Speaker 1: Welcome back to TV Reload. This is another bonus episode
Speaker 1: featuring a quick chat with Matt Shirvington, one of the
Speaker 1: hosts of Channel seven's later shows Ultimate Tag. Matt Shervington's
Speaker 1: athletic career made him a household name when he competed
Speaker 1: for the first time at the Kuala Lumpur Olympics in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight. Shervington is the second fastest Australian sprinter
Speaker 1: of all time, and just as quickly, he has established
Speaker 1: himself as a TV presenter. This year, he found himself
Speaker 1: as the man of the moment at Channel seven, hosting
Speaker 1: Holy Moly and now Ultimate Tag. There's something authentic and
Speaker 1: quite natural about his presenting style and it's no wonder
Speaker 1: Australia loves seeing him on their TV screens. So I'd
Speaker 1: like to welcome you to today's guest. It's Matt Shirvington.
Speaker 2: Got this opportunity to do this brand new show, Ultimate Tag.
Speaker 2: It's got a sport kind of underlying it.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the fastest show on television.
Speaker 2: The elitists and the athleticism. I really really bought into.
Speaker 4: The longer they last, the further I'll go.
Speaker 2: I just feel so comfortable to be able to apply
Speaker 2: my skill set that I built up as a sports broadcast.
Speaker 3: There's only one rule. I've been lucky enough to have
Speaker 3: enough experience behind me to be able to be myself.
Speaker 1: How are you, mate? Are you well?
Speaker 3: I'm going really well? Yeah, very happy to join.
Speaker 1: You, Matt, You've become the king of Channel seven. To
Speaker 1: Sony Krueger's Queen, was it a surprise to get asked
Speaker 1: to host Ultimate Tags? So soon after Holy Moly?
Speaker 3: Do you know?
Speaker 2: My opportunity to diversify my career came hard and fast.
Speaker 2: I moved to Channel seven midway through last year and
Speaker 2: started in the newsroom in Sport, and I got a
Speaker 2: call to do a screen test for Holy Moly, and
Speaker 2: jumped at that chance, and knowing that there was an
Speaker 2: American series, and I was able to kind of watch
Speaker 2: that and get a gist of what was going on.
Speaker 2: And then barely weeks later I got a call to
Speaker 2: do this other screen test for another amazing show called
Speaker 2: Ultimate Tag, and that one I kind of like.
Speaker 3: I really invested myself in both of them.
Speaker 2: But the first screen test, I was very nervous, and
Speaker 2: I worked really hard on trying to understand the concept
Speaker 2: and whatever else. And when Ultimate Tag came around, I
Speaker 2: knew what the concept was. However, I was working in
Speaker 2: the news room that day and I had the morning
Speaker 2: news and then I had the afternoon news, and in
Speaker 2: between I had about a ninety minute block where I
Speaker 2: had to drive from Martin Place to Botany Bay to
Speaker 2: do a screen test for Ultimate Tag. And I remember
Speaker 2: walking away going I think that was okay, but do
Speaker 2: you know what, I probably didn't give it my best
Speaker 2: and I might not get it. And sure enough, a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks later, I got a call and they said,
Speaker 2: would you like to do it? And I was like, yes,
Speaker 2: because Ultimate Tag it's the fastest show on television. It's
Speaker 2: got a sport kind of underlying it with the gameplay
Speaker 2: side of it, but also the eliteness and the athleticism
Speaker 2: I really really bought in too. So yeah, I just
Speaker 2: feel so comfortable to be able to apply my skill
Speaker 2: set that I built up as a sports broadcaster and
Speaker 2: kind of branch out into entertainment. So yes, there's been
Speaker 2: a little bit of me and you know, kind of
Speaker 2: writing the coattails of Sonya, particularly on Holy Molly's been
Speaker 2: a blessing.
Speaker 1: Did Krueger give you any tips on hosting every show
Speaker 1: on Channel seven?
Speaker 2: Sonya and I have come completely full circle because I
Speaker 2: was on the first series of Dancing with the Stars
Speaker 2: and it was like a completely planet aligned moment where
Speaker 2: I had just pulled out of the Olympic Games. I'd
Speaker 2: got this opportunity to do this brand new show, which
Speaker 2: was strange in its concept ballroom dancing with celebrities.
Speaker 3: Anyway.
Speaker 2: I kind of said no straight away, and my mother
Speaker 2: in law said, hey, do you know what. I was
Speaker 2: leaving in London at the time, and there was a
Speaker 2: show called Strictly Come Dancing, which was basically the same show,
Speaker 2: and she said, I love that show.
Speaker 3: You've got to do it anyway.
Speaker 2: I thought, free trip back home in the sunshine in Australia,
Speaker 2: I'll go and do it anyway. Sonya was the original host,
Speaker 2: one of the co hosts with Darryl Summers on the
Speaker 2: first one. So Sonya and I have kind of known
Speaker 2: each other since then and have come full circle. But
Speaker 2: do you know what I do ask her for tips
Speaker 2: and advice, and especially in this industry that she's navigated
Speaker 2: so so well and very attentive when she does talk
Speaker 2: and give me some advice because she knows a lot.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I think that you both share something really quite similar,
Speaker 1: and that is that there's an element of being a
Speaker 1: presenter but also still being yourselves, Like there's a bit
Speaker 1: of there's always a bit of yourself left in your presenting,
Speaker 1: which is what I really like about watching you on Telly.
Speaker 1: And it's the same as watching Sonya on Telly. I
Speaker 1: love that element that you bring to it.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that, I really do.
Speaker 2: And I think having had a career in a sport
Speaker 2: in another part of life, I think that's what I
Speaker 2: learned was you've just got to be honest with people
Speaker 2: and kind of wear you're hard on your sleeve a
Speaker 2: little bit. And I think that's all people really want
Speaker 2: is someone it's genuine and is not trying to sugarcoat
Speaker 2: things or be someone else.
Speaker 3: Look, you know, take me out of it.
Speaker 2: I think anyone that resonates with viewers, whether it's on
Speaker 2: television or listeners on radio, are the ones that are
Speaker 2: just being themselves and being genuine. And you know, you
Speaker 2: can rattle off a whole lot of names, and some
Speaker 2: we love, some are polarizing, but you can't blame them
Speaker 2: for being themselves.
Speaker 3: Because that's exactly what they are.
Speaker 2: So one thing I've definitely learned in this industry is
Speaker 2: that confidence to be yourself comes through experience. So I
Speaker 2: think the more comfortable you are with understanding the business
Speaker 2: that you're in, the more you can show your own character.
Speaker 2: It's kind of like I remember someone saying, make sure
Speaker 2: whenever you write a news story, make sure you put
Speaker 2: it in your own words, because you're going to deliver
Speaker 2: it in the most natural way. So I guess, without
Speaker 2: sort of digressing too far, I think I've been lucky
Speaker 2: enough to have enough experience behind me to be able
Speaker 2: to be myself. And it's taken a long time. I've
Speaker 2: got to be honest. I mean, I've made every mistake
Speaker 2: there is to make Live to Wear, So yeah, that's
Speaker 2: pretty humbling too.
Speaker 1: No, I think it's what we need to see more of.
Speaker 1: I think more people will return back to Free to
Speaker 1: Wear the more that we see ourselves on screen. And
Speaker 1: I think that ultimately is what we see with the
Speaker 1: style of presenting, which is what I'm still always drawn
Speaker 1: to whenever I watch any of your work, and I
Speaker 1: think that's really important. You know, the days of being
Speaker 1: word perfect and being sort of too perfect, I think
Speaker 1: is one of the reasons why people might turn away
Speaker 1: from watching shows. You know, so I think it's quite powerful.
Speaker 3: Well, it's funny, you know.
Speaker 2: I think you've kind of experienced at firsthand. And I
Speaker 2: didn't really notice this until I lived in London for
Speaker 2: quite some time and Big Brother was huge over there
Speaker 2: for a period through the mid sort of two thousands,
Speaker 2: and I didn't fully understand why, aside from the fact
Speaker 2: that you're watching these people, but you kind of feel
Speaker 2: like you're part of their community.
Speaker 3: You kind of feel.
Speaker 2: Like you're at the dinner table with them, you're sharing
Speaker 2: conversations with them, and I think that that is what
Speaker 2: people want. I think that's what viewers want, is to
Speaker 2: feel like you're part of the journey, not just on
Speaker 2: the outside, but you can kind of feel like you're
Speaker 2: one of them. And definitely I think a vulnerability and
Speaker 2: a relaxed nature of how you present is key to that,
Speaker 2: because otherwise they just do feel like an outsider, like
Speaker 2: they're being spoken to rather than part of the conversation.
Speaker 1: Well, I think TV needs to be aspirational, and so
Speaker 1: we want to feel like we can be there, that
Speaker 1: we can join the conversational that we're there and we're seen.
Speaker 2: That's why when you're listening to someone be interviewed, you're
Speaker 2: screaming at the interviewer to ask this or ask that,
Speaker 2: or you respond to the to the question, or so
Speaker 2: often you will have someone being interviewed going, oh, what
Speaker 2: a great question. And it's it's exactly that people want
Speaker 2: to feel like they're in control.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Now I need to ask you about
Speaker 1: this because Ultimate Tag we're just on the verge of
Speaker 1: it dropped, and there's so many people wanting to know
Speaker 1: how it's all going to work because in a way
Speaker 1: we think it's Tiggy like what we all played at school,
Speaker 1: but it's like, you know, it's the childhood game, but
Speaker 1: I guess it's all ultimately a bit like it's on steroids.
Speaker 1: How is this all going to work beyond how we
Speaker 1: think and remember what Tiggy is like as a kid,
Speaker 1: how is this going to work for adults?
Speaker 2: Gin know what, in its simplest way, it is that game,
Speaker 2: And you're absolutely right. What we've done is we've amped
Speaker 2: it up. We've taken it to the absolute extreme, and
Speaker 2: Ultimate Tag is the perfect name for it. But we
Speaker 2: have professional taggers. So the pro tagers are the most
Speaker 2: elite athletic, from sporting backgrounds, from parkol backgrounds, dance fighting,
Speaker 2: you name it. They have an unbelievable experience to navigate
Speaker 2: these courses, these ultimate tag courses. Then what happens is
Speaker 2: you have the players, and the players are the ones
Speaker 2: that have to stay away. So pro taggers are in
Speaker 2: or they're it, I guess you would say. And then
Speaker 2: the players are the ones that are trying to stay away,
Speaker 2: the ones that are taunting and running in the school
Speaker 2: yard as.
Speaker 3: We did as kids.
Speaker 2: But the really interesting thing here is that the players
Speaker 2: themselves too are very athletic and have a diverse backgrounds
Speaker 2: behind them. We've got olympians, we've got international level gymnasts,
Speaker 2: we've got concretors, we've got tradees, we've got bank managers,
Speaker 2: you name it. There is this vast array of people,
Speaker 2: and I think the great thing and the resonance that
Speaker 2: we have here is that everyone's represented. So everyone that
Speaker 2: played tag or tip can identify with someone in their backstory.
Speaker 2: But then also they're very good at what they do
Speaker 2: as well. So out on the course you have a
Speaker 2: number of obstacles and I think one of the really
Speaker 2: great things about Ultimate Tag is that it is completely
Speaker 2: adaptable to how you use those obstacles. So you don't
Speaker 2: know what's coming, you don't know how the player is
Speaker 2: going to use it, you don't know how the pro
Speaker 2: tag is going.
Speaker 3: To use it.
Speaker 2: Literally, and we often say this, blink and you'll miss it,
Speaker 2: But the truth is when a player comes out, they
Speaker 2: don't know what they're going to do, let alone the audience.
Speaker 3: So you'll watch them run this course and.
Speaker 2: They will use a bar or a box in a
Speaker 2: way that you haven't seen and it'll shock you, and
Speaker 2: it'll shock the protager, and then the protag will kind
Speaker 2: of adapt to that and change. And do you know
Speaker 2: who I felt most sorry for in this whole production
Speaker 2: with the cameramen, because they are the ones trying to
Speaker 2: keep an eye on our players and protagers, and you
Speaker 2: can imagine, like.
Speaker 3: There was no rhyme or reason to it.
Speaker 2: The ones that impress the most in regards to the
Speaker 2: players and the protagers too were the ones that use
Speaker 2: the course in the most unorthodox way. And trust me,
Speaker 2: it'll blow your mind some of the stuff that these
Speaker 2: guys can do. And I say that having lined up
Speaker 2: against some of the most supremely elite athletes in the world.
Speaker 2: The game you loved as kids, Hi Gay is now
Speaker 2: the fastest show on the planet.
Speaker 4: Let's go out.
Speaker 3: Every day.
Speaker 4: Aussies will take on these superhuman athletes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's safe to say that I'm nervous.
Speaker 2: It's like you're a little baby and a t Rex
Speaker 2: is behind you, just running after you.
Speaker 3: Three he.
Speaker 4: With one hundred thousand dollars on the.
Speaker 3: Line, one hundred k it would be life changing.
Speaker 4: Each new course is more daunting commission than the last.
Speaker 3: Five foot four and you're asking me to jump up a.
Speaker 4: Three meter wall, bro, They'll be highs and low.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, could get a medic you telling me.
Speaker 4: It's like nothing you've ever seen before, the believable, and
Speaker 4: there's only one rule. Who will have what it takes.
Speaker 3: This is outstanding stuff.
Speaker 4: To be crowned the champion.
Speaker 3: Starts something much seven.
Speaker 2: The other simplest way to describe it. We have taken
Speaker 2: an action movie, all of those chase scenes that you've
Speaker 2: seen down back alleys, overbuilding tops, all of those things
Speaker 2: that you kind of think of from an action movie,
Speaker 2: and we brought it to life.
Speaker 1: Did you get to try any of these courses.
Speaker 3: I so desperately wanted to do.
Speaker 2: You know, every time i'd get on a box or
Speaker 2: a bar or you know, they've all got names, the
Speaker 2: junction or the wedge. Every time I would get on
Speaker 2: one of the obstacles, the EP would get in my
Speaker 2: ear and say.
Speaker 3: Get down, get Servo off there. We can't afford for
Speaker 3: him to get injured. We can't slow production down. He
Speaker 3: can't get hurt. So I was like, come on, I
Speaker 3: just want to have one go, Just let me jump
Speaker 3: off something, just once.
Speaker 2: So I did sneak up on a couple of times,
Speaker 2: but no, I didn't run it in its most glorious way,
Speaker 2: which it's meant to be.
Speaker 1: You don't want to annoy killing. You want to come
Speaker 1: back for series two.
Speaker 2: Killy was so hilarious. It was so good having her
Speaker 2: in my She was so funny.
Speaker 1: For people who are listening to this, that's the executive
Speaker 1: producer of Ultimate Tag, a great woman, and I think
Speaker 1: she's going on to do the next series of Survivors.
Speaker 1: So maybe that'll be the next thing down the line.
Speaker 1: She'll call you up and ask you to go and
Speaker 1: do that show where you would be allowed to do
Speaker 1: all the stunts. Have they ever asked you to do Survivor?
Speaker 3: They have, Yeah, in the past.
Speaker 2: I've been niced a few times and I've been kind
Speaker 2: of contracted to a network, so I mean, yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean Survivor would be.
Speaker 3: Would be fun.
Speaker 2: I mean it's a huge investment of time and you've
Speaker 2: really got to You've got to want to do it.
Speaker 2: You've got to got a camp outside and have minimal
Speaker 2: amounts to eat. And Matt Rodgers was on Holy Moly
Speaker 2: Celebrity and he's.
Speaker 3: What did they call him, the Godfather? I think it
Speaker 3: was the Godfather of Survivor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I mean, I'd love to have that physical challenge.
Speaker 2: I'd love to really test myself in that way. I mean,
Speaker 2: similar to sas as well on Channel seven.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's the third series. Have they asked you to
Speaker 1: do ESAs?
Speaker 2: No, No, no, and I have had I've had a
Speaker 2: little bit of advice from those.
Speaker 3: That have done it.
Speaker 1: It's tough.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's real.
Speaker 2: It's real, and I think that's the thing that you know,
Speaker 2: kind of set the tone for it.
Speaker 3: It is no mucking around. They only get what.
Speaker 2: They get and they have to do the challenges and yeah, no,
Speaker 2: it's tough, So yeah, I'd have to think about that one.
Speaker 1: Getting back into Ultimate Tag, you know, you saw so
Speaker 1: many of these people go through. I mean you saw
Speaker 1: all the players going in there. They all had fairly
Speaker 1: unusual names. Did you have anyone in your mind that's
Speaker 1: stuck out. I was reading all of the press releases
Speaker 1: today and reading all the different players that were there,
Speaker 1: and I thought Hollywood was an interesting one. He was
Speaker 1: as a little boy, as a baby, he played like
Speaker 1: a significant role on Home in Away for like five years,
Speaker 1: and then you know, now he's an adult and he's
Speaker 1: named Hollywood on this show and taking part in the
Speaker 1: challenge for you. Did you have a memorable player that
Speaker 1: stays in your mind?
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a few. There's definitely a few players that
Speaker 2: stood out to me. There was one girl called Rebecca
Speaker 2: Bennett who I kind of had an affiliation.
Speaker 3: With because she's a track and field athlete.
Speaker 2: She's actually a very very talented four hundred meter runner,
Speaker 2: and without doubt, you'll see her, and she's already done
Speaker 2: so in the youth level, but you'll see her where
Speaker 2: the Green and Gold. She's that good an athlete and
Speaker 2: she's a career for a girl with cerebral palsy, and
Speaker 2: her backstory is just so stunning and so beautiful and
Speaker 2: so emotional. I won't give anything away, but it'll lift
Speaker 2: you up and break your heart.
Speaker 3: Her story it is, it's just unbelievable.
Speaker 1: That's what we want to see. They're the good stories.
Speaker 1: You know, you've been around, you know talking about athletes,
Speaker 1: you know, because you've been around for so long in
Speaker 1: a massive icon in the sporting world. Can we talk
Speaker 1: about the highs and lows of being an athlete? How
Speaker 1: did you find yourself in this second career, Because I
Speaker 1: guess there's a lot of people out there that look
Speaker 1: up to you and have probably given the all into sport,
Speaker 1: and then and then thinking about this second career, you know,
Speaker 1: what advice do you have for them to see that
Speaker 1: there's more outside of their sport.
Speaker 2: There's definitely two key things that I learned from my
Speaker 2: athletic career that I've taken into TV. The first one is,
Speaker 2: and I touched on this is confidence and an experience.
Speaker 2: And confidence comes from understanding the industry. And the only
Speaker 2: way to understand the industry is to do the work.
Speaker 2: So you've really got to work hard at understanding I
Speaker 2: guess the audience that you're trying to talk to, the
Speaker 2: work you may be researching athletes for the coverage that
Speaker 2: you're working on, for an interview that you're about to do,
Speaker 2: whatever it is. So preparation and experience leads to confidence
Speaker 2: without a doubt, and that's definitely something that I learned
Speaker 2: in my career. The other thing, and I often get
Speaker 2: asked this from either athletes or footy players. Moving from
Speaker 2: how do I get into TV? My best advice is this,
Speaker 2: your athletic career or your professional career before television or
Speaker 2: before anything else, is a foot in the door, and
Speaker 2: you still have to learn this industry equally to that
Speaker 2: person that is grinding their way through it at the
Speaker 2: same time.
Speaker 3: And for two reasons.
Speaker 2: One, just because you can do something in one particular
Speaker 2: industry and it's built a profile for you doesn't necessarily
Speaker 2: mean that you're going to be able to do that
Speaker 2: as competently in the next one. And Two, the work
Speaker 2: you do and the willingness to understand the business and
Speaker 2: to put the work in will grow your own credibility
Speaker 2: in own respect, and I think that is hugely important,
Speaker 2: especially in television. So my advice to them is go
Speaker 2: to a newsroom somewhere because in a newsroom you've got
Speaker 2: to you've got to write, you've got to edit, you've
Speaker 2: got to have a news now, so an understanding what
Speaker 2: the actual story is. And then in the background you
Speaker 2: you've got to present and you've got to articulate what
Speaker 2: you're trying to say. So you do all elements, and
Speaker 2: you do it under a huge amount of pressure often
Speaker 2: and also too, it's usually a twenty four hour thing,
Speaker 2: so you can go in there at any time and
Speaker 2: sit in an edit suite with your editors and understand
Speaker 2: how a story gets put together and understand how writing works,
Speaker 2: and you get to see it from the very start,
Speaker 2: from scratch, you know, it's just a slug in the.
Speaker 3: Rundown right through to going to air.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's my advice from you know, transitioning into
Speaker 2: TV definitely.
Speaker 1: Well, I guess the message then for a lot of
Speaker 1: people as well as to just immerse themselves into another
Speaker 1: universe the way that they have, because you know, that's
Speaker 1: one of the harder things. You know, do you think
Speaker 1: that some of the sporting clubs and our sport do
Speaker 1: we need to work harder on assimilating people back into
Speaker 1: the real world after their careers have sort of come
Speaker 1: to an end, you know, stepping away from the idea
Speaker 1: of progressing into it a television career. But you know
Speaker 1: just what happens to them next, you know, I do.
Speaker 2: I think it's a really good point, and I kind
Speaker 2: of I use the metaphor as climbing Everest, and you know,
Speaker 2: I don't want to bore you with philosophy, but the
Speaker 2: way I have best understood it is your athletic career
Speaker 2: is like climbing Everest. And it's a great metaphor to
Speaker 2: use because we often use it. Start at the base
Speaker 2: and try and climb to the pin. The only issue
Speaker 2: is when you actually do climb to Everest. You don't
Speaker 2: pack your bag just for the ascent. You pack your
Speaker 2: bag and all your preparation for coming back down as well.
Speaker 2: And usually when you claim Mount Everest. In real life,
Speaker 2: when you're coming back down is when all the shit
Speaker 2: hits the fans. So if you've got all the right
Speaker 2: equipment and extra tanks of oxygen and the right people
Speaker 2: guiding you, then you'll come down safely. The biggest issue
Speaker 2: for an athlete is often when you start at zero
Speaker 2: on your ascent. You've got people around you. You've got
Speaker 2: an agent wanting to be your friend. You've got your coach,
Speaker 2: you've got your manager, you've got your your physio, you've
Speaker 2: got your dietitian, you've got friends and family, you've got
Speaker 2: your psychologists, You've got everyone behind you, and they're pushing
Speaker 2: you to go up.
Speaker 3: This mountain, up this hill, to get to that pinnacle.
Speaker 3: And let's say a gold medal is your pinnacle.
Speaker 2: At the Olympic Games, I didn't reach that, but I
Speaker 2: got a World Championship medal at Comwealth Games medal, so
Speaker 2: I didn't traverse all the way to the absolute pinnacle.
Speaker 2: But ironically, I still have to come back down because
Speaker 2: I've made that journey. I've started that journey. When you
Speaker 2: get to the top, you start to realize, hang on,
Speaker 2: there's no manager anymore. There's no well, rarely there's a manager,
Speaker 2: there's no physio, there's no coach. All of these people
Speaker 2: have kind of disappeared. And then you're staring down this hill,
Speaker 2: this mountain, and it becomes overwhelming, it becomes really hard.
Speaker 2: So unless you have the right amount of people to
Speaker 2: help you down. And one thing, and this is and
Speaker 2: I often say this to school kids particularly. The one
Speaker 2: thing that will band your team together is humility and gratitude,
Speaker 2: because if you have that on the way up, they
Speaker 2: will hopefully be there on the way back down. But
Speaker 2: if you treat them like crap on the way up,
Speaker 2: you've got to get back down somehow. I'll use Michael
Speaker 2: Phelps as a great example of someone that just strapped
Speaker 2: on a parachute and jumped off the pinnacle.
Speaker 3: After Beijing, he.
Speaker 2: Retired and he had a DUI, he got caught taking drugs,
Speaker 2: He had suicidal tendency is depression because you just jumped
Speaker 2: off the top. At the most success anyway, he decided
Speaker 2: to go back up the mountain. He went to the
Speaker 2: London Olympic Games, won a few more medals. By that stage,
Speaker 2: he had a wife, he had a kid, he had
Speaker 2: a business that he had started, and then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, that journey off the mountain became a lot
Speaker 2: easier for him. So that's kind of my metaphor, and
Speaker 2: I think if you can get the right team and
Speaker 2: you have all of that humility and gratitude on the
Speaker 2: way up, often you'll you'll carry that back down.
Speaker 1: Oh one hundred percent. I think that's the message there,
Speaker 1: and I think for young people out there that might
Speaker 1: stumble across this podcast, I think that's really powerful. And
Speaker 1: kudos to you as well going out to those schools
Speaker 1: and talking to young people so that they're mentally prepared
Speaker 1: you for the journey up the hill, but certainly the
Speaker 1: journey down. You know, you said you were excited about
Speaker 1: the interesting blend of entertainment and sport with some of
Speaker 1: these shows that you've just been working on. Do you
Speaker 1: think that this will be an interesting year for sport
Speaker 1: post COVID where after COVID last year, a lot of
Speaker 1: sports now sort of under a very different state and
Speaker 1: you know, obviously not out the other side of COVID,
Speaker 1: what do you think the future of sport looks like
Speaker 1: on Australian television.
Speaker 3: It was really interesting, wasn't it.
Speaker 2: I thought sport particularly adapted and transitioned through that COVID period,
Speaker 2: probably better than any other industry, and I think it
Speaker 2: showed the value of what it means to have sport
Speaker 2: on television, especially for you know, sport being played in
Speaker 2: any capacity for Australians. You know, you don't necessarily need
Speaker 2: to be a huge fan, but we love the idea
Speaker 2: of it. We love that, you know, we have these
Speaker 2: people taking part in our national pastime, which is often sport.
Speaker 2: So I think they adapted so well in the immediate
Speaker 2: reaction to COVID, and I think now that they've had
Speaker 2: more time to think about how to plan going forward,
Speaker 2: I think they're going to.
Speaker 3: Do it even better.
Speaker 2: I think the great thing is too it really has
Speaker 2: shocked their system in understanding how they can be more
Speaker 2: efficient in running their business side of sport and also
Speaker 2: seeing the core values of what they offer, you know,
Speaker 2: and what those things are. And I think that's like anyone,
Speaker 2: you know, anyone that got locked down understands how important
Speaker 2: family is, how important connections are, how important.
Speaker 3: Relationships are, and prioritizing those things. It's the same for sport.
Speaker 2: I think they'll really understand, or they've been given an
Speaker 2: indication of what the real value is of their sport.
Speaker 2: And it could be rugby league, AFL, you know, soccer football,
Speaker 2: whatever it is. I think it's been a hugely beneficial thing.
Speaker 2: It's been heartbreaking for Olympic sport. I think the Olympians
Speaker 2: have probably suffered the most because they had their endgame,
Speaker 2: their pinnacle of the Mountain moved on them for twelve
Speaker 2: months and some of them had to retire, some of
Speaker 2: them had jobs to go to, some of them had
Speaker 2: studies to finish off, some of them didn't have the
Speaker 2: finances to keep going.
Speaker 3: So it's been really hard for them.
Speaker 2: But hopefully, and I think you talk about what's coming
Speaker 2: up this year in regards to sport, seven's got the Olympics,
Speaker 2: and I think it's going to be a huge thing.
Speaker 3: It's probably not going to be exactly what we've seen in.
Speaker 2: The past, the Olympic Games, but it'll be huge for
Speaker 2: the world to be able to put on an event
Speaker 2: that can hopefully embrace so so many nations that have
Speaker 2: been affected by COVID.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, I think it's going to be
Speaker 1: really interesting to see it evolved. And it's one thing
Speaker 1: for sure is that we're certainly not going to take
Speaker 1: it for granted. You think about what it's like being
Speaker 1: an Australian and so many people map their year at
Speaker 1: around their sport, you know, and that was really hard
Speaker 1: not to see that. I think sport plays such a
Speaker 1: pivotal role for mental health here in Australia. I think
Speaker 1: it's so powerful to have it on screen and allow
Speaker 1: people to connect to that calendar without it. It was
Speaker 1: really quite stressful. I don't know if you saw this,
Speaker 1: but last week goggle Box were talking about you. Did
Speaker 1: you see what they were talking about.
Speaker 3: I saw the quote, Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1: Does it get to it?
Speaker 3: It will forever Ben, it will forever haunt me, I
Speaker 3: you know. And it's funny. You know. I had a
Speaker 3: radio interview a couple of weeks back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, as we're doing the publicity trail for Holly Moly,
Speaker 2: and a producer called me from the radio station and said, now,
Speaker 2: the boys want to ask you about this. I've said
Speaker 2: they can't do it, but are you happy talking about
Speaker 2: your licres suit and you.
Speaker 1: Know and the bits and pieces?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I have to be comfortable with it. I don't have
Speaker 2: any choice. It is what it is. It was very
Speaker 2: funny though, hearing the people on goggle Box going straight
Speaker 2: for that.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, it's Matt Svington. Is that Olympic runner?
Speaker 3: When he wore his shorts, you could see everything.
Speaker 2: Yes, these whole family jewels went flip flop flip. Everyone
Speaker 2: watched the ideas Hello look at them, Oh damn. As
Speaker 2: part of kind of dissecting the show. I thought that
Speaker 2: was quite interesting. But anyway, yeah, look, you know, it
Speaker 2: is what it is. It is what it is. It's
Speaker 2: in my past. Somehow it put me on the map
Speaker 2: and I just.
Speaker 3: Have to live with it.
Speaker 1: Well, I guess people have been put on the map
Speaker 1: for worse, But I think that the strange thing about
Speaker 1: it for me is the fact, you know, it comes
Speaker 1: up every time. And when I saw it, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously i'm doing the research. I'm talking to
Speaker 1: you today, so you know, I'm reading all the articles
Speaker 1: that are out there, and I saw it there and
Speaker 1: I just thought, oh, this is such a strange, such
Speaker 1: a strange thing to be known for, to have that
Speaker 1: come back around. And I actually said it to my
Speaker 1: partner and he knew who you were straight away because
Speaker 1: of that, and I was like, it is funny though,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, I was on a series of Big
Speaker 1: Brother and I won it, and people always would go
Speaker 1: back to that moment, and it felt like I was
Speaker 1: being slowly reduced to this moment, and I just felt like,
Speaker 1: you know, there is so much more and it is
Speaker 1: hard to sometimes get over those moments that stay in
Speaker 1: the Zecheist of you know, how people remember you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, without a doubt, But then you've also got to
Speaker 2: consider that if you can, if you can capture them
Speaker 2: in any moment, I think it's an amazing thing. I
Speaker 2: don't feel bad about it because I was wearing you know,
Speaker 2: a green and gold like a suit, running for Australia
Speaker 2: and doing a good job of it at that time.
Speaker 2: So for me, it was more about I was going
Speaker 2: to be out there anyway representing my country and it
Speaker 2: was important that that I did that and it gained
Speaker 2: me attention. But also kind of parallel to that was
Speaker 2: an understanding of who I was and that I was
Speaker 2: an athlete, and you know, all of that came along
Speaker 2: with it too.
Speaker 3: And similarly to you, I mean, you know, people will
Speaker 3: know you.
Speaker 2: As the winner a big brother, but they'll also understand
Speaker 2: that you have now built credibility in what else you're doing.
Speaker 3: And again, you know, I just touched on it before.
Speaker 2: It's a foot in the door no matter how you
Speaker 2: look at it, and if you can use it ahead
Speaker 2: of the game, then you know it is what it is.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you probably have some understanding of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's a good way to put it and
Speaker 1: you go like, that's the foot in the door, and
Speaker 1: now we move on, and then you look for that credibility,
Speaker 1: which I think is what we all have to do. Lastly,
Speaker 1: I was going to ask, and I ask every this
Speaker 1: to everybody about a funny story from behind the scenes
Speaker 1: of the show that we're talking about. Is there any
Speaker 1: funny story from behind the scenes of Ultimate tag that
Speaker 1: you're willing to share?
Speaker 3: What it did feel like behind the scenes?
Speaker 2: Was it was like being on like being on a
Speaker 2: track and field team again, or you know, in the
Speaker 2: dressing rooms of your footy team, because you know, the
Speaker 2: pro Taggers were roaming around in their robes and you know,
Speaker 2: having half done makeup, and you know, like they were
Speaker 2: in some very odd and strange outfits. Abby and I
Speaker 2: unfortunately had to wear the same stuff for majority of
Speaker 2: the show as continuity sort of dictates for us.
Speaker 1: But were you ever jealous of the outfits? Did you
Speaker 1: want to put some of those outfits on?
Speaker 2: Man, these guys are in very very good physical condition.
Speaker 2: It's very humbling, like seeing some of them walk around.
Speaker 2: Arrow potentially has the best male body you've seen. But yeah, no, Yeah,
Speaker 2: there are definitely moments where and I don't know.
Speaker 3: If you know, they will probably tell you if they've
Speaker 3: had some wardrobe malfunctions.
Speaker 2: But we may have caught out of the corner of
Speaker 2: our eye some little slip.
Speaker 1: Ups in their wardrobe, and you couldn't have offered them
Speaker 1: some advice about some tighter pairs of underpants.
Speaker 2: Just make sure you wear undies, just you know, unfleax
Speaker 2: of advice.
Speaker 3: Get the tightest job strap you can find.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you're like, the last thing you want is
Speaker 1: to be doing a podcast in the years to come
Speaker 1: and having them harass you about this.
Speaker 3: I did wear undis, by the way, Well there's.
Speaker 1: The clarification on that that'll end up in the Daily Mail,
Speaker 1: the clarification finally, but you were wearing underpants. Well, all
Speaker 1: I can say to you is this, I hope that
Speaker 1: they continue to make new television shows that we haven't
Speaker 1: seen before, thinking outside the box. You know, we don't
Speaker 1: necessarily need to make things too outrageous. It can be
Speaker 1: as simple as a game of tag. Congratulations on this show.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to see Australia fall in love with it.
Speaker 1: And I just appreciate your honesty and your cana today
Speaker 1: as always, so thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 3: Awesome stuff. Thanks Ben. Really appreciate having a chat. Thanks
Speaker 3: to letter