Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload, the podcast past keep that line. Welcome back,
Speaker 1: guys to TV Reload. As you may know, my name
Speaker 1: is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get
Speaker 1: all the inside goss on the popular TV shows you
Speaker 1: may be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV
Speaker 1: sets are a major part of our home entertainment, and
Speaker 1: yet very little is known about how our favorite shows
Speaker 1: get made. So I've been looking for guests that want
Speaker 1: to dieve just that little bit deeper to the shows
Speaker 1: they've just been on or currently making, so that you
Speaker 1: can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access to
Speaker 1: the biggest names in Australian television. I want to thank
Speaker 1: you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast however you've
Speaker 1: found it. I love hearing your feedback, so make sure
Speaker 1: you leave a review or a comment on your chosen
Speaker 1: podcast platform. This chat, I'm joined by Australian Comedy Royalty
Speaker 1: Peter Hellier, who has just been eliminated from the African
Speaker 1: Jungle on I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here,
Speaker 1: the former host of the project and staple on the
Speaker 1: comedy Circuit and Australian TV screens has been keeping us
Speaker 1: laughing for you. I personally loved him on the Rove
Speaker 1: back in the day and have always enjoyed his obvious
Speaker 1: humor and social commentary, even if at times it does
Speaker 1: border on dad jokes. The fact that Peter said yes
Speaker 1: to the Jungle, took on all these challenges eight disgusting food,
Speaker 1: but gave us so many laughs is a test of
Speaker 1: it to the awesome guy, Pete is truly behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: I will talk to Pete about his time on the
Speaker 1: project and what he really thought of the people who
Speaker 1: said yes to going into the Jungle when he would
Speaker 1: previously interview them. We will discuss that final food trial
Speaker 1: and why we never see the celebs hold their noses.
Speaker 1: We will also get shock admissions as to who he
Speaker 1: thinks should replace doctor Chris Brown as he leaves the
Speaker 1: show this season. Plus we will get plenty of exclusives
Speaker 1: from behind the scenes. If I'm a celebrity, Get Me
Speaker 1: Out of Here, which you can now watch on Network
Speaker 1: ten and you can also catch up on ten Play
Speaker 1: if you've fallen behind anyway, Let's bring Pete into the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of his and always have been,
Speaker 1: and I really hope you enjoy this chat mate.
Speaker 2: How are you I'm good man, How are you.
Speaker 1: Are you surviving?
Speaker 2: I am it's it's I've.
Speaker 3: Had a shower, a bit of a beard trim, a haircut,
Speaker 3: got a cup of tea.
Speaker 2: Yeah, life's pretty good.
Speaker 1: Since you've been gone. What you don't know is the
Speaker 1: Tom Hanks castaway look is huge here in Australia, so
Speaker 1: you might have done yourself for your service.
Speaker 3: My plan has become the Richard Hatch of this season
Speaker 3: of iMOS. Already get me out of here, so keeping
Speaker 3: the beard for a little bit longer.
Speaker 1: Would you have said no to that final challenge, which
Speaker 1: was disgusting by the way, had you known that you
Speaker 1: were going to be the next person you know, eliminated.
Speaker 3: I know, you eat some pigs and as you expect,
Speaker 3: at least, you know, get voted back in at least
Speaker 3: for one more night. But the truth of the matter
Speaker 3: is that you get to the point where you really
Speaker 3: want to do the trials. And I kind of came
Speaker 3: into this experience going I can't exist by hoping that
Speaker 3: I don't get chosen. As it turned out, I've done
Speaker 3: two trials plus reaching my hand to a box of snakes,
Speaker 3: which I consider a trial. You know, I probably done,
Speaker 3: I guess three trials, but it felt like I really
Speaker 3: needed to get it, you know, at least another one
Speaker 3: before I went.
Speaker 2: So I was really excited when.
Speaker 3: I was chosen, because you want to leave here with
Speaker 3: stories and to tell people and my kids to see me,
Speaker 3: you know, try to do something against my will. And
Speaker 3: so eating pigs genus and you know, fermented herring was
Speaker 3: a bere Yeah.
Speaker 1: If you ever get bored, you know, you can just
Speaker 1: do that at home.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I know, and I'll be auditioning from
Speaker 3: one to wife if I can find another pig who's
Speaker 3: up for it.
Speaker 1: I want to know why doesn't anyone ever hold their
Speaker 1: nose while they do shots of fermented disgustingness? You know?
Speaker 1: Is it a part of the instructions that you're not
Speaker 1: allowed to cover your nose?
Speaker 3: That is correct, you cannot You're not allowed. Because I
Speaker 3: was like, okay, cover your nose. And the other thing
Speaker 3: I was going to do was cut it up nice
Speaker 3: and small and just eat it kind of like bit
Speaker 3: by a bit, but there's no cut. Worry is that
Speaker 3: they want you eating out of your hands. So my plans,
Speaker 3: my clever little plans went out the window very quickly.
Speaker 1: There seems to be like days as well when you're
Speaker 1: not on television, because we're watching this live. So then
Speaker 1: what do you get to eat on the days that
Speaker 1: you haven't won challenges? Is there like, you know, like
Speaker 1: a whole lot of crocodile tails or whatever it may
Speaker 1: be that last for a couple of days, or is
Speaker 1: it just rice and beans when we're not watching it?
Speaker 3: So breakfast and lunch stayed the same. It's always porridge
Speaker 3: in the morning, oats okay, and lunch is always just
Speaker 3: rice and beans. If I've never seen another beaning on
Speaker 3: my life, I will be a very happy man.
Speaker 2: Play.
Speaker 3: The lack of flavor that I've had over the last
Speaker 3: twenty six days is staggering.
Speaker 2: But what we were doing, which I'm not sure I
Speaker 2: want to check up.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure it was the first camp to do it,
Speaker 3: but we saved a lot of our rice from lunch
Speaker 3: that was in case they came with you know, the
Speaker 3: trialis came back with not many stars, so just bulked
Speaker 3: up any meal that we had. I think we're reasonably
Speaker 3: overachieving camp, though like it was not many times did
Speaker 3: they come we come back. I think three and a
Speaker 3: half stars was the lowest we got and I think
Speaker 3: that was the maybe the the Dombkak incident, yeah, incident Catgate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so just so you know, because there was nothing
Speaker 1: else that happened this season that was referred to as
Speaker 1: an incident, it was just literally the incident. And everyone's like,
Speaker 1: oh yes at the water cooler. If you said, I'm
Speaker 1: a celebrity incident, I think all of Australia has seen
Speaker 1: it by now. So it's just the incident. It was.
Speaker 3: It was a staggering series of events.
Speaker 1: Well I'm going to I'm not going to pest you
Speaker 1: for that. I'm sure people already doing that. But you know,
Speaker 1: while we're talking about food, everyone eats rice and beans
Speaker 1: and you know, loses a staggering amount of weight. Is
Speaker 1: there food that you won't go back to eating, Like,
Speaker 1: is there a possibility that these labs like yourself might
Speaker 1: come back and try and keep the weight off or
Speaker 1: is that just not a is that not a smart
Speaker 1: thing for me to say?
Speaker 3: Even I will try. I imagine I'll put my weight
Speaker 3: back on on the on the plane ride back. It's
Speaker 3: almost torture. The amount we spoke about food in the
Speaker 3: in the camp, like you're kind to get to the
Speaker 3: point where go we why are we torturing ourselves by
Speaker 3: talking about the food? And sometimes it'll be like amazing
Speaker 3: dishes described, you know by people like Dom or Liz
Speaker 3: or you know Anna obviously you know people who know.
Speaker 2: How to describe food and like cook food and all that.
Speaker 3: But sometimes it would just be like, oh, how good
Speaker 3: would someone video chips be oh my god, you know,
Speaker 3: and then would discuss our favorite confectionery and what happens
Speaker 3: You kind of come out and then you have something
Speaker 3: to eat, and then you kind of be like, Okay,
Speaker 3: well that's done, you know, Like I was going to
Speaker 3: tell it even when I was in there, I was
Speaker 3: trying to say, once you eat a couple of things,
Speaker 3: you won't you then won't be starving, like you know,
Speaker 3: it's not like we're going to be gorging for the
Speaker 3: next three months on our favorite foods. But it'd be
Speaker 3: interesting to see, you know, if I can keep off
Speaker 3: some of the kilos that I that I lost.
Speaker 2: But we'll see.
Speaker 1: When you were interviewing these people as they would come
Speaker 1: out of the jungle or throwing to the Jungle in
Speaker 1: previous years. Did you ever imagine that you would eventually
Speaker 1: say yes and do it.
Speaker 2: No, I honestly didn't.
Speaker 3: And I remember seeing Barry Hall in like a Grave
Speaker 3: full of Rats or something like it very early on them.
Speaker 3: I've been season one or two, and I just remember thinking,
Speaker 3: I'll never do that show. But I was very adamant.
Speaker 3: And when we would speak to you know this, this
Speaker 3: celebrity shield would come out and sometimes you know carry
Speaker 3: and I will chat about it in my lead and
Speaker 3: I was just adamant.
Speaker 2: I would never do it. There's just too many things
Speaker 2: that I don't like. I like my own space. It
Speaker 2: would really rub me up the wrong way. It was
Speaker 2: too far out of my comfort zone. Basically.
Speaker 3: You know, obviously Ten had the inside running on me
Speaker 3: leaving the projects, so they gave me a call. They
Speaker 3: got me in a weak moment, obviously, and I just went, sure,
Speaker 3: why not? And you know, there was I wanted to
Speaker 3: know how it works, and you had a couple of questions,
Speaker 3: and the other thing was to be honest, I know,
Speaker 3: not just interviewing the celebrities when they come out. But
Speaker 3: I've known a lot of a lot of my done
Speaker 3: the show and almost uniformly they have come out and
Speaker 3: raved about the experience, and I was very curious as
Speaker 3: to why that was, and so that was probably one
Speaker 3: of the other driving factors in me saying yes.
Speaker 1: Esentially, they want to do this show all the time,
Speaker 1: and then people do it and they say that it's
Speaker 1: changed them, and you know, it's kind of like saying, oh,
Speaker 1: I want to go on a journey in reality television
Speaker 1: or what a journey and it's such, you know, a
Speaker 1: buzz word that we don't want to hear. But do
Speaker 1: you think that doing a show like this could possibly
Speaker 1: have changed you forever? Like the next thing we see
Speaker 1: you in, do you think that we will see a
Speaker 1: very changed Peter Hellett.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's very raw, and I'm still processing
Speaker 3: a lot of it. I know I had a great time,
Speaker 3: but as far as that stuff goes, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Like that.
Speaker 3: The most amazing thing for me was how much I
Speaker 3: enjoyed being disconnected from the world and from the new
Speaker 3: cycle and from my phone. I hated not being able
Speaker 3: to contact my family and that was the hardest, absolutely
Speaker 3: the hardest thing, which I you know guess would be
Speaker 3: the hardest thing going into it, but the disconnecting from the.
Speaker 2: Phone was just you know, repulatory for me. And even
Speaker 2: though you know, and there's no phantom kind of like
Speaker 2: reaching from my pocket to check, you know, to check
Speaker 2: my phone.
Speaker 3: So I hope that you know, coming out, I can
Speaker 3: kind of monitor my screen time and you know, there's
Speaker 3: there's conversations you know, they had in the jungle about
Speaker 3: how we all live our lives and about mental health
Speaker 3: and all that that I know will want to take
Speaker 3: on board.
Speaker 2: And you know, it's it is a really amazing experience
Speaker 2: and it's interesting to see what I'd take out of it.
Speaker 1: Maybe they have got you to do the show because
Speaker 1: you might have been easier asked on a step to
Speaker 1: trying to get carried big more or maybe even rove
Speaker 1: to come and do the show, because I think, you know,
Speaker 1: with this sign off that you're giving at the moment,
Speaker 1: it sounds like it's a retreat that you know, seems
Speaker 1: pretty cheap.
Speaker 3: Well, to be absolutely honest, I didn't think that, like
Speaker 3: people are paying being top dollar to go on these
Speaker 3: you know, like detos retreats.
Speaker 2: Certainly didn't pay my fair to get here.
Speaker 3: So I said to the team already, you know, I
Speaker 3: will be an ambassador if you if there's somebody in
Speaker 3: my in my world that you wanted me to nudge
Speaker 3: towards coming on, I'll certainly recommend it. And I never
Speaker 3: thought i'd be in this position where I'm looking back
Speaker 3: going yeah, I'm a celebrity. Is one of the one
Speaker 3: of my favorite things I've ever done.
Speaker 1: You could be pretty quiet times. I mean I was
Speaker 1: expecting you to be a little bit louder. I mean,
Speaker 1: you were very funny, and we got to see some
Speaker 1: amazing moments of you in there. I wondered, because I've
Speaker 1: met you a couple of times, and you're a very
Speaker 1: generous person by nature, and you're a very generous person
Speaker 1: in your interviews. You really do give people a lot
Speaker 1: of space. Was that a thought process for you, thinking, Oh,
Speaker 1: some of these other people are a little lesser known
Speaker 1: and I'm letting them have some time. Was there a reason?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 1: Is there a rationale behind being a little bit whieter?
Speaker 2: No, it was.
Speaker 3: It certainly wasn't a strategy, but I was very much
Speaker 3: I did think there are times when I'm going to,
Speaker 3: you know, be a bigger part of a conversation or
Speaker 3: a moment, and there are times when that moment should
Speaker 3: belong to somebody else. And so it wasn't as rational
Speaker 3: as the.
Speaker 2: Way you put it. But and I think it's just
Speaker 2: the way I am in my life.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I don't need to walk into a room and be
Speaker 2: the loudest person in the room.
Speaker 3: Or I don't need to dominate a conversation, and there
Speaker 3: are times when I might and I just kind of thought,
Speaker 3: and I'm not sure what went to where, you know,
Speaker 3: And that's a weird thing about doing these interviews that
Speaker 3: you're not really sure because also you can't be on
Speaker 3: twenty four seven, you know. And as a comedian in
Speaker 3: the camp, I know, I'm sure Mammy saying, but I
Speaker 3: think acm had a really tough time in the camp
Speaker 3: because he didn't know when he was supposed to be on,
Speaker 3: you know, And so I just went in and tried
Speaker 3: to be myself. And that's what you saw is kind
Speaker 3: of how I would be if I was on a
Speaker 3: camping trip with my mates, you know, up in Comproom
Speaker 3: where we you know, we camp with my family and friends,
Speaker 3: and you know, sometimes I'm on and you know, and lively,
Speaker 3: and other times I'm a bit quieter, and you know,
Speaker 3: sometimes it's more to do with me, and other times
Speaker 3: it's more to do with you know, what's going on
Speaker 3: in the group. And yeah, so it's probably just a
Speaker 3: pretty true reflection of what I'm actually like.
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember watching Rove Live years ago, and
Speaker 1: I remember thinking, what on this show is so loud?
Speaker 1: Like Rove does his monologue and I felt like he
Speaker 1: was yelling at me and then and great, but I
Speaker 1: mean that's a part of his comedy. Like I'm not
Speaker 1: saying it's a negative, but I remember being blown away
Speaker 1: by your humble attitude to being on that show. You
Speaker 1: weren't the loudest, but I thought you were the funniest
Speaker 1: because it was very much authentic. It was very real,
Speaker 1: and I think people are sitting at home want more
Speaker 1: of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, what I love about this season is because
Speaker 3: I'm told it's like the biggest season they've had, and
Speaker 3: you know, they reached.
Speaker 2: A million votes, you know, for the first time, which
Speaker 2: is you know, staggering, and you.
Speaker 3: Know it's obviously been a really big show for ten
Speaker 3: and that's it's amazing to hear that when you come
Speaker 3: out not knowing how it's going, I was gonna I
Speaker 3: almost wanted to pretend I got to like get on
Speaker 3: the microphone and actually say a final goodbye to the
Speaker 3: camp mates from the control room, and I actually wanted
Speaker 3: to say the show has been the show has been accident.
Speaker 3: It hasn't been not for the last six nights, but
Speaker 3: that might be a bit cruel. But what I love,
Speaker 3: what I love about its success is there wasn't really
Speaker 3: a villain in this This season has not been built
Speaker 3: on conflict. I think it's a win for positivity. And
Speaker 3: you know, I love shows like Shit's Creek and ted Lasso,
Speaker 3: and you know, I'm not saying every show should be
Speaker 3: like that and can be like that, but I think,
Speaker 3: especially in the reality kind of genre, to have a
Speaker 3: positive show is really great.
Speaker 1: No, I think it, And you know what, it's a
Speaker 1: really good antidote, is what I say to some of
Speaker 1: those other shows that do surround themselves with conflict. I
Speaker 1: still think that conflict exists in real life, and that's
Speaker 1: probably where we got the incident from as we now
Speaker 1: refer to it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think.
Speaker 1: It's the worst thing for the Jungle, but it's certainly
Speaker 1: not the center point.
Speaker 2: In regards to the incident. I mean, you can't You
Speaker 2: don't cast for that?
Speaker 3: You know that was and that you know, I understood
Speaker 3: that happened and the human nature involved from both points
Speaker 3: of view, to be honest, and and that was an
Speaker 3: organic kind of thing that happened. And and I you know,
Speaker 3: I thought like this is the first of I wonder
Speaker 3: how many, But then there's nothing after that. We kind
Speaker 3: of just got on with it and put our arms
Speaker 3: around each other and you know, supported each other and existed.
Speaker 1: Well, interesting that you've sat across from carry Anne, you know,
Speaker 1: a live television and you've watched her go through a lot.
Speaker 1: You probably have never seen her in a situation like this.
Speaker 1: Was this a very different Carry Anne to her what
Speaker 1: you'd seen any way working with her on the project?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I love Kak and I have had
Speaker 3: I've got so much time for her and I was
Speaker 3: excited that when she arrived and then to see her
Speaker 3: kind of upset when she came back in the camp
Speaker 3: was actually it was upsetting, you know, and you know,
Speaker 3: we were kind of wondering what this means and you know,
Speaker 3: what's what has dom gone and done? And how she
Speaker 3: going to address this when she comes back? Is it's
Speaker 3: you know, we can't condone, you know, some of the
Speaker 3: language it was used and the attack. But when Dom
Speaker 3: came back in and basically took ownership of it, and
Speaker 3: you know, I said, yeah, I shouldn't. I shouldn't have
Speaker 3: used those words, and that she backed herself in her
Speaker 3: the reasoning, which you know, I think is fair enough
Speaker 3: when you're under those circumstances. Are I understood both points
Speaker 3: of view, but it wasn't nice to see Kerry Anne.
Speaker 3: You know you feel like that and go through that,
Speaker 3: and I look forward to kind of reaching out and
Speaker 3: maybe happily having a game of golf with her.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's almost impossible to ask at this point.
Speaker 1: We have seen shock elimination after shock elimination. No one
Speaker 1: I've I don't think anyone watching this show would have
Speaker 1: predicted the last three people that have come out. So
Speaker 1: instead of really asking you who you think is going
Speaker 1: to win this, because I don't think it's too hard
Speaker 1: to pick, who do you think could replace doctor Chris Brown?
Speaker 1: That's what everyone's talking about. Why you've been in there,
Speaker 1: And I was looking at you with them yesterday. I
Speaker 1: was thinking you and Julia very good together. Could it
Speaker 1: be you or do you think there's one in the
Speaker 1: industry that would be, you know, a formidable person to
Speaker 1: take over from doctor Chris Brown.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like where you're going. I me and Julia
Speaker 2: I like it. Keep that going, keep rolling with it.
Speaker 2: There else.
Speaker 3: There was somebody else in the industry that I kneo'd
Speaker 3: be great for the job, I probably wouldn't put them
Speaker 3: forward because I think it's it's.
Speaker 2: A plum gig.
Speaker 3: And I think I think the powerful thing about if
Speaker 3: it was if it was me, is that Chris and
Speaker 3: I basically looked like before and after shot of some
Speaker 3: kind of horrible experiment.
Speaker 1: So sorry, I'm running out of time, but I have
Speaker 1: to ask you just something very quickly. What is something
Speaker 1: from behind the scenes that we did not see that
Speaker 1: we might not see. I know you don't know what
Speaker 1: we've seen, but we kind of want a little behind
Speaker 1: the scenes secret of I'm a celebrity.
Speaker 3: Well, the one thing I can tell you is how
Speaker 3: amazing they are at keeping us in the dark. So
Speaker 3: when we leave for our trials, as soon as we
Speaker 3: step out of camp, we are blindfolded and we literally walked.
Speaker 2: We walk a short a short distance.
Speaker 3: Then you kind of see his filmed doing that, and
Speaker 3: then but then they put on the blindfold. We have blindfolded,
Speaker 3: and then walked another couple of hundred meters, put into
Speaker 3: a car that is blacked out and still blindfolded, and
Speaker 3: driven to the trial, and they only and then they
Speaker 3: walk us again blindfolded.
Speaker 2: They guide us through and they basically only take.
Speaker 3: Off the blindfold at the last moment, and then we
Speaker 3: bastually turn around and they're at christ and Julia.
Speaker 1: And I'd be casting before I got there.
Speaker 2: Get it, gets it gets a little bit triggering after while.
Speaker 2: I can tell you, though, I.
Speaker 1: Think you were so funny. I've been in your audience
Speaker 1: for so long and I just was so happy to
Speaker 1: see you turn up on the show. I thought you
Speaker 1: did a fantastic job and I made I'm always going
Speaker 1: to be in your audience.
Speaker 3: Oh thanks, mate, Thanks man, I really I really appreciate that, mate.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I'm really glad you're enjoying the show. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I look forward to seeing these last few episodes. And yes,
Speaker 3: something should be coming out and in a couple of
Speaker 3: hours I think, so I'll be to see who that is.