Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast.
Speaker 2: Last week airline.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Norris,
Speaker 1: and on this podcast I go behind the scenes with
Speaker 1: the biggest players in television. Each episode you will get
Speaker 1: a front row seat with content makers like executive producers, writers,
Speaker 1: editors and casting agents, plus the talent that we see
Speaker 1: on our screens. TV Reload reloads the shows that you
Speaker 1: are currently watching and gives you a better insight into
Speaker 1: our television industry and our streaming services.
Speaker 3: Today.
Speaker 1: On the podcast, I have ITV executive producer Alex Mavertikes
Speaker 1: and he joins me for the third time on TV Reload,
Speaker 1: which is for a couple of reasons. He is my friend,
Speaker 1: he is my old boss, and he has a new
Speaker 1: show worth plugging. Channel nine's Love Island Australia Season four
Speaker 1: is already in full swing and if you're not watching
Speaker 1: this dynamic news series then you are missing out big time.
Speaker 1: Go catch the first four episodes on nine now, with
Speaker 1: new episodes dropping Monday Thursday. You can thank me for
Speaker 1: it later, which I'm sure you will. So why should
Speaker 1: you watch Love Island? Well, I'm glad you asked. This
Speaker 1: group of singles are TV gold so good looking? The
Speaker 1: show is back in Spain. But also, nothing works if
Speaker 1: you don't understand the assignment, and that's something that ITV
Speaker 1: clearly knows a lot about. It is funny, it is sexy.
Speaker 1: It is the best guilty pleasure outside of your own
Speaker 1: shenanigans in the bedroom. Maybe the show could be full playing.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to judge you if that's the case.
Speaker 1: We will talk about the contestants going on OnlyFans after
Speaker 1: their time on the show, and what Alex thinks of that.
Speaker 1: We will find out what he looks for in your
Speaker 1: audition videos. I will get some exclusives on the next
Speaker 1: I'm a celebrity, Get me out of here. Honestly, I
Speaker 1: ask Alex pretty much everything, and he gives genuine answers,
Speaker 1: which most people at his level totally wouldn't. However, let's
Speaker 1: get started with today's guest. I'd like to welcome returning
Speaker 1: favorite to the podcast, executive producer Alex Madvertt to a
Speaker 1: TV reload.
Speaker 2: Love On is not a television show. Love On is content.
Speaker 1: Love Island is back.
Speaker 2: You'll notice from episode one there's like twenty seven times
Speaker 2: more abs and ours shots in the previous series. The
Speaker 2: Islanders are ready for their biggest challenge since writing their
Speaker 2: names on the application. I think we draw the line
Speaker 2: at full penetrative six.
Speaker 1: Do you like the view? And I'm not talking about
Speaker 1: Spain the girls here, Yeah, they're pretty good, to be honest,
Speaker 1: if I'm pretty happy with.
Speaker 2: It one hundred percent. People see this is a pathway
Speaker 2: to grow the things, and I'm completely fine with that.
Speaker 2: If you have a better connection with someone else, I
Speaker 2: want you to pursue someone else. The worst that can
Speaker 2: happen is you're going to be on TV for a
Speaker 2: bit and you're going to go home and go back
Speaker 2: to normal jobs.
Speaker 1: Hey mate, thanks for coming back on the podcast three times.
Speaker 2: People are going to start talking about us, which which
Speaker 2: you might be all right with. I'm okay with I'm
Speaker 2: okay with it too.
Speaker 3: Well. When you work on.
Speaker 1: Two of the year's biggest television staples, it's really hard
Speaker 1: to ignore you.
Speaker 2: Thank you, mate. I appreciate that they are the pretty
Speaker 2: good shows. I still love them. Dearly me.
Speaker 1: Here we are talking about Love Island twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: How was the shoot in Spain?
Speaker 2: Look? Every single EP will tell you that this show
Speaker 2: is brilliant, all right. There's not a single ep that
Speaker 2: will come on a podcast and say, don't bother watching it.
Speaker 2: It's shit, So I'm not going to buck the trend.
Speaker 2: It is an absolute ripper, and I actually mean that.
Speaker 2: I think it's the best season of Love On we've made.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say that it's one of the best
Speaker 2: seasons of Love Old I've seen across the world. That's
Speaker 2: so much drama, so much funny, and of course it's
Speaker 2: all different because it's pre recorded, which obviously it had
Speaker 2: to be because nine wanted it on at this time
Speaker 2: of the year, and at this time of the year,
Speaker 2: if we filmed in Spain, we'd be wearing snowjackets instead
Speaker 2: of bikini so we had to pre record it. And
Speaker 2: that was a bit scary for us all because obviously
Speaker 2: it's the first ever pre recorded Love Old anywhere in
Speaker 2: the world. But you know what, it feels the same,
Speaker 2: it looks the same. We still shoot an episode of day,
Speaker 2: we still edit an episode a day, so it is
Speaker 2: basically exactly the same. The only thing we had to
Speaker 2: do differently was the audience voting. But in all honesty,
Speaker 2: we're going to cop a few comments, you know, why
Speaker 2: can't we vote? But ninety five percent, I'm going to
Speaker 2: say even ninety seven percent, probably ninety nine percent of
Speaker 2: people watch Love Island on catch up. You know, we
Speaker 2: know that we don't rate well on television. We rate
Speaker 2: well on catch up people watching it on their phones
Speaker 2: or on their iPads or on the train or whenever.
Speaker 2: And so really hardly anyone voted, let's be honest about it.
Speaker 2: So we did a social post a few months ago
Speaker 2: and called for super fans, which is, you know, Love
Speaker 2: Island tragics, die hard fans that know everything about the show,
Speaker 2: and we enlisted a whole load of them, and we
Speaker 2: got them a feed of the villa and basically got
Speaker 2: them to do the voting for us. So for anybody
Speaker 2: watching it, it feels exactly the same. The only difference
Speaker 2: is we're screening it now, so I've only seen eleven
Speaker 2: epps as twenty nine episodes, and I've only watched eleven
Speaker 2: of them so far, because we're still cutting it now,
Speaker 2: one day at a time, and it is so good,
Speaker 2: Like honestly, I look forward to eight o'clock every morning
Speaker 2: when I have my daily screenings because it is a
Speaker 2: cracking series. You are honestly, if anyone listening to this
Speaker 2: that's about to watch it, well, you know you may
Speaker 2: have even watched the first couple of episodes. It's a
Speaker 2: really great series, very excited.
Speaker 1: This season looks super polished, like it doesn't miss a beat.
Speaker 1: The ingredients seemed to be, I don't know, working better
Speaker 1: this year than any other. Am I right by saying that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's it's it's experience. You know, we've got
Speaker 2: the cast really right. Everybody shines. They're so bloody hot
Speaker 2: it's just stupid. But you know they're not just vapp
Speaker 2: it hot there. They can actually all talk that everybody
Speaker 2: has past the talk test, and yes this is the
Speaker 2: first time in this villa. So it's always hard to
Speaker 2: find your feet, and you know, for anybody watching, you
Speaker 2: might even notice in episodes one and two, you know
Speaker 2: we miss a few shots here and there. But by
Speaker 2: episode three and four, we you know, we find our
Speaker 2: feet and the directors know what they're cutting, and the
Speaker 2: producers nowhere the islanders going to kind of migrate to
Speaker 2: and it just finds its feet. So it looks it
Speaker 2: looks polished because it's in Spain. You know, I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna lie. We did season one in Spain and it
Speaker 2: looked bloody fantastic, and then we thought we'd try Fiji
Speaker 2: because it's closer to home and it stopped everyone for
Speaker 2: having to travel halfway across the universe. And you know,
Speaker 2: it was a good series, but it just didn't feel
Speaker 2: the same. And then of course COVID hit and we
Speaker 2: had to do one in Byron, and I thought it
Speaker 2: was just so good to get back to Spain because
Speaker 2: everything just looks you know, that kind of eight pm
Speaker 2: magic hour sunset just makes everybody look hot. I mean
Speaker 2: even I was taking selfies and I'm not hot at all,
Speaker 2: and even pictures, so I mean, Christ, if it can
Speaker 2: make me look good, then Spain rules.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. Honestly, the first season, I'm just
Speaker 1: a huge fan. It's one of my favorite reality seasons.
Speaker 1: Season two and season three for me, weren't as good. However,
Speaker 1: watching the first few episodes of this year, it's back
Speaker 1: to form. But I think it's going to be better
Speaker 1: than season one. I think you are right. I think
Speaker 1: you have, you know, been able to deliver something that
Speaker 1: is going to outshine all Love islands from around the world.
Speaker 1: And I think it has to do with the cast.
Speaker 1: I think the cast are electric. I think they're really fun.
Speaker 1: And all I want to know is like, did you
Speaker 1: have a different process with casting this year? Like why
Speaker 1: is the cast so much better than any other year
Speaker 1: we've seen before?
Speaker 2: Look, No, different process, Like certainly myself, Caroline Williams, the
Speaker 2: other co executive producer, Josie Steele, the serious producer, had
Speaker 2: a very big hand in picking the cast this time,
Speaker 2: more so than more so than before. We found a
Speaker 2: really good way to pitch them to Channel nine, because
Speaker 2: it's always it's great finding lots of great people, but
Speaker 2: then you know, you've got to kind of get them
Speaker 2: past the network and kind of persuade them that you know,
Speaker 2: these people that we've met are amazing. And we had
Speaker 2: a really good production crew that cut these little videos
Speaker 2: to you know, commercial tracks, and we were able to
Speaker 2: sell the cast that we wanted in and you know,
Speaker 2: we didn't have many people that we argued about, like
Speaker 2: you know, we we knew, I mean, so many people
Speaker 2: in this in this year's cast, and you guys will
Speaker 2: get to know them, but you know, Callum for example, Austin,
Speaker 2: Claudia Laylor, Jordan, you know the second they walked in
Speaker 2: the room in their various states, I knew that they
Speaker 2: were an islander within you know, within fifteen seconds they
Speaker 2: just popped so hard. And then the only job after
Speaker 2: that is to cut the little videos that you film
Speaker 2: on those days well enough to persuade the network that
Speaker 2: they are as good as we thought they were. And
Speaker 2: you know, for once, we got it right. Because you know,
Speaker 2: going right back to Big Brother, every single year you
Speaker 2: meet people and you go, this guy or this girl
Speaker 2: are amazing, and every single year you get you get
Speaker 2: a few wrong. I mean, you know, I'm going to again,
Speaker 2: going right back to Big Brother, there's not a single
Speaker 2: season under my when I was in charge of it
Speaker 2: where there wasn't one or two people that we thought, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, they weren't as good as we thought they
Speaker 2: were going to be casting. And it's same with I'm
Speaker 2: a celeb. You know, like you pick celebrities that you
Speaker 2: think are going to knock it out the park, and
Speaker 2: a few of them will always disappoint you. And in
Speaker 2: the first three seasons of Love On, you know, we've
Speaker 2: definitely got a few wrong. And obviously I'm not going
Speaker 2: to mention any names, but it's pretty obvious when you
Speaker 2: watch a show who is who pops and who's a
Speaker 2: little bit underpar I don't think we've got anyone wrong
Speaker 2: this series, and that is a really rare thing to say,
Speaker 2: and it obviously makes me feel really good. We didn't
Speaker 2: do anything different, We just we just went really hard.
Speaker 2: And I also think this is a really weird one,
Speaker 2: but I think during COVID a lot of kind of
Speaker 2: people were forced to use social media and talking to
Speaker 2: camera a lot more now, whether that is just zoom
Speaker 2: calls or you know, Insta stories or TikTok or whatever.
Speaker 2: But we've got this whole new legion of you know,
Speaker 2: nineteen to twenty four year olds or probably even younger
Speaker 2: than that, probably like fourteen upwards. Obviously, we're not going
Speaker 2: to have anyone that young on the show who are
Speaker 2: suddenly brilliant on camera, and that is because that's how
Speaker 2: they've how they've grown up. It used to be back
Speaker 2: in twenty twelve when cast you One Big Brother. But
Speaker 2: you know, it's not like we had a million options.
Speaker 2: We probably had twenty five people that were good enough
Speaker 2: to go in the house. This year, we probably had
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty five people that were good enough
Speaker 2: to go in the villa. It was just working out
Speaker 2: which one should go in because I just think people
Speaker 2: are just more confident on camera. Now.
Speaker 1: Well, you predicted this, I mean we talked about this
Speaker 1: a few years ago and you were like, you know,
Speaker 1: with the nature of social media and people creating their
Speaker 1: own content, they're their own producers. They know what lands,
Speaker 1: they know what looks good on camera. You know, they
Speaker 1: know what's going to be shared. So I mean you
Speaker 1: said that three years ago so and you were like,
Speaker 1: but imagine what it's going to be like soon when
Speaker 1: these kids are old enough, you know, and how they
Speaker 1: are old enough, and now you do have access to them.
Speaker 1: And I mean, Cassidy's still my favorite contestant in Love
Speaker 1: Island Australia so far. And I feel like you've made
Speaker 1: You've found like at least five Cassidys in this season
Speaker 1: that are going to be the type of people who
Speaker 1: were bat you crazy enough to have, you know, a
Speaker 1: full relationship that normally would happen in real life over
Speaker 1: a year, seemed to happen within twenty four hours, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Fall in last, have.
Speaker 1: Them break you hard, you know, try and get over them.
Speaker 1: Find someone new like that's the kind of dynamic that
Speaker 1: you want from these types of people.
Speaker 2: People that have you know, completely got their ships together
Speaker 2: are not generally the best reality TV contestants. You know.
Speaker 2: You want people that are you know, slightly haven't got
Speaker 2: all their ship together, not in a terrible way, in
Speaker 2: a fun way, but what's what's the fun of you know,
Speaker 2: what's what's the fun and watching a whole load of
Speaker 2: really well rounded, completely level headed people. You want. You
Speaker 2: want people that go in with a few issues. That's
Speaker 2: that's the good stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, with a show like this, everyone wants to know,
Speaker 1: you know, what, what are the producers want for me?
Speaker 1: And so people probably listen to this next year when
Speaker 1: you're making the next season, But what exactly are you
Speaker 1: looking for? Because they all want to They all contact
Speaker 1: me on Facebook when applying for different reality shows and
Speaker 1: say what a producers want? And over time I've got
Speaker 1: my own little notes on what I think. You know,
Speaker 1: Jewels wants for the Block and you want for Love
Speaker 1: Island or Army Celebrity and I kind of worked these
Speaker 1: things out. But for you particularly, is it just the
Speaker 1: is it just the aesthetic or what are the things
Speaker 1: that what are the touch points.
Speaker 3: Did you looking for?
Speaker 2: I can tell you one hundred percent, it's not just
Speaker 2: a look now, of course, of course that of course
Speaker 2: they need to be amazingly good looking for Love Island.
Speaker 2: We chucked out a guy this year. We didn't even
Speaker 2: invite into the casting tour. Clearly, I'm not going to
Speaker 2: mention the name here, but and who will never know
Speaker 2: that I'm talking about him? But we did a zoom
Speaker 2: call with a guy and we looked at his Instagram
Speaker 2: and he applied for the show, and honestly, the girls
Speaker 2: in the office and some of the guys were just like,
Speaker 2: this is the best looking man I've ever seen in
Speaker 2: my life. And I was two. I was just looking
Speaker 2: and going, were you chiseled by the gods? Because there
Speaker 2: is nothing like there is not one part of your
Speaker 2: body or face that isn't perfect. He was the best
Speaker 2: looking man I've ever seen. The poor bustard couldn't string
Speaker 2: two words together. So it is not just about the look.
Speaker 2: We didn't even bother taking him on the turk. If
Speaker 2: you can't pass the talk test, there is no point
Speaker 2: in turning up to a twenty four hour turnaround reality
Speaker 2: TV show where this camera's pointing at you all day,
Speaker 2: and we our thirst for content is so high. The
Speaker 2: answer to your question is they need to be entertaining.
Speaker 2: And Duels from the Block and Tara from Maths and
Speaker 2: everybody across all of the reality shows will tell you
Speaker 2: the same thing. Now, clearly everybody has different needs and
Speaker 2: different wants for their particular show. I'm very lucky in
Speaker 2: the respect that Love Island is made with its tongue
Speaker 2: and it's cheap. You know, it's it's fun. Nobody comes
Speaker 2: on Loveland thinking it's the biggest social experiment in the world.
Speaker 2: I am so upfront with all of the Islanders right
Speaker 2: right from the start, and I say, we will take
Speaker 2: the piss out of you, and we will take the
Speaker 2: piss out of ourselves. And that is how we produce
Speaker 2: this show, and we make no apology for it. Loveland
Speaker 2: is pure entertainment and if you're down with that, then
Speaker 2: you are very welcome to come on this show. And
Speaker 2: it's that kind of honesty and obviously all of the
Speaker 2: screening that we do beforehand with them that lets us
Speaker 2: know that they are robust enough and mentally tough enough
Speaker 2: to go through this experience, which is also a huge
Speaker 2: part of what we need for a show like Loveland,
Speaker 2: because unlike The Block, and unlike Married at First Site,
Speaker 2: and unlike The Bachelor, and unlike everything else, there are
Speaker 2: production breaks. You know, you go home at night, you
Speaker 2: can check your phone, you can do all that stuff.
Speaker 2: On Love Island, you go through this massive audition process.
Speaker 2: You then go into a villa where you are filmed
Speaker 2: twenty four hours a day. The very nature of the
Speaker 2: format is you are going to be rejected by people,
Speaker 2: and you're going to be dumped at some point almost certainly.
Speaker 2: Then after you've finished in the villa, you're going to
Speaker 2: have to deal with dickheads online saying, oh she's not
Speaker 2: very hot, or he's a fucking idiot, or I don't
Speaker 2: like their face, or my god, look at their wonky nose.
Speaker 2: And in order to deal with all of that stuff,
Speaker 2: you have got to be an incredibly tough person. And
Speaker 2: so that's what we need because I'm incredibly proud of
Speaker 2: the fact that of the eighty odd Big Brother housemates,
Speaker 2: two hundred odd I'm a celebrity, celebrities, and one hundred
Speaker 2: odd Love Island islands that I've had to deal with.
Speaker 2: It been on my shows I haven't had a serious
Speaker 2: issue with any of them, and I believe that's because
Speaker 2: we we edit fairly. It's all of those shows were made,
Speaker 2: you know, with fun first. You know, we didn't pretend
Speaker 2: to be something that we weren't. There entertainment shows, that's
Speaker 2: what we were making, and we were upfront with them,
Speaker 2: not from the start. You know, I sat down and
Speaker 2: you probably remember this chat, you know, sat down and said,
Speaker 2: what you're about to go through is fun. This is
Speaker 2: a fun experience. What's the worst that can happen. The
Speaker 2: worst that can happen is you're going to be on
Speaker 2: TV for a bit and you're going to go home
Speaker 2: and go back to your normal job. That's the worst
Speaker 2: that can happen. Best that can happen is how you
Speaker 2: can win some money or find a girlfriend or you know,
Speaker 2: whatever it is that you're on the show for. But
Speaker 2: nothing bad can happen. I think if you're honest with them,
Speaker 2: with these people right from the start, it will help massively.
Speaker 2: And that's the way we've always played it.
Speaker 1: I have spoken to so many people in the industry,
Speaker 1: you know, people the contestants off your shows come on
Speaker 1: the podcast, so I speak to them. I run into
Speaker 1: them in the pubs, the clubs, or wherever it is
Speaker 1: that I'm out and about, and I've never heard anyone
Speaker 1: say anything bad about you behind your back either, Like
Speaker 1: you might be in the top chair and you might
Speaker 1: be just maybe a little bit deluded and think you're amazing,
Speaker 1: But I can honestly give you that feedback. But the
Speaker 1: affection and the affinity that goes with it comes down
Speaker 1: to trust, and I think we've talked about that before
Speaker 1: and I think that's the that's the biggest currency in
Speaker 1: television at the moment, is getting people to be on
Speaker 1: television with a lot of trust there, because if that's there,
Speaker 1: you're getting the best out of them and you're doing
Speaker 1: your job right.
Speaker 2: That's that's lovely to hear. Look, I have no doubt
Speaker 2: that people do say things by the back, but well
Speaker 2: for the beast, and you know, I'm a big enough
Speaker 2: boy to cop that. You know, a lot of this
Speaker 2: comes down to you know, Tajalla Jela Webster in the
Speaker 2: way she cuts these shows as well. I really do
Speaker 2: believe that everybody gets you know, the fair edit and
Speaker 2: I talked about this a bit, but you know, we
Speaker 2: don't play either, well, we don't have the time to
Speaker 2: play the frank and grab card and turn people into
Speaker 2: characters on these shows because they are such fast turnaround.
Speaker 2: You know, I've got no problem with somebody saying, you know,
Speaker 2: if if somebody stumbles on the words and go, you know,
Speaker 2: I really love you, but what's your name again? Blah blah, ben, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't mind you cut all of that out, you know,
Speaker 2: and change people's words, because the sentiment is exactly the same.
Speaker 2: But when you clearly change someone's words, like you know,
Speaker 2: I really love you John, you know, when they're talking
Speaker 2: about John somewhere else, I think that I think that
Speaker 2: is taking the piss. And we've seen everything, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean how many times on I probably shouldn't say this,
Speaker 2: I'm going anyway, how many times on you know, the
Speaker 2: recent Big Brothers, have we seen someone sitting in a
Speaker 2: diar room and talking and you know they're using them
Speaker 2: one hundred percent. Then it cuts to the house and
Speaker 2: then their tone of voice change changes completely because they're
Speaker 2: clearly using them talking about something else from another time.
Speaker 2: It's just I just don't think it's a fair way
Speaker 2: to edit. So I really do take my hat off
Speaker 2: to our post Team Jallah. You know the gel has
Speaker 2: run over all these years, across all these shows. You
Speaker 2: know it's a fair edit that I think our people get.
Speaker 1: Well, this is the question. I'm really excited about Love Island.
Speaker 1: You know there's now Heartbreak Island.
Speaker 3: There's going to be Fuck Boy Ireland. Are all They're
Speaker 3: all trying.
Speaker 1: To do the same things in the reality space that
Speaker 1: is similar to what you've done with Love Island. When
Speaker 1: other producers copy elements from your shows, do you get
Speaker 1: flattered by that or do you get frustrated?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Look, it is flattering, but you know there is only
Speaker 2: one Love Island. I mean, you know, at least change
Speaker 2: it up a little bit. Like I thought Too Hot
Speaker 2: to Handle was really clever. For example, Now that was
Speaker 2: clearly a Love Island rip off, but had a really
Speaker 2: clever element to it, which is, you know, you can't
Speaker 2: touch each other or you lose money. I thought that
Speaker 2: was genius. The other ones a Heartbreak Old. I haven't
Speaker 2: even seen a frame of it, but I know that
Speaker 2: nobody's watching it, so I'm imagining it's not that good.
Speaker 2: Fuck boyl I know nothing about I know that Warns
Speaker 2: are making it for Foxtail. I look forward to seeing
Speaker 2: it Love Boat. I mean, you know, God, the fact
Speaker 2: that they were able to sell themselves as Loveland on
Speaker 2: a boat is almost offensive. When we were in ship
Speaker 2: self mode during COVID and trying to get the show up,
Speaker 2: we were talking all sorts of crazy stuff because I
Speaker 2: don't know if you remember, but the American Love Island
Speaker 2: very cleverly made their show on the roof of a
Speaker 2: casino in Las Vegas, and we were trying to work
Speaker 2: out how to make Australian Love Island when nobody could
Speaker 2: go anywhere and no one could breathe near anyone and
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff, And we seriously considered making
Speaker 2: love Oland on a boat for about a day and
Speaker 2: how that would work and what it would look like.
Speaker 2: And I thank God that we didn't do it.
Speaker 1: Now, but I mean crudous to Channel ten and the
Speaker 1: people that were behind making that, because I think there
Speaker 1: is still a thirst for seeing new content, new shows.
Speaker 1: I think people want to see some things that you know,
Speaker 1: I think they need to take a gamble, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, Chanten are the best network at taking a gamble,
Speaker 2: and obviously sometimes it doesn't work. They hit the jackpot
Speaker 2: with is It Hunted.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a good one that worked.
Speaker 2: That really worked, and obviously the audience responded to it.
Speaker 2: You know, they haven't hit the jackpot with Traitors and
Speaker 2: love Boat, but hey, at least they're trying. Channel nine
Speaker 2: have got an ITV show launching after the Block called
Speaker 2: My Mum or Dad, which is a brand new format,
Speaker 2: which I've seen episode one of it and is excellent,
Speaker 2: and it'd be interesting to see if It'd be interesting
Speaker 2: to see if that can pull a crowd, because I
Speaker 2: do think people are more skeptical of new shows now,
Speaker 2: and because you know, there is so much choice with
Speaker 2: streaming services. Unless it's a love Old or and o'motlet
Speaker 2: to get Me out of Here? Or Married at First Sight,
Speaker 2: or a block or a big Brother or show a
Speaker 2: brand that people know, it's very hard to pull a
Speaker 2: crowd now. But you know, at least Hunted has shown
Speaker 2: that you can do that, and I hope that My
Speaker 2: Mum and Your Dad will have the same success.
Speaker 1: I think that one's going to be quite good. I've
Speaker 1: seen the first episode as well. Looks amazing. The decision
Speaker 1: to have that this season on the streaming platform of
Speaker 1: Channel nine and not on the main channel you know,
Speaker 1: it seems like a bit of a mistake. Now, when
Speaker 1: you ask me, only after watching the first three episodes
Speaker 1: do I think this, I was like, yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 1: I think that show is going to work well because
Speaker 1: that's mainly where people.
Speaker 3: Are watching it.
Speaker 1: But then I watched and saw how polished and how
Speaker 1: amazing this series is. Am I wrong by thinking it's
Speaker 1: a bit of a mistake that it's not at all
Speaker 1: on the main channel.
Speaker 2: Look, I hope you're wrong. I mean, look, it's Love
Speaker 2: On is not a television show. Love On is content.
Speaker 2: You know, You've got to remember that it's watched all
Speaker 2: around the world, and it's watched by teenagers on their
Speaker 2: phones under their doners, and it's watched by people on
Speaker 2: the train on the way to work, and it's watched
Speaker 2: by people on their laptops when they're pretending to work
Speaker 2: in their office. And it's watched in a whole, weird,
Speaker 2: wonderful variety of places, on a whole range of different devices.
Speaker 2: And what Australian Love Old has shown is over three years,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter what channel you put it on, it
Speaker 2: will always do a small number on linear television. It
Speaker 2: is not a show that people turn up night after
Speaker 2: night to watch on TV because most of our audience
Speaker 2: are not TV viewers. I mean, how many people do
Speaker 2: you know under the age of twenty five now that
Speaker 2: literally don't own a TV or don't watch television at all.
Speaker 2: Everything is everything is online, everything is streamed.
Speaker 1: Well, I was talking to young people last night, and
Speaker 1: I can say that all confidently because I'm now in
Speaker 1: my forties. But I was talking to young people at
Speaker 1: a bar last night and they were talking about the
Speaker 1: fact that none of them watched Freedaware television, like.
Speaker 2: No, no long television.
Speaker 1: So it's saying that I watched the shows that are
Speaker 1: on Freedaware television. But then I named shows that are
Speaker 1: from freedoware that are doing well on the streaming platforms,
Speaker 1: and they didn't even know that they were playing on
Speaker 1: the main channel.
Speaker 3: Isn't that funny? You know?
Speaker 1: They were like, oh, I watch Love Island. They're like,
Speaker 1: was that on Channel nine? Could you watch that on
Speaker 1: free to air? And I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well that's that's what and that's why I think
Speaker 2: you probably are wrong, and I hope, I hope you
Speaker 2: are wrong, but I honestly think it doesn't matter You
Speaker 2: could put Love Island on Channel nine straight after the
Speaker 2: block and it probably still wouldn't do a big number.
Speaker 2: It is just not a linear TV show however, And
Speaker 2: I remember back in Spain in twenty eighteen when we
Speaker 2: first launched a show, and we were all shitting our
Speaker 2: pants because after six days, when we were getting one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty thousand viewers on Go, we thought we
Speaker 2: were working on the biggest flop in Australian television history.
Speaker 2: And then the seven day numbers come out and you're like, okay,
Speaker 2: and then the twenty eight day numbers come out and
Speaker 2: you're like, oh my god, this is meg. We're going
Speaker 2: to have that again. It's going to do a very
Speaker 2: small number on go. So you know, basically this series
Speaker 2: is it drops on nine now at six pm Monday
Speaker 2: to Thursday, and then it gets followed up on Go
Speaker 2: at eight thirty pm Monday to Thursday. And I'm going
Speaker 2: to say that ten percent of our audience are going
Speaker 2: to watch it on Go. And I'm not dissuading anyone
Speaker 2: can watching it on Go because I want that number
Speaker 2: to be as big as possible obviously, but let's be honest.
Speaker 2: Most people are going to watch it on nine now,
Speaker 2: and it's unlikely that they're going to be refreshing their
Speaker 2: screens at five point fifty nine waiting for it to drop.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a thing where you know, they're
Speaker 2: going to see the promos and they're going to watch
Speaker 2: it at ten o'clock at night after they've finished their day,
Speaker 2: or they're going to watch it at seven o'clock next
Speaker 2: morning when they're on the way to work.
Speaker 1: Well, just so you know, Alex Ben and I watch
Speaker 1: it in bed at nine o'clock every time, and we've
Speaker 1: watched every season and it's like we don't normally go
Speaker 1: to bed at nine o'clock, but we feel Love Island.
Speaker 1: We get the snacks, we get into bed, we put
Speaker 1: on the TV that we never use in the bedroom,
Speaker 1: and we watch it because it is like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's a guilty pleasure. There's no other show in Austrange
Speaker 1: television like it in my mind.
Speaker 2: And how do you do you crome cast it to
Speaker 2: the screen or do you like, yeah, chrome cast it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So going back to original point, I do think you're
Speaker 2: wrong because I think I think it's okay to have
Speaker 2: polished stuff that drop on streaming services for the first time,
Speaker 2: and I just don't think it matters when people watch it,
Speaker 2: as long as they watch it.
Speaker 1: But what about Beauty in the Gig. Why is Beauty
Speaker 1: in the Geek on the main channel? Do you think
Speaker 1: Beautying the Geek still has an audience on the main channel.
Speaker 2: I think it's a broader format. I think it probably
Speaker 2: appeals to an older audience. But yeah, look, good question.
Speaker 2: Maybe the next series, if they do another one, will
Speaker 2: be the same thing. And what are they doing with
Speaker 2: Big Brother on seven? I don't know, Like I heard
Speaker 2: that from I heard that it was only going to
Speaker 2: be on seven plus with one elimination show a week,
Speaker 2: and then I heard it was all going to be
Speaker 2: on the main channel again, So I don't know what
Speaker 2: they're doing with that, But you know that's the same thing.
Speaker 2: I mean, clearly, the audience numbers are so low now
Speaker 2: that it's hard justify it being on Channel seven. So
Speaker 2: do you know what the plan is with that?
Speaker 1: I think that it's going to be nineteen episodes with
Speaker 1: a finale, and I think that it'll all be pre
Speaker 1: recorded with the finale is still going to be on
Speaker 1: the main channel. So and they're a vote coming in
Speaker 1: from the general public. But it's the shortest season in
Speaker 1: the history of Big Brother that's been done in the world.
Speaker 2: Are they playing on is a streaming thing or is
Speaker 2: it going to be on Channel seven.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's been officially signed off on because
Speaker 1: whilst it's in quarter two of next year, there's still
Speaker 1: a bit of time between now and then and other
Speaker 1: shows to see how they perform. And I guess that'll
Speaker 1: probably work out where that lands. But I mean, the
Speaker 1: next format is not resonating with the fans at all.
Speaker 1: I've never seen a backlash to a theme or a
Speaker 1: twist of a show then calling it House of Love
Speaker 1: and having it like Love Island. I mean, it's Love
Speaker 1: Island in a warehouse.
Speaker 3: And I just.
Speaker 1: Look, I'll be there to watch it, because you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a fan and I'll always watch that show. But
Speaker 1: I just struggle. I'm struggling to see if that and
Speaker 1: I'm worried for them. This could be the last Big
Speaker 1: Brother in the country, but I think at the same
Speaker 1: time seven has been lucky to get four out of it.
Speaker 2: So yeah, well, looking at it's hard for me to comment,
Speaker 2: but I think it's pretty easy. Formerly with Big Brother,
Speaker 2: you put a load of interesting people into a house.
Speaker 2: You give them good tasks each week, and you watch
Speaker 2: them twenty four hours a day, and you show as
Speaker 2: much of it as possible. That's how you make Big Brother.
Speaker 2: I went desperately searching through all my old documents from
Speaker 2: Southern Star and I couldn't find it. But I know
Speaker 2: for a fact that in twenty fifteen, when after the
Speaker 2: last series on Channel nine, they asked for a cheap
Speaker 2: version of Love Arnt and I came up with an idea,
Speaker 2: and I gave them a document called Big Brother Love Shack.
Speaker 2: And what it was. The idea was that the house
Speaker 2: got turned into like a you know, an old kind
Speaker 2: of beach shack and of palm trees and all that
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. And they were all single, and so
Speaker 2: this was before Love Arland existed. So I basically pitched
Speaker 2: Love Island House of Love when we were desperate seven
Speaker 2: years ago.
Speaker 1: Person who's worked across that show, you know, someone who's
Speaker 1: just as connected to that brand more than maybe even
Speaker 1: you in some ways, was saying to me that they
Speaker 1: were really shocked with bringing all Stars back.
Speaker 3: They were like, oh, well, Reggie, she had like.
Speaker 1: Two million people two to four million people watch that
Speaker 1: series back in two thousand and three. Surely we'll have
Speaker 1: a reconnaissance, a return of people that have given up
Speaker 1: on Free to Wear. But then the numbers didn't translate.
Speaker 1: You know, they were really shocked by it. They were like,
Speaker 1: I'm really shocked that bringing these people back didn't have
Speaker 1: monumental growth.
Speaker 2: Well you look, you know, my opinion has always been
Speaker 2: that All Stars doesn't generally work. Officered that for years,
Speaker 2: that across a number of brands. It is very hard
Speaker 2: to get people to be as brilliant the second time
Speaker 2: as it were the first time, because they've been there
Speaker 2: and they've done it before. And also there's no new discovery,
Speaker 2: so it looks it's very it's very hard.
Speaker 1: Television is about discovery, though, and that's the biggest problem
Speaker 1: at the moment, is that I think that we do
Speaker 1: need to go on a journey. We love to find
Speaker 1: new things. We love to be going on the journey
Speaker 1: together and you know, week by week falling in love
Speaker 1: with the person and talking to our friends about it,
Speaker 1: we feel like we're a part of it. The moment,
Speaker 1: the television isn't including its audience or respecting its audience.
Speaker 1: As the time that television is no longer working. Yep,
Speaker 1: we've got to get into this as fast as we can.
Speaker 1: Can you be a little bit more outrageous? Are we
Speaker 1: going to get to see more adult, more racy content?
Speaker 1: Were you able to be on set going? Well, thank
Speaker 1: Gobra on the you know, the stream platform, because what
Speaker 1: they've just done there is would never have been on
Speaker 1: Freedoway television.
Speaker 2: I was absolutely delighted when I heard it was going
Speaker 2: to be on the stream platform for that exact reason.
Speaker 2: We one hundred percent have been edgier'. You'll notice from
Speaker 2: episode one there's like twenty seven times more abs and
Speaker 2: our shots the previous series. And you know, some of
Speaker 2: the challenges were able to play our you know, look,
Speaker 2: I think they're hilarious, and I think that our audience
Speaker 2: will think that they're hilarious. But it's very hard to
Speaker 2: put some of that content on the main channel. I
Speaker 2: remember a challenge that we played in the series one
Speaker 2: called dirty Pizza when I can't remember what the headline was,
Speaker 2: but I got that there was a Daily Mail headline
Speaker 2: and it was the greatest headline I've ever read, with
Speaker 2: something like, you know, love on a smear tomato paced
Speaker 2: over their glistening breasts as they You know, it was
Speaker 2: the most smutty headline ever, and I loved every word
Speaker 2: of it. And we have challenges like that in this one.
Speaker 2: If you're I'm just going to use the code word bananas,
Speaker 2: and when you see the episode in question, you will
Speaker 2: then know exactly what I mean.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, I'm thinking that sounds in right up, Mali,
Speaker 1: right up mailing. Indeed, you know, there are some pretty
Speaker 1: huge surprises. I think you call them bombs, and pre
Speaker 1: recording a TV show can be really hard, and keeping
Speaker 1: those secrets a secret and making sure that they don't
Speaker 1: get leaked to publications and podcasts and all of those
Speaker 1: thirsty places that people want exclusives. Were you stressed that
Speaker 1: things like ol from ORETI First Sight getting into the
Speaker 1: media too early?
Speaker 3: Were you worried that that is going to be a.
Speaker 2: Not stress so I used to be. I remember when
Speaker 2: we did well, you know, every year when we did
Speaker 2: do I'm a Celeb, and I'm a celeb absolutely relies
Speaker 2: on secrecy in order for us to rate well in
Speaker 2: episode one, which you know we always do because it's
Speaker 2: rare that everyone knows who everyone is. But with this one,
Speaker 2: I always thought if our leaks, it's not going to
Speaker 2: be a terrible thing for the show, because he's such
Speaker 2: you know, he was so great on Marred at First Sight. Obviously,
Speaker 2: so many people watch that show, so I'm not upset
Speaker 2: that it. You know, it appears to have leaked and
Speaker 2: everyone seems to know about it. There are more surprises
Speaker 2: coming up that I would say are equally as massive
Speaker 2: that have not leaked yet, which I'm delighted about because
Speaker 2: I want them to leak when channel and I want
Speaker 2: them to leak or when people see them on the show.
Speaker 2: But it is a series full of surprises. There was
Speaker 2: We did a lot of twisted turning things this year,
Speaker 2: and every single one the works. So, yes, Al has leaked. Yes,
Speaker 2: Al is brilliant in the show. Yes he does a
Speaker 2: showy on the first night. Yes, you're going to piss
Speaker 2: yourself laughing when he walks in. He is such a
Speaker 2: great figure of comedy. And when when nine talked to
Speaker 2: us about you know, you've got to have this guy
Speaker 2: from Married at First Sight. Now, I missed that whole
Speaker 2: series because I was filming I'm a celebrity when it
Speaker 2: was on, so I didn't see his frame of it.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, bloody hell, we're gonna have
Speaker 2: to have someone from Maths on the show. And I
Speaker 2: went into the room and I tell the other producers no,
Speaker 2: I want to put this guy on the show. And
Speaker 2: they were like, is it al And I was like yeah,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh my god, he's amazing. I was like, okay, okay,
Speaker 2: this is good.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: And then when I met him in the flesh, I
Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, this bloke is amazing.
Speaker 3: It's amazing.
Speaker 1: He's so I only meet him once in real life
Speaker 1: and he's from a different World's hilarious.
Speaker 2: If he had auditioned on his own and never and
Speaker 2: had never been on Maths, he would still have gotten
Speaker 2: the show. That's how good he is. Yes, there are
Speaker 2: there are another couple of surprises coming up later in
Speaker 2: the series that have not leaked yet that I am
Speaker 2: delighted if not leaked yet, so stand by. I'm sure
Speaker 2: they'll leak by the time this podcast drops and then
Speaker 2: I'll eat my words. But so far, so good.
Speaker 1: So he didn't apply though, This is the question everyone
Speaker 1: wants to know, like, did he put did he take
Speaker 1: the time to put the audition together and apply for
Speaker 1: that or did nine say, hey, mate, we need to
Speaker 1: put you on something right now.
Speaker 2: Of course he didn't bloody apply. No, you know, he didn't.
Speaker 2: Somebody at nine called me up and they said, I
Speaker 2: want you to have a look at Al and they
Speaker 2: went didn't tell us and they didn't say you've got
Speaker 2: to put him on and we have a good look
Speaker 2: at Al, and luckily we did. And so no, no
Speaker 2: he didn't apply. But you know, no problem, and that happens.
Speaker 1: How do you feel with the contestants going on too
Speaker 1: only fans? Because do you have an opinion about them
Speaker 1: going down that path? Once these shows are.
Speaker 2: Over, look good on them if they can make money
Speaker 2: from it. I've got I've got no moral issues with
Speaker 2: only fans at all. I mean we have cast members.
Speaker 2: We've cast people in the past that have been on
Speaker 2: only fans. I think Ari from last year was on
Speaker 2: only fans. I think a couple maybe one from this season,
Speaker 2: they're on only fans. I think we draw the line
Speaker 2: at full penetrative sex. I think I think if you
Speaker 2: are literally fucking on the internet, that's a step too far.
Speaker 2: I think it's just nudity and people want to pay
Speaker 2: you to look at your body. And your body is
Speaker 2: you know, good enough to make people pay for it,
Speaker 2: then then good on you. No no problem at all.
Speaker 2: But I think really from a brand perspective, if you're
Speaker 2: literally making hardcore porn and it is accessible to anybody
Speaker 2: with a credit card, then that probably is a step
Speaker 2: too far. Having said that, so only people are on it,
Speaker 2: now you know that that rule may have to change.
Speaker 2: Two as we as we move moved through the US. Yes,
Speaker 2: I love on series ten. I'm sure every single person
Speaker 2: will on only fans.
Speaker 1: But we found all of them off hardcore porn exactly biual,
Speaker 1: and they're all whatever called gender neutral gender I don't
Speaker 1: know all of these new terms, all of these work terms.
Speaker 3: That's where we will be.
Speaker 2: That's where we will be. It'll be it'll be very
Speaker 2: rare to be a just a heterosexual person that has
Speaker 2: no only fans that would be impossible to find.
Speaker 1: Well, not that Abbi Chatfield is not only fans, but
Speaker 1: she's sharing more on her social media than ever before.
Speaker 1: You know, do you think that people use your show
Speaker 1: just because they want the Insta fame?
Speaker 3: It could be the next Abbi Chatfield.
Speaker 2: I'm not stupid enough to think that people do not
Speaker 2: come on Love on to stoke their followers. I mean,
Speaker 2: let's be honest, a lot of them, do you know.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say that a lot of people do
Speaker 2: come on to find love and also to go through
Speaker 2: the experience of being flown to Spain and meet load
Speaker 2: of hot people and Instagram followers and TikTok followers and
Speaker 2: just social presence is a bonus. But one hundred percent
Speaker 2: people see this is a pathway to greater things, and
Speaker 2: I'm completely fine with that as long as they are
Speaker 2: entertaining and genuinely single and genuinely looking for love. It
Speaker 2: absolutely wouldn't work if it was just a whole load
Speaker 2: of want to be influencers, you know, messing around in
Speaker 2: Spain and worrying about what their brand is going to be. Again,
Speaker 2: we go through a painstaking process to make sure people
Speaker 2: aren't going to come, are going to come and completely
Speaker 2: give themselves up to this experience and this you know
Speaker 2: what we're doing. But hey, again, I've got I've got
Speaker 2: no problem if people want to be insta famous. I mean, god,
Speaker 2: if I was as hot as the traditional Love Island
Speaker 2: islander and I could make money, yeah, if you part.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you'd be alive. I think you'd
Speaker 1: know that's true where you would be.
Speaker 3: We'll leave it at that.
Speaker 2: If someone wanted to pay me a grand to hold
Speaker 2: up a green smoothie and you know, smile, then you
Speaker 2: know I'll take a grand, Thanks very much, and you know,
Speaker 2: no problem. Good on them.
Speaker 1: Well for a chubby looking English bloke, I think you've
Speaker 1: done pretty well for yourself, so I don't I don't
Speaker 1: think you have to be too worried. Charm alone has
Speaker 1: been able to get you into places.
Speaker 2: There's a saying that we used for Jordan in this
Speaker 2: series sort of used to apply to me. But I'm
Speaker 2: not saying I'm a good looking short, but certainly the
Speaker 2: saying works. And it was you're laughing, you're laughing, you're naked.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well that works. That works. I mean, humor has
Speaker 3: gotten a lot of people into bed.
Speaker 1: I just can't believe you're getting away with calling someone
Speaker 1: Callum hole. His name cannot be Callum hole, the poor
Speaker 1: boy like when I his.
Speaker 2: Name was, it's not his name was Callum Hole. And
Speaker 2: the way he says is though this is Callum haul.
Speaker 2: The Welsh apt is a cracker.
Speaker 1: So we've got you basically shut down the gay Internet
Speaker 1: with that man like he was released a couple of
Speaker 1: days ago, and I swear to god it was sent
Speaker 1: to me by anyone that I know that's gay, and
Speaker 1: I know a lot of gay people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he will be a gay icon and he will
Speaker 2: love that too. But we we have Callum, who is Welsh.
Speaker 2: We've obviously got own our voice of a guy who
Speaker 2: is oursh We've got Holly who is very English like
Speaker 2: she literally is like a proper you know. We've got
Speaker 2: mitchh is a Kiwi. We've got Phoebe all no revealed
Speaker 2: her yet, so we've got a bomb coming later on who.
Speaker 3: Is who is there? Phoebe's already there.
Speaker 2: There's another Phoebe coming later. Okay, she's also Kiwi. We've
Speaker 2: got uh well, yeah, I can't tell you about the
Speaker 2: bombs that weren't released yet, but there's there's more accents
Speaker 2: and more flavors coming. It's the most diverse cast we've
Speaker 2: ever had.
Speaker 3: I feel like you're shoving it down our throat though.
Speaker 1: You know, like sometimes you're watching a series and you're like,
Speaker 1: oh God, these people you can tell that they sat
Speaker 1: there with a spreadsheet and tick some boxes to make
Speaker 1: sure they had all these people included, where this series.
Speaker 3: Doesn't feel like that.
Speaker 1: It feels very global without feeling like you're trying to
Speaker 1: tell us that it's global.
Speaker 2: You know, we didn't we you know, it's like we
Speaker 2: sat there and said what we really need this time
Speaker 2: as an English person, the Welsh person, and the Kiwi person,
Speaker 2: they just happened to be incredibly good. Now, you know,
Speaker 2: diversity is really import on Australian television and I'm a
Speaker 2: big advocate for that. You know, every cast should, you know,
Speaker 2: should have representations of real Australia. You know, modern day
Speaker 2: Australia is not all white faces. So yeah, I think
Speaker 2: it's really important diversity in reality casts, and you know
Speaker 2: we've always adhered to that. But the fact of the
Speaker 2: matter is if someone is not good enough to be
Speaker 2: on the show, it doesn't matter what color the skinners,
Speaker 2: or how tall they are or how whatever they are,
Speaker 2: They're not going to be in the show. So I
Speaker 2: just don't think you can shoehorn people in in. This
Speaker 2: is past the talk test. But as you see, we've
Speaker 2: been really lucky because I know that at time of writing,
Speaker 2: you know you know who the first eleven sorry here
Speaker 2: first thirteen Ireland des are I believe, and everyone knows
Speaker 2: that Ow's going in as well. But you've got to
Speaker 2: remember there's double that number of Islanders all up, so
Speaker 2: it is a extraordinarily diverse and wonderful cast of young,
Speaker 2: hot Australians that you're going to meet.
Speaker 1: Well, the media is already talking about the fact that
Speaker 1: Callum Hole is like going to be as big as
Speaker 1: Abby Chatfield.
Speaker 3: I've heard that from a few people.
Speaker 2: I said, soonce we met Callum. So it was Jalla
Speaker 2: and myself and Tina Diaz from the network and we
Speaker 2: were sitting in a room in Brisbane host Helm Brisbane,
Speaker 2: and we'd seen some of his Insta pittures and we
Speaker 2: knew that he was going to be good just from
Speaker 2: a little casting video we sent us. He walked into
Speaker 2: the room and honestly, within ten seconds we were not
Speaker 2: only like, this guy is in the show, but this
Speaker 2: guy is going to be a you know, network talent ongoing.
Speaker 2: He is bloody hilarious.
Speaker 3: I can't wait.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he just can't help but like him some of
Speaker 2: the things he does in the show. If he was
Speaker 2: anybody else, he would be the villain and everyone be
Speaker 2: throwing shit at the TV and saying I hate him,
Speaker 2: but for some reason he gets away with it because
Speaker 2: he's just very funny.
Speaker 1: I've already bought the merch. I've already brought the callum
Speaker 1: hole merch. I think he's going to be a winner,
Speaker 1: you know. And interestingly enough with Abby Chadfield, not to
Speaker 1: keep going on about her makes it sound like I'm
Speaker 1: obsessed with her. She I feel like you really owned
Speaker 1: her fame, Like I felt like she was back in
Speaker 1: a corporate job and kind of forgotten about after her
Speaker 1: Bachelor experience. And I feel like I had this debate
Speaker 1: with someone the other day and I was like, I
Speaker 1: think Alex mav putting her on I'm a celebrity was
Speaker 1: really the beginning of her. Like you really understood the
Speaker 1: essence of her with that fight with Dipper and you know,
Speaker 1: being a little bit woke and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1: Does that sit okay with you? Do you feel like
Speaker 1: you have some responsibility in her popularity.
Speaker 2: I'm delighted to be known as the man who made
Speaker 2: over Abby Chatfool what she is. Look, I think that
Speaker 2: she really appreciates I'm a cleblock. She came up to
Speaker 2: me at the Logi's you know, big hug and you
Speaker 2: know old friends, and I think she really knows what
Speaker 2: I'm a celebrity did for her, and that is what
Speaker 2: i'm a celebrity, get me out of it can do
Speaker 2: for people, because you know, I mean Anthony Khleier as well.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know Casey Donovan. You know, these were
Speaker 2: people that I'm going to say just kind of fading
Speaker 2: away a little bit at the time they went and
Speaker 2: I'm a sleib, and then suddenly they're on television for
Speaker 2: ninety minutes a night and everyone remembers why we love
Speaker 2: them in the first place, and their careers absolutely take
Speaker 2: off again after their Abby look, Abby did it all herself.
Speaker 2: You know. We we cast her, and she was an
Speaker 2: easy casting choice because she's great talent. But you know,
Speaker 2: I'm a slipt to get me out of it such
Speaker 2: hands off producing. So yes, you know, if you want
Speaker 2: to say, by putting on the show, it gave her
Speaker 2: a second chance of fame when she's really picked up
Speaker 2: and picked the ball up and run with it. But
Speaker 2: she did it all all herself. We put her in
Speaker 2: the show, but you know, she's just great talent and
Speaker 2: I think I think her socials are are brilliant, you know,
Speaker 2: like she's she's just so honest and open, and I
Speaker 2: think it's, you know, she's so new world that nobody
Speaker 2: do you remember when you know, when Facebook first came
Speaker 2: out for Instagram was even the thing, and everyone used
Speaker 2: to be a bit even at a little bit guarded.
Speaker 2: You know, it's like, oh, you know, here's my lovely
Speaker 2: dinner and here's a picture of my grandma. You know.
Speaker 2: Now it's like, you know, this vibrator gives me the
Speaker 2: best fucking orgasm I've ever had in my life. You know,
Speaker 2: there's just no rules anymore.
Speaker 1: I mean, I got Abby Chadfield's amazing and I sometimes
Speaker 1: I'm watching it. I'm looking at it and I'm like,
Speaker 1: am I looking at this? This is what I'm looking at? Like,
Speaker 1: you know, she's gone from telling me about what to
Speaker 1: do with my politics to all of a sudden just
Speaker 1: showing me her ass. And I'm like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: it's engaging content.
Speaker 2: I think Abby is fantastic and good enough for change. God,
Speaker 2: she's on news dot com you every day, and I
Speaker 2: presume she's in the Daily Mail five times a day.
Speaker 2: I mean, she is a walking headline now, and hey,
Speaker 2: if I'm a slept to get me out of here.
Speaker 2: Put her back where she belongs, then, you know, good
Speaker 2: for us.
Speaker 3: Why isn't she.
Speaker 1: Back, though, Alex, Why isn't she back? You've got Josh
Speaker 1: Moss and Flex Marmy. I believe to do the side show.
Speaker 1: You know, why didn't Abby come back and do that?
Speaker 2: I imagine that nine can't afford her anymore. So I'm
Speaker 2: just going to completely deflect this and say the side
Speaker 2: show has got nothing to do with myself or ITV.
Speaker 2: It's made completely by Channel nine Socials and a completely
Speaker 2: separate team.
Speaker 1: So I still think Cassidy should do that. I keep
Speaker 1: thinking Cassidy from the first season. I'm sure she thinks
Speaker 1: I'm a stalker because I follow her on Instagram and
Speaker 1: everything and she doesn't follow me back. But I write
Speaker 1: about her all the time, being like best reality TV
Speaker 1: contestants presenter.
Speaker 3: Why isn't she hosting these things? I don't understand.
Speaker 2: Well, look, you know, Sophie is our host. But at
Speaker 2: some point I Sophie decided she doesn't want to do
Speaker 2: it anymore, which I would hate her to do because
Speaker 2: I absolutely adore her and love her. But you know,
Speaker 2: there may well be an opening for an exlander. But
Speaker 2: Cassidy was God, she was good that the day that
Speaker 2: she stole Grant of Taylor just to be just out
Speaker 2: of spite was a major, magnificent reality TV moment. Keep
Speaker 2: an armed stellar this year who looks like Cassidy and
Speaker 2: is a bit like Cassidy You're going to love?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'm there for that, which is amazing. I
Speaker 1: was also going to just quickly ask you about the
Speaker 1: fact that you know you'd be working on I'm a
Speaker 1: celebrity already by now, and it would be remissive me
Speaker 1: not to ask anything. But you know, with a huge
Speaker 1: name like boy George going into the Jungle this week
Speaker 1: for the UK series, I wondered whether or not you're
Speaker 1: going to look for bigger names. Not to say that
Speaker 1: the people you've been you know, the pools that you've
Speaker 1: been swimming in or whatever that's saying is has been
Speaker 1: that the celebrities aren't huge. But you have had a
Speaker 1: lot of success with not having to spend two million
Speaker 1: dollars on a Shane warn you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 1: are you going to go back to looking for someone
Speaker 1: like boy George?
Speaker 2: God? Look, I'd love to say that we had the
Speaker 2: money that the UK have. I mean, they would be
Speaker 2: paying boy George a fortune. The joy of I'm a celebrity,
Speaker 2: as you know, as we just touched on before, is
Speaker 2: is rediscovery and so okay, So there's two types of people,
Speaker 2: and there's three types of people. And on the slip.
Speaker 2: Number one, people that everybody has heard of. That's Shane Warn,
Speaker 2: It's Grant Danya, It's Brendan Favohla, it's you know, it's
Speaker 2: the it's the big the big names that everybody has
Speaker 2: heard of. Number two is people that have perhaps you know,
Speaker 2: gone out of the limelight a little bit, and you know,
Speaker 2: we want to reintroduce them to the world because you know,
Speaker 2: they're great talent. Number three is people that most of
Speaker 2: the Free Toware audience have never heard of that we
Speaker 2: are absolutely convinced that they're brilliant and are socially famous.
Speaker 2: So that is Charlotte Crosby and Justin Lacko and Vicky
Speaker 2: Patterson and know that it's that type of person. I remember, Look,
Speaker 2: you know, Charlotte Crosby is one of the most famous
Speaker 2: reality TV contestants globally around the world. Right, and we
Speaker 2: still copped it when we put her in the jungle
Speaker 2: because most of your regular free to air TV viewers
Speaker 2: have no bloody idea who she is. The casting methodology
Speaker 2: of I'm a Celebrit is you always want about three
Speaker 2: or four people that you are convinced that ninety eight
Speaker 2: percent of people watching the show will have heard of.
Speaker 2: There is always an enormous amount of pressure to get
Speaker 2: famous people. And the title of the show doesn't help either,
Speaker 2: because it's called I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here,
Speaker 2: But it should be it should be called I'm a
Speaker 2: recognizable face that a lot of people know, Get me
Speaker 2: out of here. That's what it should be called, because
Speaker 2: it's ad never worked. Look, I'd love to get someone
Speaker 2: like boy George in the show, but it's not easy
Speaker 2: to make. Trust me, it's not. It's not easy casting
Speaker 2: on a celeb You're in a.
Speaker 1: Title position though, because you're going back into Maine and ratings,
Speaker 1: Like you're in a ratings period now where you're going
Speaker 1: to be going up against a big show on the
Speaker 1: other net big shows on the other networks. You know,
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like I wondered whether because I
Speaker 1: kind of felt like the last few seasons have suited
Speaker 1: not having the biggest names because it's a summer series
Speaker 1: and it's I don't know.
Speaker 2: Well, look, I mean, you know, I don't feel the
Speaker 2: ratings or you always feel the ratings pressure wherever it's on.
Speaker 2: I don't mind that it's going into that April slot.
Speaker 2: I feel like, you know, we can take the Pepsi
Speaker 2: challenge against anyone because it's an established brand, and you know,
Speaker 2: I stand by the fact it's a really good, funny show.
Speaker 2: But you know, people have got to understand that the
Speaker 2: casting around I'm a celeb is not for the ten
Speaker 2: most famous people that we can find. It just doesn't
Speaker 2: work like that. I'm a Celebrity is about discovering people
Speaker 2: that you may not have heard of, but that a
Speaker 2: lot of people do know. It's about finding out new
Speaker 2: things about people that you definitely know, and it's about
Speaker 2: reminding you of people that you may have forgotten about.
Speaker 2: I love it when we get people that are right
Speaker 2: on the in the peak of their career, Like it
Speaker 2: is so hard to get a sportsman who is currently
Speaker 2: active because obviously they're a sportsman or an athlete because
Speaker 2: they've got the Olympics, or someone or an actor who
Speaker 2: is you know, in their prime, because you know they're
Speaker 2: getting millions dollars from making movies or you know, or
Speaker 2: a Netflix series or an HBO series or a you know,
Speaker 2: a singer who is currently number one in the charts.
Speaker 2: It's always going to be people who are on the
Speaker 2: up or have already reached their peak, and you want
Speaker 2: to remind them how good they are, because you're never
Speaker 2: going to get anybody at the peak of their career,
Speaker 2: because why would they come and sit in the jungle
Speaker 2: and eat ostrojass, you know, when they can sing a
Speaker 2: song and make millions of dollars.
Speaker 3: A lot of celebrities and narcissists.
Speaker 1: So I think that you rund up playing the fact
Speaker 1: that there's a lot of people that just want screen time,
Speaker 1: and those.
Speaker 3: People still exist that are big a list celebrities.
Speaker 2: I mean, give me three or four names that you
Speaker 2: believe that we could get that are a list celebrities
Speaker 2: that I can get to go to the jungle in April.
Speaker 1: Emma Bundon from The Spice Girls. I think she just
Speaker 1: get her. I think she would be fantastic. I know
Speaker 1: that you always want to get someone like Van dam
Speaker 1: or Steven Sigal or one of those people. I think that,
Speaker 1: oh they're too faded, they're not a big star. Keith Urban.
Speaker 1: I'd like to see Keith Urban in there talking about
Speaker 1: Nicole Kippen and how he feels about Tom Cruise stealing
Speaker 1: her children.
Speaker 3: Like you know, I just think.
Speaker 2: Is a multi multi millionaire though, and you know it's
Speaker 2: is he really going to go in, you know, without
Speaker 2: the makeup and without the styling and you know asking.
Speaker 1: Tell him you can have a GHD, say Urban, you
Speaker 1: could take You could take your GHD and nothing else.
Speaker 1: If you let Shane Bloody Warren have a few ciggy's
Speaker 1: on the side of the set, you can let Bloody
Speaker 1: Keith Urban get He's a GHD out and straight and
Speaker 1: he's here.
Speaker 2: I promised to ask him a bunt and that's a
Speaker 2: really good idea. I think we've tried it once before,
Speaker 2: but I'll try her again.
Speaker 1: I send you a list though, I've sent you a
Speaker 1: list and I don't want to even read it out
Speaker 1: now on this podcast in case it.
Speaker 3: Means that you don't want to go after them.
Speaker 1: But you know, I've got no shame.
Speaker 2: I go after anybody, honestly, Bloody DM me put more
Speaker 2: Instagram to you.
Speaker 3: You wrote back and said, thanks mate, I know at
Speaker 3: least three of those.
Speaker 2: I'm talking to your listeners. Anybody also send me any
Speaker 2: celebrity suggestions that are within reason. You know, there is
Speaker 2: no point in sending me Jason Momoa because we're not
Speaker 2: going to get them, do you know what I mean? Like,
Speaker 2: let's be let's be reasonable here.
Speaker 1: I think there are a few people on the prooferal anyway,
Speaker 1: I've send you that listen. I hope people listening to
Speaker 1: this also then hit you up and send you their
Speaker 1: list of people that they want, you know, join the conversation.
Speaker 2: Thank you, dear me. I always read the dms, even
Speaker 2: the ones on the request lists that you know that
Speaker 2: you pretend that you don't read. I've read them all.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us anything, just a small tease, like,
Speaker 1: what's something different than you're going to do with this?
Speaker 1: Like you, what's the general idea behind this? Is it
Speaker 1: a reboot of it because it's going into the main
Speaker 1: ratings period? Are there any conversations I.
Speaker 2: Think we're going to put. We will push the fact
Speaker 2: that we were live harder than it ever before because
Speaker 2: there is no live TV around at the moment. I
Speaker 2: kind of had a chortal to myself, and the boss
Speaker 2: of Channel seven said, live TV is back about Australia
Speaker 2: because I think they've got four or five live shows.
Speaker 2: People forget that I'm a sleb. To get me out
Speaker 2: of here is twenty one live shows, you know, over
Speaker 2: four weeks. You know, it's live every single morning from
Speaker 2: South Africa, every night from Australia, and it's ninety minutes
Speaker 2: of live TV every single day. So live TV really
Speaker 2: is back when I'm a slept and we're gonna we
Speaker 2: will ram that down people's throats because live TV is
Speaker 2: very exciting and very different at the moment. Like you know,
Speaker 2: what else is on TV other than sport and news
Speaker 2: that is genuinely, genuinely live. There's nothing.
Speaker 1: There's nothing, and we need it because that's you know,
Speaker 1: as I've talked about that a thousand times over and
Speaker 1: I know the complications of doing live TV, but live
Speaker 1: TV in Australia talks to the people that still watch
Speaker 1: Free to Wear. There isn't a day that goes by
Speaker 1: without some random person coming up and talking to me
Speaker 1: about Big Brother. And that was ten years ago. And
Speaker 1: they only come up not to talk about me. They
Speaker 1: come up to say that. Why isn't Big Brother like
Speaker 1: that anymore? Or why why are all these shows pre recorded?
Speaker 3: We don't like it. And that's because.
Speaker 2: Friday Night Live like that was a live game show
Speaker 2: every Friday night.
Speaker 1: That audience that you're talking like, the audience I'm talking
Speaker 1: about now was the perfect audience. And they were the
Speaker 1: ones that turned up for Friday night games. And that
Speaker 1: is they are a little bit like the underdog. They
Speaker 1: weren't popular at school. There the TV and the people
Speaker 1: on TV are their friends. You know, I could it's
Speaker 1: hard to pay the picture of them, but they're the
Speaker 1: ones that come up and talk to me on the street.
Speaker 1: And I want to say that they're lonely, but you know,
Speaker 1: television was a huge part of their life because they
Speaker 1: felt like they were a part of it, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean.
Speaker 2: And also I would say, you know, Julia Morris gets
Speaker 2: looser every single year so separated.
Speaker 1: From our husband, So are you going to make sure
Speaker 1: there's a plastic screen between her and doctor Chris Brown
Speaker 1: because I'm worried for his health.
Speaker 3: I'm really worried for him.
Speaker 2: Well, look, she's going to be on TV Live every
Speaker 2: single night, so at some point I'm sure she's going
Speaker 2: to put a foot in her mouth, and I'm sure
Speaker 2: with bloody gold when.
Speaker 1: She does, I can't wait. I can't wait. Anyway we are.
Speaker 1: We've literally gone on for a very long time, but
Speaker 1: I know these episodes are my highest rating episodes talking
Speaker 1: to you, so I'm hoping people are still.
Speaker 2: Probably because I say way too much and they'll get
Speaker 2: in tri get beaten up by David Moss at the
Speaker 2: end of it when he realizes all the stuff I've
Speaker 2: said that I'm not supposed to.
Speaker 3: I'll say to him, make sure we get approval.
Speaker 1: But I have to say this to you, like Jules,
Speaker 1: being from the block and being an executive producer in
Speaker 1: high regard, coming on the podcast also rated really well.
Speaker 1: But I can tell you there's so many producers that
Speaker 1: write to me and say I loved that episode with
Speaker 1: Jewels or I loved that episode with Alex, And I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: you produce one of the highest rating shows. Why can't
Speaker 1: you come on and talk? And they're like, oh no,
Speaker 1: They're like, oh no, I could never do that.
Speaker 2: Who you're chasing, Paul and time to do it?
Speaker 1: Give me some names, Caroline, I really like to have
Speaker 1: is in Spence I'd love to have Spence.
Speaker 2: Caroline's good talent. Why can't you get her?
Speaker 3: Because Warner's told her?
Speaker 2: No Ah, right, all right, how do all end us?
Speaker 3: We end up like this?
Speaker 1: Every time anyone joins the podcast, everyone gets asked the
Speaker 1: same question. And you've already done this twice, so you
Speaker 1: have to outdo yourself and both hit the Daily Mail.
Speaker 1: One of them, I think had one hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: reprints of a story around the world. So no pressure,
Speaker 1: my friend. I've got what what is something from behind
Speaker 1: the scenes, something that we won't see, something that you
Speaker 1: know is a kind of behind the scenes secret from
Speaker 1: making Love Island's let's keep it at Love Island. There's
Speaker 1: got to be something of a behind the scenes secret.
Speaker 1: It's a bit.
Speaker 3: Outrageous, all right.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you this one from Fiji. So this was
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, but I, honestly, for a
Speaker 2: horrible thirty seconds thought I had a disabled Sophie Monk.
Speaker 2: So we had this deck in Fiji that had separation
Speaker 2: in between the wooden planks, and I remember when we
Speaker 2: were putting the villa together, I was saying, look, the
Speaker 2: girls wear stiletto heels and Sophie wears heels. We've got
Speaker 2: to narrow this gap in between the wood and so
Speaker 2: I kept going on about this, and we had all
Speaker 2: of the tradees and all these kind of Fijian workmen
Speaker 2: who you know, couldn't understand because everybody wears thongs or
Speaker 2: bare feet in Fiji. They had clearly never been asked
Speaker 2: to narrow the gap in between the wooden planks in
Speaker 2: their lives. So anyway, the gaps were narrowed. I don't
Speaker 2: know what they used. I'm going to say bloody blue tackle,
Speaker 2: chewing gum or something, because it clearly wasn't very effective,
Speaker 2: but they narrowed the gap between all these planks. We
Speaker 2: walked out, We inspected it yet great, all good, good
Speaker 2: to go, and we didn't have any issue when the
Speaker 2: girls walked in. So the girls walked out on episode
Speaker 2: one in their heels, and they all lined up and
Speaker 2: we did the pick and everything was fine. Sophie walks
Speaker 2: out for the first dumping. Now it's nighttime in Fiji.
Speaker 2: I'm in the control room. I'm in Sophie Monk's ere
Speaker 2: and every single time Sophie's walking into villa, I'm giving
Speaker 2: you a her the rev up you know, Okay, here
Speaker 2: we go. So remember you're going to talk to Josh
Speaker 2: first and you're going to ask him about Anna, and
Speaker 2: then you're going to talk to Cartier and you're going
Speaker 2: to ask her this, My god, you look amazing. Keep
Speaker 2: walking Island was going to be out, Oh you looked
Speaker 2: so hot. My god, that dress is amazing. And just
Speaker 2: as I was saying to her how hot and cool
Speaker 2: she looked, Sophie's heel goes right in between two of
Speaker 2: these planks of wood and she goes down like a
Speaker 2: sack of shit. And literally, Sophie Monk is sprawled on
Speaker 2: the deck in Fiji, and everybody went quiet, and the
Speaker 2: islanders didn't know whether to laugh or run up and
Speaker 2: help her, because you know, it's this dramatic kind of
Speaker 2: fire at the moment. And I've just like my heart
Speaker 2: just stopped because I thought, if Sophie his leg is broken. Here,
Speaker 2: the series is over because it's twenty it's a twenty
Speaker 2: four hour turnaround show. Because it's not like we could
Speaker 2: fly anybody. I mean, obviously we would have had to
Speaker 2: fly flown out of replacement. But it's going to take them,
Speaker 2: you know, two days to get there. What do we
Speaker 2: do about Yeah, well, yeah, what do we do about?
Speaker 2: We do we dump one of the Islanders and get
Speaker 2: them to host the show? You know, do we do
Speaker 2: we put a pair of heels on, you know, one
Speaker 2: of our production crew and get them to go in.
Speaker 2: Like I was absolutely panicked.
Speaker 1: So she would be great, not just an editor. She
Speaker 1: was little sister back in the day.
Speaker 2: She can do talent on Jarla rocks a pair of
Speaker 2: heels as well. When she when she when she wants to. Anyway,
Speaker 2: my heart was like had literally stopped. And Sophie Monk,
Speaker 2: God bless her, the ultimate professional hero that she has
Speaker 2: just bounced back up, swore a couple of times, you know,
Speaker 2: bowed to the Islanders who realized that they could clap
Speaker 2: and laugh, picked up a heel, walked straight back out,
Speaker 2: and then came in and did her sexy walk in
Speaker 2: all over again and everything was fine. For thirty seconds,
Speaker 2: I had killed Sophie Monk.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1: And Sophie is so good, Like every time I run
Speaker 1: into her, she's really funny. She's everything that you see
Speaker 1: on television. She's kind of a bit you know there.
Speaker 1: I don't know why she's just so relatable, even though
Speaker 1: she looks like perfection, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Like, isn't that weird that she looks that good?
Speaker 2: I would love Sophie Monk to do imot to get
Speaker 2: me out of her. I'm not sure she's contractually contractually
Speaker 2: allowed to. Obviously she's She's Love on the Channel nine.
Speaker 3: But my god, SOPHI would do that show like.
Speaker 1: I don't think she cares like as much as she
Speaker 1: can turn into the glamour. I've also seen her like
Speaker 1: I've been on radio shows with her where she's just
Speaker 1: sitting in her tracksuit and she's great like that, you know,
Speaker 1: she's great, a little bit relaxed.
Speaker 2: And Sophie is a woman of the people. She says
Speaker 2: what the audience think. She asks the questions the audience
Speaker 2: want to ask. That's why she's so popular. She's just fantastic.
Speaker 2: She's so down to worth. I absolutely love her.
Speaker 3: Alex. I am obsessed with you, as you know.
Speaker 1: I think you are fantastic talent on this podcast. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate you coming on here and talking about Love Island.
Speaker 3: But to the audience out there.
Speaker 1: That is listening, you need to watch this show because
Speaker 1: it is addictive.
Speaker 3: It's addictive, like you know, and it's good addictive.
Speaker 1: It's not addictive like being a drunk or smoking tan
Speaker 1: packets of cigarettes. It's addictive like you know, you walk
Speaker 1: away feeling fun like it's a fun show.
Speaker 2: It's a great series. You are going to love it.
Speaker 2: Start watching it on nine now immediately if you haven't
Speaker 2: watched it yet, you're gonna love it.
Speaker 3: Amazing. Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 2: Okay mate, thanks, Thanks Beren. Taking easy