 2: should be hidden at all costs. And I also feel
Speaker 2: like I'm sort of part of the problem, right I'm
Speaker 2: in pretending to be the TV present that I thought
Speaker 2: everyone wanted to watch, and you know, smiling and all
Speaker 2: day and pretending everything's perfect. I felt like I was
Speaker 2: kind of part of the problem that everyone's supposed to
Speaker 2: portray the perfect version of themselves. So once iok it
Speaker 2: to a point where I was kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: I'd worked on a shit, you know, I've done a
Speaker 2: lot of therapy and different forms of health treatments to
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, work on my less favorable aspects
Speaker 2: of my personality. You know, then I thought, well and
Speaker 2: started in the Jungle show. To be honest, it started
Speaker 2: it I'm a celebrity where I'm like, I'm just going
Speaker 2: to go with whatever comes up, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: try not to filter it out. And everything comes up
Speaker 2: pretty raw and real and fast in there, and I
Speaker 2: just was like, normally I would joke my way out
Speaker 2: of it, I would avoid those feelings at all costs,
Speaker 2: I would run the other direction. And I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm going to sit with this, And it allowed me
Speaker 2: to kind of identify things that I didn't like that
Speaker 2: weren't working for me, and aspects of my character that
Speaker 2: I wasn't particularly proud of. And I kind of took
Speaker 2: a stock take of all of those and had so
Speaker 2: much time to burn in there in the jungle that
Speaker 2: you just were able to work on them and slowly
Speaker 2: kind of rebuild yourself. And that's when I sort of
Speaker 2: found the courage kind of just let those emotions be.
Speaker 2: And I sort of haven't hidden the fact, you know,
Speaker 2: on television sort of since, and so it wasn't a
Speaker 2: deliberate act. But yeah, I'm really glad I found the
Speaker 2: courage to do it because it's sort of it's made
Speaker 2: a better me.
Speaker 1: It's happy to me, but it's funny. You can also
Speaker 1: adopt these things that you you know when you're growing up.
Speaker 1: But I remember, for me, people used to make fun
Speaker 1: of my voice and I was like, yeah, I do
Speaker 1: have a weird voice to sound a cross between Kermit
Speaker 1: the Frog and Rove after too many drinks. And I
Speaker 1: didn't like it, you know, and I really pushed against
Speaker 1: that for so long, and then I realized that that
Speaker 1: actually the things that I hated about myself were actually
Speaker 1: my superpowers. And the minute that I stopped trying to
Speaker 1: push these things away which were inherent in me. I
Speaker 1: couldn't get rid of them. The moment that I started
Speaker 1: to appreciate them was the moment that success started to
Speaker 1: come in.
Speaker 2: The eristure of war with yourself right, and the universe
Speaker 2: is not going If you're not operating from a place
Speaker 2: of gratitude, the universe might give you more. So I think, yeah,
Speaker 2: I would either. I completely agree with what you're what
Speaker 2: you're saying there, Yeah, it's yeah, it's I'm trying to
Speaker 2: teach my girls that, you know you failure is a
Speaker 2: gift because you learn more from failure than you do
Speaker 2: your successes. You don't learn anything from your successes. To
Speaker 2: be honest, the best things that have ever happened in
Speaker 2: my life have been the things that were the hardest
Speaker 2: and the things that went wrong, because they're also they're roadblocks.
Speaker 2: A failure is a roadblock that gets you to turn
Speaker 2: around and go in a different direction, the direction you're
Speaker 2: probably supposed to go in the first place. Right their
Speaker 2: life correction. There there's signposts to push you onto the
Speaker 2: course you're supposed to be on. Whereas I was afraid
Speaker 2: of failure, I have massive perfectionism syndrome where it it's
Speaker 2: almost it's crippling, like it's paralyzing, and it wasn't serving me.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2: Once you embrace the things that you originally didn't like,
Speaker 2: you soften and you allow great things into your life
Speaker 2: because you're not so closed off. You know, you're not
Speaker 2: trying to hide everything from everyone, and you're right, gifts
Speaker 2: start flowing your way. Of course, when I was a kid,
Speaker 2: you know, I hated being short. You know, I was
Speaker 2: really sensitive about my height, you know, so eighty percent
Speaker 2: of my life. And now it's not an issue because
Speaker 2: I've kind of worked on all the other emotional reasons
Speaker 2: as to why that was problematic for me, you know,
Speaker 2: low self esteem, you know, poor confidence and little self worth,
Speaker 2: and now you know my height, I don't feel anything
Speaker 2: about it anymore. It's not an issue.
Speaker 1: I like the idea of rejections being gifts, you know,
Speaker 1: the rejections that we've had along the way. Kind of
Speaker 1: what you were saying before was sort of guiding us,
Speaker 1: and the moment we can sort of accept that. And
Speaker 1: I know that when you talk about your height, you
Speaker 1: talk about these things that you said to yourself wasn't
Speaker 1: good enough. You know, in some ways that's just your
Speaker 1: lesson to learn. And then when you look at what
Speaker 1: you're doing now, Grant, like you, my friend, have leveled up.
Speaker 1: It is so much fun to watch. It's inspiring. It's
Speaker 1: great television. And I had like a thousand questions to
Speaker 1: ask you today about you know, how many episodes you
Speaker 1: film in a day, all of these things that are
Speaker 1: sort of like kitch questions that you're going to ask
Speaker 1: someone when you have them on a podcast. But here
Speaker 1: we are. You've given me the raw, Grant, Daniel, and
Speaker 1: it is amazing.
Speaker 2: It's nice, I know, and these are It's not like
Speaker 2: I'm there's any language of it's learned.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: For most of my lists, I didn't have the words
Speaker 2: to describe these things that we're talking about now. I'm
Speaker 2: so glad I've got the vocabulary now through hard work
Speaker 2: and self searching. But yeah, it's you know, my job
Speaker 2: now is to ensure that the things that I've learned
Speaker 2: at say forty six, you know, my kids hopefully get
Speaker 2: at fifteen. My personality failures as a kid with the
Speaker 2: driving factors to create the person and the career that
Speaker 2: I've got now. You know. I wanted to be seen
Speaker 2: and heard and validated, you know, and loved. And I
Speaker 2: think I used all those those ingreeted and to forge
Speaker 2: this television careerause it came from a place of emptiness
Speaker 2: that I needed feeling. And Yeah, I don't want my
Speaker 2: daughters to spend their whole life searching, you know, to
Speaker 2: fill the gap, you know, to fill the hole that's
Speaker 2: inside them, you know. I want them to know that
Speaker 2: they are enough from the start.
Speaker 1: I have to let you go because I've run out
Speaker 1: of time. I honestly could talk to you forever, and
Speaker 1: I feel like this has been a really interesting counseling
Speaker 1: session that I didn't think I needed today, but I've
Speaker 1: definitely I feel like I've learned a lot out of this.
Speaker 1: I've finished the podcast by asking a question about something
Speaker 1: from behind the scenes, and I thought maybe I should
Speaker 1: ask you what everyone was thinking this year when they
Speaker 1: brought back top Gear Australia on Paramount Plus. It just
Speaker 1: seemed to me like that show was yours. Did they
Speaker 1: call you for that show? Did you audition for that show?
Speaker 2: I want to know, I'm a surprised as you are.
Speaker 2: To be honest, I felt like.
Speaker 3: My whole life was leading up to this role.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, being a multi championship winning race car driver who's
Speaker 2: still racing cars and a television host, I thought, I
Speaker 2: thought maybe it might have been enough. But I think
Speaker 2: perhaps what might have got in the way is I
Speaker 2: think Channel ten might have known that deal or no
Speaker 2: deal was around the corner, and I wasn't aware of
Speaker 2: it at that particular point. So I think they knew
Speaker 2: that maybe both shows could be filming at the same time,
Speaker 2: and that ruled me out. But I'm a massive fan
Speaker 2: of the format, So yeah, I'm super jealous of those
Speaker 2: guys getting one of them gets big.
Speaker 1: You got to go there, that's your job.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I've been seeing the promos and then he
Speaker 2: makes me cry quickly, like.
Speaker 1: Have you been able to watch it?
Speaker 2: I can't bring myself to watch your full episode because
Speaker 2: it would have been unreal. But I'm not sure in
Speaker 2: fact that they did ring me. Okay, And but what
Speaker 2: happened was Dany gave me a few days notice and
Speaker 2: they said, oh, we're going to do a chemistry test
Speaker 2: with a couple of other potential hosts. Can you come down?
Speaker 2: And I was racing in the Bathurst twelve hour race
Speaker 2: for Lamborghini and I was like, I can't make it.
Speaker 2: I'm racing this weekend. And they're like, oh, if you
Speaker 2: can't make it to the chemistry test, well then you
Speaker 2: don't get the gig. And I was like, are you
Speaker 2: listen to me? I said, I'm actually racing, and you're
Speaker 2: saying that that's the only time that we could do this.
Speaker 1: They said yep.
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, well, yes that's me.
Speaker 1: At least the call came through. As long as you
Speaker 1: know that most of Australia was thinking, where's great, Dan,
Speaker 1: You're on this show right now?
Speaker 4: Because even way back way back in iore when it
Speaker 4: break my back, I was lying still for like four months,
Speaker 4: you know, recovering from that, and I just watched Endless
Speaker 4: episode after episode after episode of Top Year.
Speaker 3: So all my family bought me all the box at DBDs.
Speaker 3: So it was part of my recovery in therapy. So
Speaker 3: I'm deeply kind of connected to the show as well
Speaker 3: as a massive car fan, right, So yeah, it's it
Speaker 3: was the one that got away.
Speaker 2: You can't win them all.
Speaker 1: I guess it'll happen. I'm putting it out there. I'm
Speaker 1: putting it the head into the universe. I swear that
Speaker 1: that's going to happen at some point, and they won't
Speaker 1: need three. You've got enough personality to just do that
Speaker 1: one by yourself. I just want to say thank you
Speaker 1: so much for you being so generous with your time
Speaker 1: and for what you shared today. I've had such a
Speaker 1: good fine talking to you. I always do. You're a
Speaker 1: genius amongst geniuses of television, and I'm in your audience.
Speaker 2: Oh bless you. This has been so much fun. I
Speaker 2: didn't think we were going to go to the places
Speaker 2: that we went to.
Speaker 1: We hadn't, but I'm glad.
Speaker 2: I'm really go we did. It was it was gorgeous,
Speaker 2: warm and safe and and good for the soul.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I think there's something in that for all of us.
Speaker 1: Look After will give some love to Evie Jaines for me,
Speaker 1: I will do. We'll do great to chat