Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week. Thereby welcome back guys
Speaker 1: to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris, and on this
Speaker 1: podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest players
Speaker 1: in television. Each episode you will get a front row
Speaker 1: seat with content makers like executive producers, writers, editors, and
Speaker 1: casting agents, plus the talent that we see on our screens.
Speaker 1: TV Reload reloads the shows that you are currently watching
Speaker 1: and gives you a better insight into our television industry
Speaker 1: and our streaming services. Today on the podcast, I have
Speaker 1: Stathian Matt from the new reality series Hunted, the hit
Speaker 1: show for Channel ten saw these boys make it to
Speaker 1: the end and snag fifty thousand dollars. I have never
Speaker 1: done this before, but I have the boys here in
Speaker 1: my house, unedited and unfiltered. They had suggested coming onto
Speaker 1: the podcast via Twitter and probably didn't expect the invitation
Speaker 1: over to my home studio, but here we are. I mean,
Speaker 1: what's a couple of x reality TV stars who happen
Speaker 1: to be gay swapping stories on how to win reality TV?
Speaker 1: Mind you? Hunted is not an easy game and its
Speaker 1: format had to be seen to be believed. The Gripping
Speaker 1: series provides access all areas to both sides of the pursuit,
Speaker 1: resulting in a hard pounding game of cat and mouse
Speaker 1: that plays out like a real life thriller. Over nine episodes,
Speaker 1: we followed these fugitives, but only two made it to
Speaker 1: the end. Today I have one of those guys, Stathi
Speaker 1: and his captured teammate Matt, explain everything that happened and
Speaker 1: also give away some tips on how to be picked
Speaker 1: for series two and how to win the cash. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I'd like to welcome Stathy and Matt to my home
Speaker 1: and to TV reload.
Speaker 2: It's actually an accurate reflection of reality.
Speaker 3: Eighteen ordinary Australians.
Speaker 1: Who are these people?
Speaker 3: What do we know?
Speaker 1: Not?
Speaker 4: Everyone you know necessarily fits into stereotypical boxes, relentlessly pursue
Speaker 4: by an elite team of hunters.
Speaker 2: But like everything in life, there were some people who
Speaker 2: weren't willing to help.
Speaker 1: I will throw an hundible set of our resources for like, sure,
Speaker 1: the police people don't.
Speaker 4: Like it your extraction that due to the editing process.
Speaker 4: Obviously the country, everything that we did.
Speaker 1: And capture, you've been hunted down.
Speaker 4: Why would you go somewhere where you go every year,
Speaker 4: like it's so predictable. Of course the hunters are going
Speaker 4: to be there.
Speaker 1: Hey, boys, how are you good impressing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, just like embracing and processing and yeah, alive.
Speaker 1: Or congratulations on winning Hunted. This is such an amazing achievement.
Speaker 1: How do you feel.
Speaker 2: It still hasn't sunk in. It's been like barely a
Speaker 2: week and we're just catching up with family and friends
Speaker 2: and all the love that the community and people are
Speaker 2: throwing you away. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think it's been an amazing experience just to even.
Speaker 2: Watch it back, catching up with the other fugitives, because
Speaker 2: this is such a shared experience that you only have
Speaker 2: with them, and we were the only fugues who were
Speaker 2: operating in complete uncertainty. So that's like a lifeline, lifetime bond.
Speaker 1: What about the hunters? Do you have you become friends
Speaker 1: with them, the people that were trying to track you down. Nah,
Speaker 1: Now we.
Speaker 2: Love the hunters too.
Speaker 4: I'm still trying to find Michelle on social media, the
Speaker 4: one who caught me.
Speaker 3: I can't find her anywhere. She's just disappeared off the
Speaker 3: face of the earth.
Speaker 1: Well, if you could track her down, what would you say.
Speaker 2: To her probably saying my elbow is doing okay, you'll
Speaker 2: ask her for some dead oleids.
Speaker 1: Has this all set up any competitive issues between the
Speaker 1: two of you, you know, because as we know, Matt,
Speaker 1: you were caught and you managed to win. Has that
Speaker 1: been hard between the friendship?
Speaker 2: Unpossible because we won and this is a recurring theme
Speaker 2: that pops up a lot. But we entered as team
Speaker 2: s and m Britney can do nothing without Rihanna and
Speaker 2: vice versa. So we made it there at the end
Speaker 2: of the team because there is no way I could
Speaker 2: guarantee I would have made it at the endipoint started
Speaker 2: as a solo competitor.
Speaker 4: I think, yeah, it's one of those unique experiences where
Speaker 4: I think you go into it, you think you know
Speaker 4: what you're getting into, but you've got like one hundred
Speaker 4: times like it's a hundred times more real once you
Speaker 4: actually get on there and just being having someone else
Speaker 4: there to help you through the hard times and bounce
Speaker 4: ideas off and.
Speaker 3: All that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: And those last few days I may not have physically
Speaker 2: had Matt there, but I was constantly thinking what would
Speaker 2: Matt do, what's Matt's perspective here? And that's something that
Speaker 2: our friendship has built over the last twenty odd years,
Speaker 2: where I never pursue anything in life without really bouncing
Speaker 2: ideas off Matt. He's like the best mate and a brother.
Speaker 4: And I was seeing in a hotel room just rocking,
Speaker 4: crossing my fingers.
Speaker 2: That's starting. Made it to the end.
Speaker 1: But surely Stafi has tried to laud it over you
Speaker 1: a little bit right.
Speaker 2: I bought him a coffee. Should be happy.
Speaker 1: So tell me what was the application process like for
Speaker 1: you both? You know, was one of you wanting to
Speaker 1: do this more than the other?
Speaker 2: This is where it also gets interesting. Legitimately, we had
Speaker 2: no idea about this show. If you'd spoke to us
Speaker 2: eight months ago, did a no hunt? It existed until
Speaker 2: a colleague of ours, a mutual friend, contacted us saying
Speaker 2: this sounds like your cup of tea. Boys, She said,
Speaker 2: adult Hide and Seek applications closed in ten hours. We started,
Speaker 2: and we got our applications in within ten hours and
Speaker 2: the rest is history.
Speaker 1: But then, what happens after you apply for something like this?
Speaker 1: Do they call you and have like a phone call
Speaker 1: or a zoom chat like there? Do they get you
Speaker 1: to play hide and Seek in a hotel room before
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Now they saved the hide and Seek for the real thing.
Speaker 3: We literally got a call like the next day.
Speaker 4: Wow, yeah, just sort of sussing us out and seeing,
Speaker 4: you know, why I wanted to do the show and
Speaker 4: things like that.
Speaker 2: It's important to kind of like, yeah, test that chemistry
Speaker 2: and the relationships. You don't want eight best mates in
Speaker 2: the show. You need to have a little bit of diversity.
Speaker 2: And that's where they did brilliantly, not just the diversity
Speaker 2: of cast in a demographic sense, but even the reasons
Speaker 2: why different people were doing it. Matt and I had
Speaker 2: the gay flag that we wanted to hold with pride.
Speaker 2: We also had our own reasons for the for the money,
Speaker 2: but then seeing other fugues who had like Angie had
Speaker 2: her dad who was a fugitive and doing it for
Speaker 2: those reasons, and it was just really really beautiful to
Speaker 2: connect with the other fugues, just to kind of meet
Speaker 2: them and hear their stories.
Speaker 1: But do they have to take your word for it
Speaker 1: then that you are good at height and see you
Speaker 1: any good?
Speaker 3: Everyone was good at I love them all.
Speaker 2: We've been running away from relationships with third five years.
Speaker 2: Surely these cars can get us somewhere.
Speaker 1: Has both of you becoming overnight reality TV stares? How's
Speaker 1: that helping in the relationship front?
Speaker 2: Every second Grinder message is can you tell Matt to
Speaker 2: respond to my message?
Speaker 4: Please?
Speaker 2: Well, my DMS. I was excited about this prospect of DMS.
Speaker 2: I didn't have Instagram eight months ago. All social media
Speaker 2: world's new to me, my DMS. Can you tell Matt
Speaker 2: to respond to my messages? It's like starty exists.
Speaker 1: So you've become like his pimp.
Speaker 2: Great, take a commission twenty five grand, Matt, I.
Speaker 1: Gotta get the money back somehow. So when you got
Speaker 1: the call that you were going to be a part
Speaker 1: of the show, so how confident were you that you
Speaker 1: could win this?
Speaker 2: Look, there were we had strengths that we knew, but
Speaker 2: we also got the call at the eleventh hour. So
Speaker 2: I like to think of us as a bit of
Speaker 2: the queer wild Cards and were underdogs. Were the underdogs
Speaker 2: and seeing all the other competitors on day one when
Speaker 2: you exit the van, you don't get interaction with them,
Speaker 2: but that micro second of just that visual you start
Speaker 2: creating profiles and you're like, whoa, these are pretty fit people.
Speaker 2: Look at the cars on them. They look like they've
Speaker 2: got their game strategy. They're decoys happening, So that plays
Speaker 2: on your head as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's just being in that situation and
Speaker 4: not knowing anyone's background. Everyone was feeling pretty tight lipped,
Speaker 4: the producers for keeping use alves pretty separate throughout the day,
Speaker 4: and yeah, it was just kind of trying to suss
Speaker 4: out people with energy and just trying to read them.
Speaker 4: And I guess, yeah, make up your own stories about them.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget just jumping out of that then and
Speaker 2: seeing Grace and Sunny Joe in their beekeeper outfits and
Speaker 2: I was like, fuck, they are competition. They know a
Speaker 2: decoy better than us, and that disguises killer.
Speaker 1: But you're both I know that this is great for
Speaker 1: LGBTI visibility, but you both aren't that camp. And so
Speaker 1: when you guys made the joke about band camp, I
Speaker 1: was like, do they have to remind us that they're
Speaker 1: gay because you're not really stereotypical gay books.
Speaker 2: But I love that we went there to defy some
Speaker 2: stereotypes but also reinforce some because the beauty of our
Speaker 2: community is it's such a broad spectrum. We have feminine elements.
Speaker 2: We have masculine elements. You don't have to be one
Speaker 2: or the other if you choose to, absolutely, But what
Speaker 2: we want to represent is that we enjoy a drag show,
Speaker 2: We enjoy the arts. You enjoy the creative spaces, but
Speaker 2: we don't. We're not defined by that. We also like camping,
Speaker 2: we like roughing it, and I.
Speaker 4: Think, yeah, that was the whole point of you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, apart from playing hide and Seek and possibly
Speaker 4: winning the prize, it was just kind of getting out
Speaker 4: there and showing maybe a different side of the Quick
Speaker 4: community that maybe hasn't necessarily been shown that much on
Speaker 4: mainstream TV before, and just showing everyone that, you know,
Speaker 4: everyone in their own skin, does what they enjoy, are
Speaker 4: who they are, act how they want and all that
Speaker 4: kind of stuff, and that not everyone, you know, necessarily
Speaker 4: fits into stereotypical boxes. And that's not a problem either.
Speaker 2: And when we excel, like we usually generally excel in
Speaker 2: the creative and arts, and it's like seeing two gay
Speaker 2: men excel in an operational gameplay strategy like that doesn't
Speaker 2: have as much visibility as it probably should because there's
Speaker 2: a lot of gays out there that love rough and
Speaker 2: hiking and engage in different kind of activities, which a
Speaker 2: show like Hunted really gave us that opportunity to showcase.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because I think we have come a long
Speaker 1: way in wanting to be ourselves and I think that's
Speaker 1: something that was really quite beautiful about your time on
Speaker 1: the show, was that you guys were being authentically yourself.
Speaker 1: And I always think with reality shows, regardless as to
Speaker 1: what or how the competition is gauged or ranked, the
Speaker 1: most genuine people usually win.
Speaker 4: Do you know what, I don't think we really had
Speaker 4: a lot of time to worry about acting a certain
Speaker 4: way or Yeah, I think the pressure and the intensity
Speaker 4: of being on a show like Hunted, when you're literally
Speaker 4: not necessarily worried for your safety, but you're worried that
Speaker 4: the hunters are going to jump out, You're worried that
Speaker 4: you're going to get caught. You're always trying to think, think,
Speaker 4: so like not being your authentic self would just take
Speaker 4: that much more extra energy.
Speaker 2: You don't have time for it. Yeah. I don't want
Speaker 2: mean to draw the comparison, but maybe in a concept
Speaker 2: like Big Brother, where there's a bit more downtime, you
Speaker 2: have opportunities to think oh, how can I play this?
Speaker 2: How can I work this narrative? Play that or say
Speaker 2: this joke, be the funny dude. But we literally any
Speaker 2: spare moment you had you were sleeping because you were
Speaker 2: so physically exhausted, because your mind's going as well running,
Speaker 2: and because we legitimately had no idea what the hunters
Speaker 2: look like, what they were driving, how many there were.
Speaker 2: You expect that they're going to be really cute enforcement
Speaker 2: military types.
Speaker 1: But disappointed that they were disappointed of them.
Speaker 2: That wasn't called. He ran towards there can't catch me boys.
Speaker 1: So that's how we got comed. Do you think the
Speaker 1: fact that you guys are both from Melbourne and they
Speaker 1: chose to shoot it in Victoria do you reckon that
Speaker 1: was an advantage for the two of you.
Speaker 3: I think there's pros and cons to it.
Speaker 4: I think the advantages obviously, when you know you're in
Speaker 4: the back of this blacked out van and being dropped
Speaker 4: somewhere you have no idea where you're going to be.
Speaker 3: That really helped kind of you jump out the van, you.
Speaker 4: Start running, You're like, oh, I'm at fed Square and
Speaker 4: you know sort of where you're headed.
Speaker 2: Then all the lane ways and all those type little
Speaker 2: spots in Melbourne that we're familiar with. We like a
Speaker 2: lot of the issues or the things that always come
Speaker 2: up in conversation about hunted. Everything's like a double edged sword,
Speaker 2: because yes, it was advantages knowing the state, but it
Speaker 2: was also a disadvantage because we have a footprint all
Speaker 2: over the state. We have a support network all over
Speaker 2: the state, so it gives the hunters more in order
Speaker 2: to track us down. They could look through our socials
Speaker 2: and see where we visited and suspect that we're going
Speaker 2: to go to places we're familiar with, whereas if you're
Speaker 2: in an unknown place, it's harder to make that link.
Speaker 2: So a lot of things were a bit of a
Speaker 2: double edged.
Speaker 1: Sword goes both ways. You know, how did you go
Speaker 1: watching it back? Did you enjoy watching it back?
Speaker 2: I really did.
Speaker 4: It was I mean, I think due to the editing
Speaker 4: process of it is the country everything that we did
Speaker 4: and so that was like maybe a little bit sad
Speaker 4: because you do want to see everything we did again,
Speaker 4: but I think the parts that we did get to see, yeah,
Speaker 4: were amazing, and we got to watch it together.
Speaker 2: We organized viewing parties every night, so with our friends
Speaker 2: with our family. The final night we hosted at Molly's,
Speaker 2: which was amazing, So we had fugues from interstate and
Speaker 2: it was just such a great viewing experience. Again just
Speaker 2: going back to the format, where as a viewer, I
Speaker 2: was scared that the intensity and all that wasn't going
Speaker 2: to get captured. But not only was it captured, we
Speaker 2: knew the outcome and we were still on the edge.
Speaker 4: Of our seats, were like, yeah, we were sitting there
Speaker 4: watching started running across the beach to that alicopter and
Speaker 4: it went to the ad break and just turned around
Speaker 4: and everyone was just like on the edge of their seat.
Speaker 1: Because so how many people really knew.
Speaker 2: So I had this unique strategy. I had told every
Speaker 2: single person in my immediate social circle, so my Greek
Speaker 2: family that's seven hundred and just a couple of people.
Speaker 2: I told everyone a uniquely different outcome. So I told
Speaker 2: some people that was out day one, some people that
Speaker 2: we were out in the middle, the different scenarios. Because
Speaker 2: then when news came back to me and someone said, hey,
Speaker 2: I heard you got out day one, I was like,
Speaker 2: Fasula has been talking.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, this is how you won, this is how
Speaker 1: it all works out. No one's pulling the ball over
Speaker 1: your eyes. And then what was your impression of the
Speaker 1: other teams, you know, watching it back? I mean, were
Speaker 1: you very critical of other people or were you kind
Speaker 1: of empathetic to what was going on because you kind
Speaker 1: of understood it.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, there was a lot of empathy, but there was
Speaker 2: a lot of like like complete admiration for some of
Speaker 2: the strategies and gameplays that the others were playing, Like
Speaker 2: seeing Grays and Sunny Joe just completely disappear. I was like,
Speaker 2: I knew you were competition and you were bringing it.
Speaker 2: And then seeing like Nick and Leavinya just go off
Speaker 2: the grid and rough it, which was a big part
Speaker 2: of our strategy as well. And Rob's talent in the
Speaker 2: sky space. It's like, how came up drag cannot compete
Speaker 2: with We could try, I wouldn't look any good.
Speaker 1: Was it a week that you wore at one point
Speaker 1: that made you look a bit like mister.
Speaker 2: G oh, look when Chris Lily wants to do some
Speaker 2: of heights College on available.
Speaker 1: Was it hard for you to set up alliances? We
Speaker 1: saw you have an alliance with Deana Curry Frock Hudson.
Speaker 1: Was it easy to get people to say yes to
Speaker 1: Bang on the show, because it was reported somewhere in
Speaker 1: the media that some people had difficulty presetting up those
Speaker 1: alliances because people didn't want to do it.
Speaker 2: I think the thing with this topic issue is it's
Speaker 2: actually an accurate reflection of reality. In reality, some people
Speaker 2: want to help, some people don't want to help. And yes,
Speaker 2: there were a lot of amazing people out there that
Speaker 2: we are so humbled by their support because they went
Speaker 2: above and beyond. But like everything in life, there were
Speaker 2: some people who weren't willing to help. And then with
Speaker 2: our support network that we had on the show, some
Speaker 2: made some errors, some stuffed up, some didn't. That's also
Speaker 2: how the real world works sometimes when people are interrogated
Speaker 2: by believes verbal diarrhea, everything's on the table. And other
Speaker 2: people were good liars just yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean some of them did freak out a little
Speaker 4: bit and some of them were just completely stonefaced. But
Speaker 4: I think like even yeah, just random members of the
Speaker 4: public as we went along, like, well, those.
Speaker 1: Two people at the end rhyme, had you met on.
Speaker 2: The did you meet on the Japanese Angel?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I know, but I did you. Let's just let's
Speaker 1: be real here. You knew those two women.
Speaker 2: Ryan I knew her two seconds after I met her,
Speaker 2: which was on the final day, and I had no
Speaker 2: real plan going into that other than I just need
Speaker 2: to navigate inland. I can't be on the main strip.
Speaker 2: So I was hiking from Cape Pattison the day before
Speaker 2: and coming across these two hikers and when I approached
Speaker 2: and I said I need help, she goes, I'm a hiker.
Speaker 2: I know all the streets. I'm like, wait what, and
Speaker 2: she goes. And every day I wake up, I've been
Speaker 2: living here in Invelocked for thirty years. I take a
Speaker 2: different route, so I know every street, I know every
Speaker 2: CCTV camera. I'm like, who are you? I don't even
Speaker 2: believe in God above maybe Britney Center.
Speaker 1: She was amazing, she really was. And the inclusion of
Speaker 1: chill Out, I thought was really great for LGBTI inclusion,
Speaker 1: but it also was like you know in those Mission
Speaker 1: Impossible movies where all of a sudden they're in Mexico
Speaker 1: and they're all of the Day of the Dead and
Speaker 1: there's lots of masks and it makes it spectacular movie experience.
Speaker 1: And then this made it an amazing TV experience because
Speaker 1: there was all of the drag queens and the color
Speaker 1: of the LGBTI community. It was a great way to
Speaker 1: be you know. It was a great setting for the finale. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was, and it was it your idea.
Speaker 2: We've been going to Chili for forever for such an
Speaker 2: important moment for us, and we discussed it on the show.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's just it's one of those things
Speaker 4: that I think we look forward to every year. We
Speaker 4: get to spend a long weekend with our friends. We
Speaker 4: get to see old friends and meet new friends and
Speaker 4: you know, actually chill out a bit as well, have
Speaker 4: a bit of a relax and just have.
Speaker 2: So warm and hospitable and every person we've met there
Speaker 2: has just been so gracious and so lovely, and it's
Speaker 2: so different to our expectation. We hadn't gone to Mardi
Speaker 2: Gras or big parties or the people travel the world
Speaker 2: doing all the circuit parties, so chill out was our
Speaker 2: first real big gay party and just to have that
Speaker 2: experience there. So we were contemplating do we go, don't
Speaker 2: we go. It's something we've gone to every year, and
Speaker 2: it is risky, but when you're on the run, every
Speaker 2: option is risky. It's just about assessing the different levels
Speaker 2: of risk. There's nothing that's risk free, so we thought,
Speaker 2: if we can pursue something that is risky but also
Speaker 2: gives us a lot of value and is special to us,
Speaker 2: then of course it's an easy option.
Speaker 4: It was the opportunity to be able to maybe see
Speaker 4: some friends or see a familiar face when you've spent
Speaker 4: so much time on the run and you've basically cut
Speaker 4: off from your family and friends. That opportunity just to
Speaker 4: kind of give you a bit of an energy boost
Speaker 4: and exactly take you over the last few days. Finish
Speaker 4: line that was I guess the main idea behind.
Speaker 2: It and showing chill out on National Talivision. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: we could be their ambassadors.
Speaker 1: I think Dan R. Crow'd be upset if he missed
Speaker 1: out on for reality TV aple to come and stand.
Speaker 1: I don't think you'd be happy. Everyone wants to know
Speaker 1: about this whole Do they have a full camera crew
Speaker 1: following your round? Now? I spoke to the chief about
Speaker 1: this and he was explaining technology these days is a
Speaker 1: little bit easier, so it's not heaps of people there.
Speaker 1: It is one extra person. So did it feel like
Speaker 1: there was three in the team when you started, because
Speaker 1: there was this one extra person doing everything.
Speaker 2: I like felt we're just so preoccupied with staying off
Speaker 2: the grid avoiding capture. You do forget that they're there,
Speaker 2: You forget the cameras are there, and you don't even
Speaker 2: have time to really like process that. And it is
Speaker 2: something again that comes up regularly. But if they're close
Speaker 2: enough to see a cameraman, you've already been hunted for
Speaker 2: reasons unrelated to the genre man. So we could be
Speaker 2: wearing hot air balloons on our heads on the Great
Speaker 2: Ocean Road and they're in Melbourne. They're not going to
Speaker 2: see us. But if they find out we're there because
Speaker 2: we passed a camera, we used a bank card, then yes,
Speaker 2: there is that component of visibility. But then that works
Speaker 2: both ways because the hunters have cameras too, so that
Speaker 2: kind of balances itself out.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but spending that much time with someone for you know,
Speaker 4: three weeks, basically you do you do former connection with them?
Speaker 1: And are you friends with this person?
Speaker 2: Now? Yeah, they came to me's a bridal party.
Speaker 3: Am I getting married to him?
Speaker 2: The grinder?
Speaker 1: Who was was it a boy or a girl that
Speaker 1: was with you? As your sort of third teammate. It
Speaker 1: was a guy was a guy and you're married now great.
Speaker 2: I don't think his partner will be too happy, Madam
Speaker 2: and I are still fighting over So he's a.
Speaker 1: Looker, so he should have been on camera. You know,
Speaker 1: from what we saw and from what you've watched, how
Speaker 1: aligned was the experience? I mean, was do you feel
Speaker 1: like that that's a really accurate portrayal of what we saw?
Speaker 3: I cried every second day, So yes.
Speaker 1: What about you know where there? Because they would get
Speaker 1: footage right, so like you know, someone would turn up
Speaker 1: at a caravan park and they'd be like the hunters would
Speaker 1: be like, get the footage from the caravan park. Surely
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff? I mean, how could the hunters
Speaker 1: ascertain footage like that? Were there some elements though that
Speaker 1: have to be TVM. I don't know what it is,
Speaker 1: but was there times where the producers are like, this
Speaker 1: is TV magic.
Speaker 2: Well, they're replicating powers of the state that would ordinarily
Speaker 2: be available. So at no points throughout our run did
Speaker 2: they replicate any powers that wouldn't be available if you
Speaker 2: were in the bush, not surrounded by CCTV cameras or
Speaker 2: any electronic devices. They couldn't feed that information to the
Speaker 2: hunters because that's not something that would ordinarily be available
Speaker 2: to the state. But if you're putting yourself in situations
Speaker 2: where you're crossing cc TV, where you're interacting with members
Speaker 2: of the public who could wrap you out.
Speaker 3: When you're money out of an ATM, like when.
Speaker 2: You engage with risk, that creates those opportunities, And that's
Speaker 2: what some viewers weren't fully comprehending.
Speaker 1: But then like said, God, to an ATM, do they say,
Speaker 1: did you say to this third person, this hot man
Speaker 1: that you're hanging out with, do you say that you're
Speaker 1: going to go over to the ATM? And they then
Speaker 1: set up a camera on the top of the ATM,
Speaker 1: Like is in how is that kind of stuff happening?
Speaker 2: You'd use your ATM card and just like ordinary kind
Speaker 2: of bank transactions that would pop up automatically to.
Speaker 1: A this is someone going and setting up in an
Speaker 1: additional camera, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Well, they have to replicate it so they can't actually
Speaker 4: contact the bank and say, hey, hey, CCTV.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to open.
Speaker 2: I thought there was a tooth ferry.
Speaker 1: There was because there weren't these things that people kept
Speaker 1: asking if you're on social media, which I'm guessing you
Speaker 1: boys were reading about everything that was people were saying.
Speaker 1: There was always these questions. There was one question that
Speaker 1: I read even today, which was there was also a
Speaker 1: publicity shot of you guys at Federation Square all together,
Speaker 1: all the teams together. Did they take that group shot
Speaker 1: for publicity purposes before the hunt essentially, or do they
Speaker 1: do that after the show had been seen shot?
Speaker 2: Can I see it? Do I look cute?
Speaker 1: Have you not seen that photo?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: It was I Ryan Gosling.
Speaker 1: Or let's go with yes and I will.
Speaker 2: It was taken fifteen years ago when I was assiced
Speaker 2: thirty two waists.
Speaker 1: I could show you the photo now, but I just
Speaker 1: don't want to waste the rest of the podcast if
Speaker 1: you're either too happy with the photo or all you're
Speaker 1: upset about it. A question I have was why was
Speaker 1: the other guy in the helicopter cheering you on to
Speaker 1: get in the helicopter? Didn't he Wasn't he aware that
Speaker 1: if you get into the helicopter, he's going to have
Speaker 1: the money. Like if that was me, I or to
Speaker 1: push you out of the helicopter.
Speaker 2: Tring me on? He was shouting go away. He threw
Speaker 2: stand in my face and closed the door.
Speaker 1: I thought he was saying go.
Speaker 2: Away away, like he was telling the pilot that he
Speaker 2: was five past one. He was like, girl, get your
Speaker 2: watch right, I was watching that like joking.
Speaker 1: He was so supportive.
Speaker 2: He was, And yeah, that's the other that bond with
Speaker 2: someone that you shared that experience with has also been
Speaker 2: special when also considering what Rob wants to do with
Speaker 2: the money as well, he has his own fatherhood journey
Speaker 2: that he's pursuing. We joke about it all the time
Speaker 2: that he locked the door, that he was they were
Speaker 2: trying to fly off, but he was like, welcome me
Speaker 2: with open arms.
Speaker 1: He was so supportive.
Speaker 4: I think it's one of those things when you've had
Speaker 4: even though we had completely different experiences on the run,
Speaker 4: we also had a shared experience in that we felt
Speaker 4: those feelings you know, of terror and anxiety and we'll
Speaker 4: get caught today and all of that. And I think
Speaker 4: reaching the end, yeah, you know, you would be happy
Speaker 4: with anyone who got into helicopter because it was just like, wow,
Speaker 4: we made it.
Speaker 1: It was exciting.
Speaker 2: One thing, actually, I literally just had this epiphany, now
Speaker 2: I saw your capture so I knew I was flying
Speaker 2: solo in the chopper. Rob had no idea that Jake
Speaker 2: had been caught, so up until that moment, he was
Speaker 2: potentially thinking Jake could run across at any moment, right
Speaker 2: and the moment he saw me with my big gut
Speaker 2: and my flabby tits, he was like that, ain't Jake.
Speaker 2: He is like, where is Jake?
Speaker 1: Oh no, So he.
Speaker 2: Would have had that moment right then he would have
Speaker 2: been like, bloody hell. Up until this point, I thought
Speaker 2: it could have been my teammate meeting me in the chopper,
Speaker 2: and now he's like this ranger Greek dudes here and.
Speaker 1: Both Isn't that amazing? Was that both of you, both
Speaker 1: of those two people you've been one of them, have
Speaker 1: this journey of wanting to be a parent, and that
Speaker 1: was the ambition behind, you know, wanting to win. Was
Speaker 1: that surreal that you both had that ambition? Yes, but
Speaker 1: you now not both get together and have a child.
Speaker 2: Though I've been trying that with all my boyfriends, just
Speaker 2: never worked. I think I might have fertility issues. I've
Speaker 2: been a spum downer since I was very young, so
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: That there's got to be something out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's some ginger Greeks out there, but I like,
Speaker 2: I want to be a father, want to raise a child,
Speaker 2: and I want to give them the emotional blackmail that
Speaker 2: my parents did for the last thirty five years. Come on,
Speaker 2: the next generation. It's time the trauma come.
Speaker 1: You need you need to pass it on. Interestingly enough,
Speaker 1: I was talking to Pam Moranda for the podcast this
Speaker 1: morning and she was saying talking about Ala Brandy, and
Speaker 1: she was saying, you know what's really sad was the
Speaker 1: good room in all the Greeks and Italians houses with
Speaker 1: all the plastic on the furniture. She was like, that's stopped.
Speaker 1: Now they're not doing it as much. She's like, we
Speaker 1: need She was like, I want more good rooms.
Speaker 2: Who can afford a spare room in their house? I've
Speaker 2: need be forty square in meters.
Speaker 1: Pr Now that you've been through this experience, what would
Speaker 1: you do differently?
Speaker 2: Nothing? That's a very very easy response.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been asked this question as well.
Speaker 1: Will you probably feel different about it? Right?
Speaker 4: Well, I mean I would wear runners in Dallas for
Speaker 4: it was the first day that I put my cons on.
Speaker 4: And let's just say I can't run as fast in
Speaker 4: cons as I can runners.
Speaker 2: And your skinny leg jeans. He was there to impress
Speaker 2: the boys, which worked.
Speaker 4: Well apparently, But no, I was, I guess just trying
Speaker 4: to dress to fit in, you know, with the crowd
Speaker 4: in chill out, and you know, we wore running shorts
Speaker 4: and runners for the best part of three weeks and
Speaker 4: the one day that I chose not to wear that
Speaker 4: is the day that I got caught. So but I mean,
Speaker 4: apart from that, yeah, I don't. You know, some people
Speaker 4: are like, oh my god, they're idiots going to Dalsford,
Speaker 4: Like why would you go somewhere where you go every year,
Speaker 4: like it's so predictable. Of course the hunters are going
Speaker 4: to be there. But like I said before, I think
Speaker 4: we were just at a point where we were such
Speaker 4: we were so low on energy and just being able
Speaker 4: to see a familiar face or you know, someone we
Speaker 4: can just say, hey, have a chat, to find someone
Speaker 4: who we can maybe stay with. All of those kind
Speaker 4: of opportunity it is. It just kind of came at
Speaker 4: the right time in the run. Yes, I wouldn't change
Speaker 4: going to Dallasford.
Speaker 2: And with such believers in like the butterfly effect, if
Speaker 2: you change anything over the course of those twenty one days,
Speaker 2: you'd compromise the ending and we might have both been
Speaker 2: caught and be fifty thousand dollars poorer.
Speaker 1: Are you have you spent any of the money? Is
Speaker 1: the money in your banking.
Speaker 2: I've got his tit stuff. I got my knees done this.
Speaker 1: Much because I didn't have done myself.
Speaker 3: I reckon they're bigger, and they've just got bigger over COVID.
Speaker 1: You know how you get a new haircut, you have
Speaker 1: a little bit of extra confidence. You know they say
Speaker 1: when you get the short back in sides, you go
Speaker 1: out that night, you'll pick up. Does winning a reality
Speaker 1: TV show help you with picking up? Have you guys
Speaker 1: got fresh back and sides confidence going on?
Speaker 2: I don't get blocked as much on grinder. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Do they just want to They want to talk to
Speaker 1: you about one hundred year and.
Speaker 2: Then they just want Matt's number. I can pull up
Speaker 2: the messages.
Speaker 1: People of saying that season two is definitely happening.
Speaker 2: Do you guys know that confirmed? They've already opened up casting,
Speaker 2: and I think my family have already applied, including Dean.
Speaker 2: I think that's what is busy doing tonight. Yeah, Frock
Speaker 2: Hudson season two. Heard it here first.
Speaker 1: For rock Hudson, he would be loving it. I'm surprised
Speaker 1: he hasn't done reality TV. I feel like back in
Speaker 1: the day, very few people would know someone you know,
Speaker 1: who'd been on Big Brother or Idol or something like that.
Speaker 1: These days, it's like, oh, yeah, my milkman.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Again, it's actually quite funny that that that is the case.
Speaker 1: But I guess the thing that people would be listening
Speaker 1: to this for with casting now being open is what
Speaker 1: is your advice to getting picked on the show? And
Speaker 1: then we'll get into it, but you know, what is
Speaker 1: your advice for not getting caught? Well, let's start with
Speaker 1: the application process. How do you get noticed?
Speaker 4: I think getting picked, my advice is to just be yourself.
Speaker 4: And I mean it sounds simple, maybe a bit cliche,
Speaker 4: but I think that's the reason we got picked, just
Speaker 4: because we had that band, so we had that energy.
Speaker 3: You know, you can't really.
Speaker 4: Easily replicate a friendship of twenty plus years, so I
Speaker 4: think being yourself is probably and also just having a
Speaker 4: bit of a good game plan, like.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. Yeah, if you don't have a strategy
Speaker 2: for you've eating capture that's not going to work really well,
Speaker 2: and it's also not going to be too entertaining, or
Speaker 2: maybe it's really entertaining, so it just like walks out
Speaker 2: and takes a seat and then it's like damn, well
Speaker 2: just sits in the van. They're like, I ain't leaving.
Speaker 1: You do have very good chemistry, like I. You know,
Speaker 1: I often interview people and you can see it. Maybe
Speaker 1: I don't interview people together, so this is you know,
Speaker 1: it's usually one on one, but it's you can feel it.
Speaker 2: It's all that that night in Cambodia, Matt, remember on
Speaker 2: the bus after that we bonded.
Speaker 1: Did you make a par Have you ever been together
Speaker 1: either if you tried?
Speaker 2: I was holding his hair whilst he was ducking in
Speaker 2: the cold.
Speaker 1: The best of it, and then the advice to not
Speaker 1: getting court because you know, interestingly enough, having a season
Speaker 1: two means that you can watch the first series and
Speaker 1: learn from your mistakes. I actually think series two is
Speaker 1: going to be more exciting because it's the people are
Speaker 1: going to know more, They're going to know how to
Speaker 1: do things better.
Speaker 2: The hunters are really going to have to up their game,
Speaker 2: so they're going to have to up their strategy. Change
Speaker 2: their strategy. Part of that is recruiting Jake and I's
Speaker 2: Foxy fox Trot. So Jake and I will come back
Speaker 2: as Hunters, and two.
Speaker 1: How do they write you both into a series too?
Speaker 1: They've got to make that happen somehow.
Speaker 2: Well, that's also good on his feet, so he's going
Speaker 2: to be running. Rod can be doing like the decoy
Speaker 2: makeup for the Hunters, because if the Hunters are elevating
Speaker 2: this strategy, imagine a Hunter in drag running down the street.
Speaker 1: Well, look, you know, you've got to just keep your
Speaker 1: finger in the pies until they do an all stars
Speaker 1: version of where they bring back their favorites. Do you
Speaker 1: think that? Do you both think that series two will
Speaker 1: be more exciting?
Speaker 2: I don't because we won't be there.
Speaker 4: Okay, I think it'll be interesting though to see, you know,
Speaker 4: sort of strategies and stuff that people come up with
Speaker 4: and kind of you know, I don't know whether it's
Speaker 4: going to be filmed in Melbourne and Victoria again or
Speaker 4: whether it will be somewhere else.
Speaker 2: The format just has so much opportunity and potential in
Speaker 2: the UK, in the US, all these countries where it's
Speaker 2: been done. They mix it up with geography, they mix
Speaker 2: it up with contestants, they do celebrity versions, so there's
Speaker 2: so much potential there to keep the format exciting. And
Speaker 2: it comes down to casting as well. You get good
Speaker 2: people that give you an interesting mix. And we had
Speaker 2: eight nine diverse groups of people with different strategies. Next
Speaker 2: season might be completely different strategies again, and you might
Speaker 2: see other stuff.
Speaker 3: Might imagine playing Hunted as a celebrity.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there are some seasons out there. And it was like,
Speaker 4: that would be the hardest game ever.
Speaker 1: I think, I think it does it. I mean that's
Speaker 1: why they've done it in the UK. And I was
Speaker 1: speaking to the chief about, you know, who would he
Speaker 1: want to track down? And he was saying, Oh, what's
Speaker 1: the guy's name from SAS? This is terrible, Oh the
Speaker 1: scary man that yells at everyone, terrible gas, terrible gays.
Speaker 1: You can't remember any other show except the ones that
Speaker 1: we're on. It is hilarious. The most annoying question for
Speaker 1: me was always what are you going to spend the
Speaker 1: money on? Is that the most annoying question that people
Speaker 1: want to know? What are you doing with the cash?
Speaker 2: The most annoying question I get is what's Matt's number.
Speaker 1: Did you give it out?
Speaker 2: No, it depends on much pay me.
Speaker 4: But he sent me a screenshow the other night and
Speaker 4: it was just a faceless grinder profile, and I like,
Speaker 4: absolutely not.
Speaker 1: Do you take like a headles shot of yourself and
Speaker 1: send it to him and see whether he says anything
Speaker 1: good or bad?
Speaker 2: No, I've got photos of Mat or use.
Speaker 1: I just want to say, you guys were so fantastic
Speaker 1: on this show, and you know it was great television.
Speaker 1: Nine episodes is not a lot of episodes that think
Speaker 1: they could have it longer next time round, But congratulations
Speaker 1: on that. Also, what's something from behind the scenes, something
Speaker 1: that we didn't say that we would love to know
Speaker 1: from your experience on Hunted?
Speaker 2: Oh there was this night I got terrible, terrible food poisoning.
Speaker 2: I couldn't stop vomiting after drinking six bottles of wine.
Speaker 2: Was really bad?
Speaker 1: Was it true? Is such a true story?
Speaker 2: The good poisoning was eating a used nugget on the floor.
Speaker 1: Did you get food poisonings? Okay, so none of that's
Speaker 1: have you got something from behind.
Speaker 3: The second we did eat a nugget that was someone's leftover.
Speaker 2: But Matt, being my bestie, he cut around the bite.
Speaker 2: Mark smamy. Oh that's so nice, You're so sweet. But
Speaker 2: then we realized that what I was eating was the
Speaker 2: part that would have had their grubby fingers on it.
Speaker 1: And let's face it, you've both put worse things in
Speaker 1: your mouth. Oh.
Speaker 2: We did also do a bit of Oh we did
Speaker 2: a reveal. So on day one when we left, we
Speaker 2: had our black shorts and black T shirt and we've
Speaker 2: watched fifty three seasons of Drag Race this year and
Speaker 2: we learned the art of reveal. So those black shorts
Speaker 2: and T shirts came right off and we had a
Speaker 2: rainbow jersey underneath. So we prays through the CBD escape
Speaker 2: from the.
Speaker 3: Top on the tram and off we went into the sunsets.
Speaker 2: See, we define stereotypes where you reinforce some others.
Speaker 1: It's like reclaiming things like puff tuffs, Like no one
Speaker 1: would wanted to be called the puff back in the day,
Speaker 1: but now we love being a and we have a
Speaker 1: club for it. Guys, what a joy it has been
Speaker 1: to have the people who have won unpacked the show.
Speaker 1: And I think this would be great for people who
Speaker 1: watched it, but also great for people that want to
Speaker 1: take part in it, so congratulations having amazing