Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast pat deep that line. Welcome back,
Speaker 1: guys to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Irra, says
Speaker 1: you may know, and this is your podcast to get
Speaker 1: all the insight goss on the popular shows you may
Speaker 1: be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets
Speaker 1: are a major part of our home entertainment, and yet
Speaker 1: very little is known about how our favorite shows get made.
Speaker 1: So each episode, I've been finding guests that want to
Speaker 1: dive just that little bit deeper into the shows they're
Speaker 1: currently making, so that you can hear all their exclusive
Speaker 1: stories and gain access to the biggest names in Australian television.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for downloading or subscribing to
Speaker 1: this podcast however you found me. I love hearing your feedback,
Speaker 1: so make sure you leave a review or a comment
Speaker 1: on your chosen podcast platform. This chat, I'm joined by
Speaker 1: Aunt Middleton, the host of Channel seven's new reality series
Speaker 1: Million Dollar Island, which launches this week on Australian screens.
Speaker 1: The series is extremely ambitious and has the most amount
Speaker 1: of reality TV contestants ever formed, competing for the cash
Speaker 1: prize of a million dollars does borrow a lot of
Speaker 1: ideas from your favorite reality shows, kind of rolls them together. Sure,
Speaker 1: there are elements of Survivor and Big Brother which fans
Speaker 1: will notice, but there's also new ways in which these
Speaker 1: contestants get tested that makes this format new and exciting.
Speaker 1: Anthony Middleton is a British adventurer, writer, television personality and
Speaker 1: former UK Special Forces soldier. He is best known in
Speaker 1: Australia for his role as chief instructor on SAS and
Speaker 1: it's very exciting to have him here today. On the podcast,
Speaker 1: I will find out why Ant said yes to this
Speaker 1: show and if it's excited to show a softer side Ant.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about why it wasn't hard for him to
Speaker 1: control one hundred contestants and what the pressure of one
Speaker 1: million dollars can do to a person. We will also
Speaker 1: unpack Ant's love of Australian television and if a role
Speaker 1: on Home in a way would interest him. Plus, guys,
Speaker 1: we're going to get plenty of exclusives from behind the
Speaker 1: scenes of Million Dollar Island, which starts on the twelfth
Speaker 1: of June and is on three nights a week Monday,
Speaker 1: Tuesdays and Wednesdays Plus will be available to catch up
Speaker 1: on seven Plus. Anyway, let's bring Anne into the podcast.
Speaker 1: And guys, I really hope you enjoyed this special preview
Speaker 1: of Million Dollar Island. Hi, and how are you?
Speaker 2: Yes, Ben, I'm good, how are you?
Speaker 1: I'm very excited because I really do enjoy a new
Speaker 1: format of a reality show, and this one is like
Speaker 1: nothing we've ever seen before. What did you say when
Speaker 1: they came to you with the idea of doing Million
Speaker 1: Dollar Island?
Speaker 3: It was one of those where you tried to imagine
Speaker 3: it in your head. You know, one hundred people on
Speaker 3: the island. They've got ten thousand dollars on their wrists,
Speaker 3: so they're worth ten thousand dollars. The bracelets and the
Speaker 3: money have to stay on the island whilst people obviously
Speaker 3: leave or go or get eliminated or just leave off
Speaker 3: their own will. And then they have to battle it
Speaker 3: out every single day. So the survival element really intrigued me.
Speaker 3: I thought, I love survival. Surviving on an island for
Speaker 3: a month by itself, as hardcore enough as it is,
Speaker 3: and then to add the battle element, you know, challenges
Speaker 3: every single day where it's a real challenges or survival challenges.
Speaker 3: On top of that survival, I thought to myself, this
Speaker 3: will be very interesting and also, you know I could
Speaker 3: help them along the way where necessary or where I could.
Speaker 2: So I snapped it up straight away. I was like,
Speaker 2: let's do it.
Speaker 3: Let let's implement some pain and suffering and you know,
Speaker 3: let's let's get it on. So it was no brainer
Speaker 3: for me when Channel seven aim and offered me the
Speaker 3: hosting role.
Speaker 1: I thought it was really interesting because we're getting a
Speaker 1: much softer side of you than what we've seen on
Speaker 1: SAS and what we've known of you. Was that also
Speaker 1: a bit of a draw card to maybe, you know,
Speaker 1: take it down a couple of notches.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, You know SAS is so unique. You know, it's
Speaker 3: a military show. It's a compressed sort of form of
Speaker 3: the UK selection process, and you know, you have to scream,
Speaker 3: you have to shout, you have to insert discipline as
Speaker 3: part of being in the military. But that's such a
Speaker 3: small part of who I am. You know, that's how
Speaker 3: I was taught and that's how I teach when it
Speaker 3: comes to military tactics, because you know, you embed it
Speaker 3: in their heads. You know, you make any mistakes on
Speaker 3: the battlefield. It's life or death. So it's definitely just
Speaker 3: a small part of me. Who you see on Million
Speaker 3: Dollar Island is the majority of me is who I
Speaker 3: really am. You know, I'm a family man. You know,
Speaker 3: I love helping people. I love getting the best out
Speaker 3: of people. But ultimately you do see that on SAS,
Speaker 3: but in a brutal kind of way, where on Million
Speaker 3: Dollar Island you get to see.
Speaker 2: You know, the real me more than more than you
Speaker 2: do on SAS.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that was that was also a great way
Speaker 3: of just showing people a different side to me.
Speaker 1: I also thought, you know, when it came to casting
Speaker 1: this role, I was like, we've got one hundred contestants.
Speaker 1: We need somebody who's going to be able to command
Speaker 1: a hundred people. I mean, how hard was it to
Speaker 1: get the cast to shut up and listen to you?
Speaker 1: At times?
Speaker 3: That wasn't too hard actually, because when they first met me,
Speaker 3: you can imagine, you know, their eyes sort of widened
Speaker 3: just to say, you know, and were going to are
Speaker 3: we going to die on this island?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: And it wasn't until I got them in the arena
Speaker 2: and I.
Speaker 3: Sort of you know, introduced myself as this host and
Speaker 3: you know, I'm there as they're ultimately as their big
Speaker 3: as cheerleader.
Speaker 2: I'm there to help them through.
Speaker 3: I'm there to give them a few gems along the
Speaker 3: way in order to survive and make it through the challenges.
Speaker 3: So once I told them that I was there to
Speaker 3: help them through this process and to guide them through it, they.
Speaker 2: Were really responsive to that.
Speaker 3: They were all ears, they were really focused, and you know,
Speaker 3: as the days went by, they realized why I was there,
Speaker 3: you know, to really sort of help them through and
Speaker 3: to guide them through as much as I could without
Speaker 3: giving the game away.
Speaker 2: So the respect was there, which was great. And also
Speaker 2: to be fair.
Speaker 3: They did pin back their ears and listening, so I
Speaker 3: didn't have to bring sas and out at all.
Speaker 2: It was just a million dollar island.
Speaker 1: A bit of you know, Stockholm syndrome. They end up
Speaker 1: becoming obsessed with, you know, the people that are capturing them.
Speaker 2: You know what, I think. I didn't capture them. I
Speaker 2: didn't them. You know, you you make me make me
Speaker 2: look bad.
Speaker 3: You think like I've caught them and all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: I've just flung them on an islands. I wish I
Speaker 3: could do that, but no, I think they did actually
Speaker 3: come in with a bit of a.
Speaker 2: Oh good lord, this is Sam Middleton and thinking that
Speaker 2: I'd do a bit of screaming and shouting, but no,
Speaker 2: it was completely opposite.
Speaker 3: And it was nice as well, because you know, you
Speaker 3: could see that they were pleasantly surprised as well.
Speaker 2: You know, especially when they're tired, they're.
Speaker 3: Hungry, they're suffering, you know, they're weak into it, they
Speaker 3: know they've got three weeks left. They really looked they
Speaker 3: looked to me for for for guidance, and I could
Speaker 3: see it in their eyes. You know, very good at
Speaker 3: at figuring people, sussing people out, and I could tell
Speaker 3: sometimes that they really needed that sort of pit me
Speaker 3: up because they're having to survive for a month is
Speaker 3: hardcore enough as it is. To survive just for a
Speaker 3: month is hardcore. To battle every single day physically and
Speaker 3: psychologically against each other. On top of that, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: It was just a new format and a brutal, a
Speaker 3: brutal way of doing the show. So it was brutal
Speaker 3: enough for them, so they didn't need me to be
Speaker 3: to be like that.
Speaker 1: I feel like, with one hundred million dollars on the line,
Speaker 1: that it's going to bring out either.
Speaker 2: One hundred million, cop I said, million dollars.
Speaker 1: One million? Oh my god, it's very early for me
Speaker 1: on a public holiday. I've managed to loose my mind.
Speaker 1: One hundred million would be good, but a million dollars
Speaker 1: would for anybody. I would say, is either going to
Speaker 1: bring out the best or the worst in people? Do
Speaker 1: you think it brings out the best in these contestants
Speaker 1: or do you think it's bringing out the worst of them?
Speaker 2: Or do you know what?
Speaker 3: We're naturally empathetic towards each other. You know, we naturally
Speaker 3: as humans, you know, want to help each other, want
Speaker 3: to be.
Speaker 2: There for each other.
Speaker 3: And that's the twist, that's the interesting dynamic because you know,
Speaker 3: on an island, to survive, you need each other, and
Speaker 3: then all of a sudden you throw a million bucks
Speaker 3: into the mix. You know, all of that goes out
Speaker 3: the window, especially when they get closer. I saw as
Speaker 3: I was getting closer and closer to the money, and
Speaker 3: towards the end of the game, let's call it, you
Speaker 3: could see the million dollars taken over. You could see,
Speaker 3: you know, dollar signs in their eyes. You know, when
Speaker 3: they're waking up, you could see that they were hungry
Speaker 3: for the money and then cough talk about seeing you know,
Speaker 3: going from the best of humanity to the worst of humanity,
Speaker 3: and I suppose I don't like to call it the
Speaker 3: worst of humanity, but you know, their game plans really kicking,
Speaker 3: you know, when they see and smell when they can
Speaker 3: touch that million bucks, the game plan definitely definitely comes
Speaker 3: into play. And yeah, you do see, you know, but
Speaker 3: again a lot of manipulation, a lot of vindictiveness, a
Speaker 3: lot of you know, a lot of strategies, shall we say,
Speaker 3: negative strategies in order to get their hands on the money.
Speaker 1: Did you try it any of these challenges because a
Speaker 1: lot of these challenges look like a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I mean some of them a bit, but I was
Speaker 1: wondering whether or not you'd be standing or on the
Speaker 1: sideline going I want to try that one.
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, you know, before they came into the arena,
Speaker 3: I was I was having to go on on on
Speaker 3: the ones that didn't need resetting as much. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that's what was great about the show as well, you know,
Speaker 3: I was I was sat on the sidelines and I
Speaker 3: really wanted to get involved, but it was really really
Speaker 3: good to sort of help help out as much as
Speaker 3: I could in order for them to succeed. It was
Speaker 3: ultimately that's what that's what you want people to do.
Speaker 3: You want to succeed in life. But it was really
Speaker 3: hard because sometimes I'd be like, do it like this?
Speaker 2: You really you know it's hard.
Speaker 1: Just I'd be the same. I'd be like, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: with your home, that's not how you do it. Step aside.
Speaker 2: Let me a big elbow coming in.
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you. You know a lot of
Speaker 1: these shows, there's like, you know all these you know,
Speaker 1: there's Love Island, there's f Boy Island, there's all these islands,
Speaker 1: and I found out that a lot of them are
Speaker 1: not actually on islands. Was this on an island? And
Speaker 1: where was it filmed?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: You it is? How you see it again? That was
Speaker 2: really important for me.
Speaker 3: When the channel Channel seven came up to me and
Speaker 3: said about the idea, I said that is it going
Speaker 3: to be authentic?
Speaker 2: First of all? You know, is it going to be real?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: How is it going to work?
Speaker 3: And this is why we want you to host it?
Speaker 3: And that was a big big part of me hosting it.
Speaker 3: So it was done on an island. It was it
Speaker 3: was an island in Malaysia, just off Langkawi and as
Speaker 3: you see it as it played out, So obviously there's
Speaker 3: an element of you know, rallying the troops together, which
Speaker 3: I do through a tannoy in order for them to
Speaker 3: make their way to the other side of the island
Speaker 3: where the arena is where they do their challenges. So
Speaker 3: there was a bit of command and control for a tannoy.
Speaker 3: But how you see it is how it played out.
Speaker 1: You know what I was thinking, because this is coming
Speaker 1: after Home and Away, A good cross promotion might have worked.
Speaker 1: What about something like that? Would you ever consider being
Speaker 1: on Home and Away or doing any act while you're
Speaker 1: here in Australia.
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of Home and Away.
Speaker 3: I remember as a kid. You know, I've watched Home
Speaker 3: and Away all the time. And listen, yeah, I'll be
Speaker 3: honest to do a part in the Home and Away.
Speaker 2: So listen, never say never, right, we.
Speaker 1: Can do the crossover the other way. We get alf
Speaker 1: Stewart on the island.
Speaker 3: No, listen, I couldn't do anything to Alfie. He commands
Speaker 3: too much respect. I remember Alfred as a child, like I.
Speaker 2: Said, growing up, so listen, Yeah, that's that's.
Speaker 3: One person I couldn't shout at, so I'd have to
Speaker 3: I'd have to leave.
Speaker 1: It at that before you go. You know, we've got
Speaker 1: another season of Says that's coming up, and you know
Speaker 1: it's a huge show for you. One thing. Are you
Speaker 1: worried that now being on a softer side on this show,
Speaker 1: you then have to go back to this other version.
Speaker 1: Is that going to be a hard transition?
Speaker 2: No, No, it's not. Actually, when I'm it's really not strange.
Speaker 3: But when I do my stoes, I get into a
Speaker 3: certain headspace. You know, when I do SAS, I don't
Speaker 3: revert to a character. I don't get into character, go
Speaker 3: back to my military headspace of being an instructor, of
Speaker 3: being on operations, you know, and really taking it really seriously.
Speaker 3: So all I do is I go back to that headspace,
Speaker 3: get in the moment, and then everything just flows naturally.
Speaker 3: So that's that's all I do. But Sas this season
Speaker 3: was brutal, and I'd say even more brutal, just because
Speaker 3: maybe because I'd filmed Million Dollar Island just before, so
Speaker 3: you know, the chief instructor in me was raring to
Speaker 3: get out. So as soon as I step I stepped
Speaker 3: foot with the new recruits on sas they got the
Speaker 3: good news, Do.
Speaker 1: They get more and more used to the idea of
Speaker 1: it because it's now being on TV for a while
Speaker 1: and it's so popular, like the do these people that
Speaker 1: turn up on the show, do they sort of understand
Speaker 1: it a little bit more?
Speaker 3: No, because everything we do just is so different. They
Speaker 3: come with a preconceived idea. That's where they fall down,
Speaker 3: you know, rather than coming.
Speaker 2: Just with an empty mind and going, do you know
Speaker 2: what it is?
Speaker 3: What it is, I'm just going to take it every
Speaker 3: hour as it comes. They come with this preconceived idea
Speaker 3: of how the show's run, and it trips them up
Speaker 3: every single time, every single time, because this is so
Speaker 3: unique to any sort of TV world that you know,
Speaker 3: you'd think that they we wouldn't be able to put
Speaker 3: them through what we put them through. So they always
Speaker 3: come with that preconceived idea that this is a TV
Speaker 3: show well ultimately for me and running a course in
Speaker 3: military course. So no, they always they I think we
Speaker 3: always shot them from day one.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I've upgraded it to one hundred million
Speaker 1: dollar island, but I love it.
Speaker 3: You put in the nine are you putting the other
Speaker 3: ninety nine million in are you ben?
Speaker 1: I know it's so weird. I just looked up yesterday
Speaker 1: like what I was worth. I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: ever done that. I put it into Google, you know
Speaker 1: what am I worth? And it came up and said
Speaker 1: I was worth five million dollars.
Speaker 2: Wow, have you worked that?
Speaker 1: I was like, that's not true. I mean, I'm still
Speaker 1: coming to you more than thattment I could do with
Speaker 1: the money. I'll audition for the next series, just to
Speaker 1: meet you in the flesh. Everyone who joins the podcast
Speaker 1: gets this last question. What's something from behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: something from behind the scenes of what it was like
Speaker 1: to make this show. Can you give us a bit
Speaker 1: of a secret or something that happened along the way.
Speaker 3: Because we were figuring it out, because it's a new format,
Speaker 3: we were we were literally, you know, figuring it out
Speaker 3: on the move.
Speaker 2: I'm not joking you.
Speaker 3: You know, I'd have a script that I'd revise the
Speaker 3: night before because I wanted to go on and make
Speaker 3: sure you know that I nawled everything, said, a script
Speaker 3: that I've advised on how the task would run and
Speaker 3: how how things would play out.
Speaker 2: That just went out the window.
Speaker 3: After you know, I'd literally go on to set, there's
Speaker 3: no word of going to set, and they'd be.
Speaker 2: Like, has that got the new scripts? And I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: I haven't. I'm just gonna run with what I've got.
Speaker 3: So but to be fair that, you know, the production
Speaker 3: we were working around the clock, but yeah, I was.
Speaker 3: I was going on on on into the arenas scriptless sometimes.
Speaker 2: But that wasn't any fault of anyone there.
Speaker 3: But it just changed all the time because it's such
Speaker 3: a new format and we're figuring it out on the move.
Speaker 2: But it worked out in the end, it worked out
Speaker 2: really well.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I was literally, you know, ripping up scripts
Speaker 3: before I was walking onto set.
Speaker 2: So that was that was interesting, very interesting, and the first.
Speaker 1: Good preparation for your home in away gig.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 1: We've just made up in our own heads. Can I
Speaker 1: just say how amazing it is to talk to you
Speaker 1: this morning. I'm a big fan. Good luck with this series.
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to it. And then you know,
Speaker 1: we'll catch up with you again when Says comes out
Speaker 1: later this year.
Speaker 2: Brilliant look forward to it. Ben, Thanks very much for
Speaker 2: having me.
Speaker 1: Thanks for the chat.