Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast past week that one. Hey guys,
Speaker 1: welcome back to TV Reload, Thank you for clicking and downloading.
Speaker 1: On today's episode with John Aiken, we will be talking
Speaker 1: about Married at First side, of course, and his role
Speaker 1: as a relationship expert. Married at First Sight, or as
Speaker 1: most of us call it, Maths has launched this new
Speaker 1: series with a new selection of singles or Willing to
Speaker 1: Marry a Complete Stranger? I mean, as if we weren't
Speaker 1: going to all watch. We have seen four weddings so far,
Speaker 1: one memorial, a disastrous honeymoon, and at this stage all
Speaker 1: the glasses seem to be used for drinking. Not one
Speaker 1: person has thrown a drink. However, apparently for one bride
Speaker 1: the tequila wasn't good enough. There is so much to
Speaker 1: unpack with John. What he thinks of the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four married couples, why groomed Tim didn't interrupt that disastrous
Speaker 1: best man speech, what he thinks of Lucinda Light and
Speaker 1: her wingwoman crazy, if producers go too hard with grief
Speaker 1: stricken participants, and if those celebrants are real Prince I
Speaker 1: will ask John if in the history of being told
Speaker 1: to calm down, if anyone has actually ever calmed down,
Speaker 1: I'd like to know his take on that turn of
Speaker 1: phrase in an argument. Anyway, let's bring John into the podcast.
Speaker 1: So sit back and relax as we dive just that
Speaker 1: little bit deeper into the world of Australian television. Do
Speaker 1: you know what was really funny? I was watching Maths
Speaker 1: and I was the person who was watching it with
Speaker 1: said John is so good on this show, but don't
Speaker 1: you think he looks like someone? And the person they said,
Speaker 1: you look like who's your double ganger? I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've ever heard this before, and I'm really worried
Speaker 1: that it might upset you. But has anyone ever said
Speaker 1: you look like the penguin from the original Batman TV series?
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's a good thing. Is that
Speaker 2: a good thing? Ellen? No?
Speaker 1: Because no, no, no, because the penguin back then was not
Speaker 1: the big penguin like Danny DeVito. He was quite slim.
Speaker 1: He was, I mean, he did have a nasty.
Speaker 2: I might have to google an image right now.
Speaker 1: No, do you know what everyone has listening to this
Speaker 1: will be like, did you just say to John that
Speaker 1: he is the penguin, and they're gonna be like he
Speaker 1: went there. I know, but you know what, sometimes you
Speaker 1: want to hear these silly things.
Speaker 3: I think I totally agree. And you know what, when
Speaker 3: we talk, you get down to the honest true we do.
Speaker 1: I sped image.
Speaker 2: I've gone images. I mean, oh my god.
Speaker 1: Look at it. At the end of the podcast, we'll
Speaker 1: circle back to it. Welcome back to the podcast again.
Speaker 2: Though it is great to be here, Ben.
Speaker 3: I love the last time we spoke, and this time's
Speaker 3: even better because I get to see you in person,
Speaker 3: well on screen at least, of course.
Speaker 1: Of course. You know what was interesting was the other
Speaker 1: day when we were watching we watched a preview of
Speaker 1: the first episode for People who isn't It? And I
Speaker 1: told you that you ranked in the top three of
Speaker 1: the podcast. So I've got those names for you. Claudia
Speaker 1: Carvon was number one, as she's big, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, like, can't beat Claudia Cuhen and you were
Speaker 1: number two, which is great, and number three was George
Speaker 1: from Survivor. So I don't know how that lands for you.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, well, I mean I'll take it.
Speaker 3: I think we can all say that Claudia's a runaway,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: Number one.
Speaker 1: I turned for Claudia. She's got the wrong climbing for me.
Speaker 1: But you know, come on, she's not eight.
Speaker 2: You know she's still amazing.
Speaker 1: I actually sat next to her at the movies. Anyway,
Speaker 1: that's a boring story. I'm not going to tell that story.
Speaker 1: I'll tell that for another time. But we're back. What
Speaker 1: was your reaction to watching the episode last night? I
Speaker 1: know you'd already seen it, but as Australia was watching it,
Speaker 1: I imagine you were watching it along with them. What
Speaker 1: was a reaction.
Speaker 3: Yes, well, I'll paint the scene. I'm sitting there with
Speaker 3: my wife. We are drinking wine and we're basically sort
Speaker 3: of watching it unfold. She doesn't know what's coming, but
Speaker 3: she is loving every minute of it. And I'm kind
Speaker 3: of looking at Twitter, sort of getting a sense of
Speaker 3: what's coming through and what the public are saying.
Speaker 2: And you know, I wasn't sure, to be honest, Ben, initially.
Speaker 3: Because it's a very relatable class cast, but they're quite
Speaker 3: different from last year, and so I was really keen
Speaker 3: to see what the audience was saying and who they
Speaker 3: were responding to. But it really pleased me that they
Speaker 3: were kind of getting invested. Particularly I noticed on Cassandra's story,
Speaker 3: you know, she had that last early on and now
Speaker 3: she was diving back into love. And Tristan is such
Speaker 3: a kind, warm and at times very awkward guy.
Speaker 2: So it was good feedback for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess when it comes to
Speaker 1: doing a new series, John, do you do a factory
Speaker 1: reset on what you've seen the year before? Because we
Speaker 1: do see different characters every year. We're not seeing the
Speaker 1: same thing because if we saw that, Mass wouldn't be
Speaker 1: number one, you know with the ratings, and so I
Speaker 1: wonder how you do that, Like do you just go,
Speaker 1: I'm going to forget all of the personalities I saw
Speaker 1: this year and just come in with a fresh take,
Speaker 1: Like how do you evolve with these new personalities?
Speaker 2: Well, that's kind of exactly what I do. I do.
Speaker 3: I put aside the previous seasons and I just say
Speaker 3: I'm going to watch now and be surprised. I think
Speaker 3: when the when the show first started and became really popular,
Speaker 3: I was worried initially that, you know, how do we
Speaker 3: keep evolving, how do we keep the interest going? Because
Speaker 3: it's a relationship show, it's talking heads on a couch.
Speaker 3: You know, what in the world is going to keep
Speaker 3: people coming back? But then I realized by about series five, oh.
Speaker 2: It's the cast.
Speaker 3: And the cast always change because they always have different backstories,
Speaker 3: different problem patterns, they have different family and friends. I mean,
Speaker 3: we saw last night the best Man's speech from Hell.
Speaker 3: You know, it constantly keeps evolving, and all I've got
Speaker 3: to do is sit and watch it, and it surprises.
Speaker 2: Me every year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it does. I mean, we'll talk about that speech
Speaker 1: in a second. But I kind of feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: the show penetrates the audience in a way that no
Speaker 1: other show has ever connected, especially a dating show. I mean,
Speaker 1: what is it about maths that resonates with a straight.
Speaker 2: On Well, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you my answer, but then I want to
Speaker 3: hear yours, because you have lived and bathe the reality world,
Speaker 3: and I'd be curious to know your take on it.
Speaker 3: From my point of view, I think there's a number
Speaker 3: of ingredients that make it successful. One is, obviously this
Speaker 3: idea of the fairy tale. Can two strangers fall in love?
Speaker 3: That's at the core, and that's compelling to watch, you know,
Speaker 3: when they turn around, the eyes lock. Do they like
Speaker 3: each other? I think in a strange way. Now people
Speaker 3: watch it to learn things about relationships, particularly learn what
Speaker 3: not to do, which is a very valuable way of learning.
Speaker 3: It's just a bit different. And then I think you've
Speaker 3: got the experts who we get in this combative, sort
Speaker 3: of accountable role with the participants and they come back
Speaker 3: at as hard, and I think that's very interesting for
Speaker 3: people to watch, and you don't often see that on
Speaker 3: reality TV. There's John and you know the guy sitting
Speaker 3: across from him, he's coming at me hard. Harrison said,
Speaker 3: I was full of it last year, and that is
Speaker 3: unusual to watch that and really quite interesting and certainly
Speaker 3: exciting for me to be on the receiving end of it.
Speaker 3: And I also think, strangely enough, i'd say this Ben
Speaker 3: people have said to me that it reminds them of
Speaker 3: high school.
Speaker 2: So when they watch it, they've taken back.
Speaker 3: In time to when they're thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and they've
Speaker 3: got these little clicks, and they've also had their heart
Speaker 3: broking it broken at sixteen, and they watch someone getting
Speaker 3: dumped or they've been cheated on, or they've gone out
Speaker 3: with a guy who promised the world and absolutely left
Speaker 3: them heartbroken. All of that just reminds them of when
Speaker 3: they were young, and they are invested in it, and
Speaker 3: I think that would be the way I'd answer it.
Speaker 3: A whole lot of ingredients, but there are four ones
Speaker 3: there that I think are compelling.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think the thing for me is I believe
Speaker 1: that all of us want to see ourselves reflected back
Speaker 1: to us when we watch television. We want to watch
Speaker 1: ourselves in some weird way and resonate with them and
Speaker 1: connect with that and think about ourselves and think, you know,
Speaker 1: what would I do if I'm in that situation. And
Speaker 1: we're as humans, we all believe that we're entitled to love.
Speaker 1: We all want to find love, and this show will
Speaker 1: be resonating with audio answers and rating really high as
Speaker 1: long as we see a true reflection of society. And
Speaker 1: I think that Maths isn't a show about a whole
Speaker 1: bunch of people with washboard abs. Sure, a couple of
Speaker 1: them have got it. You know, some people might be
Speaker 1: there for the boobs and the big lips and all
Speaker 1: the right kind of stuff. But what the casting does
Speaker 1: really well with this show is it actually represents a
Speaker 1: large part of Australia, very real Australians, even if they
Speaker 1: are Liscinda.
Speaker 2: Light, that's exactly right.
Speaker 3: And I do think like some people have obviously stopped
Speaker 3: me over the years and said, these people aren't real.
Speaker 3: Surely not, it must be scripted. But you are right.
Speaker 3: They are real people. You may not bump into them
Speaker 3: all the time, but they are out there. They are
Speaker 3: doing these things, making these poor choices China fall in
Speaker 3: love and doing it terribly, and that's really intriguing when
Speaker 3: you watch that. And I think the other thing that's
Speaker 3: really fascinating, and it still fascinates me, is that when
Speaker 3: you hold a mirror up to them and say here's
Speaker 3: what's going on now, you need to do better, often.
Speaker 2: They just say, well, I'm sorry, John, but you're wrong.
Speaker 3: And the audience is watching going, oh no, no, no, no,
Speaker 3: you do need to change.
Speaker 2: But they are fixed.
Speaker 3: They have blinkers on and there's no insight, and that
Speaker 3: is really challenging and very interesting to watch when you
Speaker 3: get into that situation.
Speaker 1: It's juicy. Liscinda Light, though, is actually one of the
Speaker 1: most bonkers participants Mass has ever seen. But I actually
Speaker 1: really love her and I feel like Mass does this
Speaker 1: thing very well, which is at baits and switches how
Speaker 1: we are going to interpret people. And so when you
Speaker 1: see Liscinda to start with, you will think that woman's bonkers.
Speaker 1: But I actually believe that Australia is going to fall
Speaker 1: in love with her. I actually think that she's quite brilliant.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, and I take your point. I think
Speaker 3: when you're putting together a selection of different individuals, you
Speaker 3: want complexity, you want layers and texture, and I think
Speaker 3: we've got that this year, particularly with the diversity of
Speaker 3: the cast. It's very fascinating when you see, let's say,
Speaker 3: a personal trainer who's ripped, who looks like he's a player,
Speaker 3: and you make that first impression and then you watch
Speaker 3: this person then show different sides to themselves as the
Speaker 3: experiment plays out. That is something that is a secret
Speaker 3: source to the show, that you have all these different
Speaker 3: personalities showing different sides. And sometimes it's right off the bat,
Speaker 3: but sometimes it's halfway through when you least expect it.
Speaker 3: This big personality comes out of this big rivalry occurs,
Speaker 3: or suddenly they don't commit when you really thought there
Speaker 3: are hands on, rock solid commitment type.
Speaker 1: It's interesting when you were talking about looking on Twitter
Speaker 1: last night, X is what they call it now, looking
Speaker 1: on Yeah? Yeah, the people looking at I was doing
Speaker 1: the same thing. And there was quite a few people
Speaker 1: talking about does this show play family tragedy too hard?
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of setups. We saw that
Speaker 1: with Cassandra and hers backstory was heartbreaking. What are your
Speaker 1: thoughts on getting contestants participants I should say, to be
Speaker 1: a part of this show when they've had such tragedy
Speaker 1: in their life? Are they broken people? Are they should
Speaker 1: they not be put on a show like this?
Speaker 2: I don't think that they're broken.
Speaker 3: I think there's certainly people that have I guess experiences
Speaker 3: are past that have you know, essentially shaped them. But
Speaker 3: to your point earlier, I mean it makes these people
Speaker 3: real and it allows the audience to invest more in them.
Speaker 3: And I think of reality shows outside of this, you know,
Speaker 3: where you might be meeting someone who's about to audition
Speaker 3: for a singing contest and you see what they've.
Speaker 2: Been through and the family and the.
Speaker 3: Lost and all that sort of stuff, and there's that
Speaker 3: sense of well, I'm going to ride this with them,
Speaker 3: And so I think it's a reality television sort of
Speaker 3: format point where you are really trying to get the
Speaker 3: audience to know who it is that's in front of you,
Speaker 3: and it gives you an understanding, a deeper understand and
Speaker 3: a faster way of getting to know them. But I
Speaker 3: would also say that you know they are very well assessed.
Speaker 1: And they're aut a task.
Speaker 2: They know what they know.
Speaker 3: I mean, we're now season eleven, so they've watched it all,
Speaker 3: They've gone through pyite tests, they are trained with social media,
Speaker 3: and we prepare.
Speaker 2: Them as best we can that they are going to
Speaker 2: be able to cope with it.
Speaker 3: But it is very, very intense when that spotlights on them.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: I thought with Timothy, it was really lovely about him,
Speaker 1: who's matched with Lycinda, was that he as well, was
Speaker 1: not who you kind of expected him to be. And
Speaker 1: when he revealed that his whole family was not there
Speaker 1: at the wedding because they were dead, what I thought
Speaker 1: was really quite compelling about that was Lucinda's ability to
Speaker 1: take that in her stride and to be able to
Speaker 1: process that in a really human way, in a really
Speaker 1: empathetic way, And it makes me think of who I
Speaker 1: am in the real world when someone says something like that,
Speaker 1: which is quite heavy and how to better myself in
Speaker 1: being able to communicate because she did that so well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is a really good point about her.
Speaker 3: I think she's the most emotionally evolved person certainly we've
Speaker 3: had in this series, but also throughout all the eleventh seasons.
Speaker 3: When you watch her in different situations of high conflict
Speaker 3: or betrayal or heartbreak, her ability to immediately go in
Speaker 3: and say the right thing at the right time, to.
Speaker 2: Hold the space as she says, you know and look frequently.
Speaker 3: There were times when I was telling off participants in
Speaker 3: the commitment ceremony and then over my shoulder Lucinda would say, John,
Speaker 3: can I just jump in here? Can I just you know,
Speaker 3: have a different way of looking at this? And you
Speaker 3: kind of realize this is part of her DNA And
Speaker 3: when people would say, oh, Lucinda, is she real?
Speaker 2: She never broke.
Speaker 3: Character, changed character was anybody other than what you see
Speaker 3: on the screen. You know, she has that real ability
Speaker 3: to swim in intense emotions that are around her and
Speaker 3: feel really comfortable with it.
Speaker 1: It was great to watch. I mean her Wingwoman was
Speaker 1: a little bit creepy. I mean, what do you say
Speaker 1: when you hear someone's best friend come up and say
Speaker 1: they've got a dead crow and their freezer at home,
Speaker 1: like John.
Speaker 2: I know, I know.
Speaker 3: I mean, I remember when I first met with Cinder
Speaker 3: and she brought out the scroll with all those lists
Speaker 3: of things that she wanted from a guy, and then said, look,
Speaker 3: I'm a creatrix.
Speaker 2: And I just thought that she's wonderful.
Speaker 3: I've got no idea what she's talking about, but you know,
Speaker 3: I think probably the people around her are very similar,
Speaker 3: and so like you say, you know, her friends, her family, people,
Speaker 3: she hangs around with a very like minded in that way.
Speaker 1: I mean. The other thing I was going to ask
Speaker 1: you about before we go is, you know, when we
Speaker 1: left Tim and Sarah, we saw them navigating a few frustrations,
Speaker 1: you know, and then that has sort of continued on
Speaker 1: last night. Do you think in the history of telling
Speaker 1: someone to calm down, that anyone has actually ever calmed down?
Speaker 3: It is, once again a great example of what not
Speaker 3: to do and when you're in a relationship, and you know,
Speaker 3: I think back to so many key moments in Marred
Speaker 3: at First Sight over eleven seasons, where you know.
Speaker 2: People just seem to pick the worst possible time.
Speaker 3: To speak up. And to drop a clanger. You know
Speaker 3: in this situation. You know, you're on a honeymoon, it's
Speaker 3: a beautiful date, You're on the beach.
Speaker 1: How can we ruin the Liz?
Speaker 3: And then he says, come down, And that was after
Speaker 3: he said to her at the wedding, Oh, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm six months out of a relationship of six years
Speaker 3: where I thought I'd proposed to her.
Speaker 1: She's got a dorseer now of things that she's got
Speaker 1: to be worried about with this man. I mean, from
Speaker 1: your perspective, though, can they get past these sort of
Speaker 1: teething issues, because for me, being fascinated by people, I
Speaker 1: actually think when people meet and they are designing their relationship,
Speaker 1: they're drawing battle lines. Do you think that these two
Speaker 1: are quite suited and are just trying to draw their
Speaker 1: battle lines early?
Speaker 3: I think they are very well suited on a number
Speaker 3: of different levels. But I think their challenge is the
Speaker 3: same as pretty much everyone that we've seen on the show,
Speaker 3: and that is can they stop look at their relationship.
Speaker 2: Patterns and say, well, I need to change this up.
Speaker 2: I need to actually do it differently.
Speaker 3: Now, you and I both know that probably over the years,
Speaker 3: most of them will go no, I'm either perfect or
Speaker 3: I'm right, you're wrong, and so they just essentially sabotage
Speaker 3: the relationship that we put them in and they blow up.
Speaker 3: So for Sarah and Tim and everybody else this year,
Speaker 3: the same goes. They are going to have to stop
Speaker 3: and look at themselves and say, our fights start. What
Speaker 3: we're like when someone's understress, what happens We're at a
Speaker 3: dinner party and someone throws out accusations? How do we
Speaker 3: handle this? And then when the experts give us feedback,
Speaker 3: are we going to listen? And the ones that do
Speaker 3: well are either Camon Jules, or the Michael and Martha's
Speaker 3: or you know, the Johnny and Carys, they'll stop and go, yeah, actually,
Speaker 3: we're going to do this different, and that's they're.
Speaker 1: Going to evolve with a big experiment, and a.
Speaker 2: Lot of them can't do that, won't do that.
Speaker 1: Bryce and Melissa didn't do it, by the way, but
Speaker 1: they're still together. They didn't. I mean, that's still a
Speaker 1: success story.
Speaker 3: John, you know, and you know, I think with those
Speaker 3: two what they did do is they said, regardless of
Speaker 3: what gets thrown at us, thrown at us. Because the
Speaker 3: group really was very anti there and gave them a
Speaker 3: lot of well Bryce and gave him a lot of feedback.
Speaker 2: They stayed true to themselves.
Speaker 3: They never broke rank and to right to the end
Speaker 3: they said no, no, no, you've got.
Speaker 2: Us wrong, and we're going to make this And everyone's like,
Speaker 2: really are they? And they did and they they true
Speaker 2: formed and.
Speaker 1: They're going to die trying. They're going to die proving
Speaker 1: us all wrong. The only question that I thought you
Speaker 1: might be able to give a bit of perspective on
Speaker 1: that happened in that first episode was the speech that
Speaker 1: was quite a horrent from Tim's best man. Why did
Speaker 1: Tim not stop him halfway through that speech? That's a
Speaker 1: very long speech with a lot of touch points that
Speaker 1: were quite rated and probably painting him in a bad life.
Speaker 1: Why didn't he just say, you know, mate, shut up?
Speaker 3: Well and I go him one step further, because you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know they're family and friends, any of the couples.
Speaker 2: We don't know what they're going to be like.
Speaker 3: You know, my first thought when I watched it was
Speaker 3: to why are you hanging around with that guy?
Speaker 1: Does that mean about you? Tim?
Speaker 2: Exactly?
Speaker 1: If that's your choice for a best man who's going
Speaker 1: to make your best speech?
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you like kind of thinking? Who are you? Tim?
Speaker 3: Which I'm sure is what Sarah started to think like
Speaker 3: and her bridesmaids. But to your point, why didn't he
Speaker 3: step in? I think one of Tim's biggest challenges is
Speaker 3: that he struggles with asserting himself. He's a guy that
Speaker 3: likes to please and likes to keep the peace, and
Speaker 3: he will be challenged all the time throughout the experiment
Speaker 3: on this, and I think in that situation it required
Speaker 3: a person to just literally put in place a boundary
Speaker 3: and say enough, stop, sit down, your way out of line.
Speaker 3: But it goes to this whole theme throughout the experiment
Speaker 3: this year, which is boundary.
Speaker 2: Crossing what's appropriate and what's inappropriate.
Speaker 3: The group had their thoughts on it, the bridesmaids, the
Speaker 3: friends had their thoughts on it last night. So it's
Speaker 3: there right from the word go, and it consistently is
Speaker 3: a theme that comes up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like boundaries. Boundaries is something that upsets people.
Speaker 1: If you tell people to be accountable, they get upset.
Speaker 1: No one wants to be made accountable, you know, No.
Speaker 2: Why is that? Ben? Do you have a take on that?
Speaker 1: I do, because you know, John, If you say to someone,
Speaker 1: I'm going to make you accountable of something, it's the
Speaker 1: new fuck you because people hate It's like the nastiest
Speaker 1: thing you could say to someone in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: and it rubs people the wrong way, in the exact
Speaker 1: same way that someone says, respect my boundaries. Those two
Speaker 1: phrases are polarizing to people because you're asking them to
Speaker 1: do something that they feel really uncomfortable about. And most
Speaker 1: of the time, if you're saying to someone, I'm making
Speaker 1: you accountable, can you respect respect my boundaries, it's because
Speaker 1: that person hasn't noticed that they've been doing anything wrong,
Speaker 1: and no one likes to be told hang on a
Speaker 1: sec you're doing that wrong, especially by someone that they
Speaker 1: possibly are in love with or they care for.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, that's that's very well put.
Speaker 3: I think the other thing that's closely related to that
Speaker 3: is when, and it came started coming out about two
Speaker 3: years ago, when you would challenge someone and they would say, hey, John,
Speaker 3: I'm just speaking my truth. I would hear someone be
Speaker 3: offensive and disrespectful and abhorrent in what they're saying and doing,
Speaker 3: and then they have them they go, come on, don't
Speaker 3: silence me.
Speaker 2: John, I'm just.
Speaker 1: Wond when someone says that to me, there's the biggest
Speaker 1: cop out. It's again out of jail free card that
Speaker 1: lands like a fuck you, John. I wish that I
Speaker 1: could talk to and I'm hopefully throughout the season I'll
Speaker 1: get a chance to talk to you again because we
Speaker 1: need to talk about replacement LGBTI brides, which well i'll
Speaker 1: rephrase that replacement runaway brides that we will see this season.
Speaker 1: I also, I don't know if you can quickly answer this,
Speaker 1: do you know if the marriage selements are real? Are
Speaker 1: they actors that people keep asking me this question today?
Speaker 2: They are all real, all.
Speaker 1: Real people that wanted to go on and do they apply?
Speaker 1: Do you know how they get onto the show?
Speaker 2: That's a good question.
Speaker 3: I don't know exactly how they come to be on
Speaker 3: the show, but they are real marriage celebrants.
Speaker 1: There was also a good question to ask you was
Speaker 1: I was really happy with the acknowledgment of doctor Trisha Stafford,
Speaker 1: who was your mate, and I thought that was really
Speaker 1: well handled. Because this was a show about love and marriages,
Speaker 1: it would have been really hard. I mean, it's not
Speaker 1: for weddings and a funeral, but you know, we were
Speaker 1: able to acknowledge her in a really tasteful way. How
Speaker 1: did that make you feel watching that last part of
Speaker 1: the episode.
Speaker 3: Well, you know what, I appreciate you bringing that up, Ben,
Speaker 3: because I was watching it with my wife and it
Speaker 3: came up and it just sort of it stopped me
Speaker 3: in my tracks because Tricia and I had been as
Speaker 3: on this show since twenty fourteen, the first seven seasons,
Speaker 3: and you know, when you start anything that's new and fresh,
Speaker 3: you don't know how to do it, and so you
Speaker 3: lean on people to.
Speaker 2: Kind of get you through it.
Speaker 3: And she was that person for me, and so I
Speaker 3: didn't know how they would recognize her, and I just
Speaker 3: it just stopped me. It made me think a lot
Speaker 3: about her last you know, after I saw that, and
Speaker 3: I just it's kind of strange that she's not here anymore.
Speaker 3: This is the major juggernaut of a show which she
Speaker 3: had a big part of early on.
Speaker 1: I also thought of you, John, because I thought to myself,
Speaker 1: channel Line, doing something like that really acknowledges your position
Speaker 1: as well, and it really acknowledges all of the relationship
Speaker 1: experts and having them be able to acknowledge her in
Speaker 1: a way like that. I think would make you feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, they understand that this is a big job.
Speaker 3: You know, it's a big job, and it gets bigger
Speaker 3: every year. And I think the experts, well, we are
Speaker 3: a part of the big machine.
Speaker 2: It's the cast that makes the show.
Speaker 3: I still think, you know, it was the right thing
Speaker 3: to do to pay tribute to Tricia and also just
Speaker 3: remember that.
Speaker 2: You know, she was one of the ogs, you.
Speaker 1: Know ogs, and she did a good job, and people
Speaker 1: still care, you know.
Speaker 2: I think that's really people still care and I love that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The last question I ask everyone who joins the pod,
Speaker 1: what is something from behind the scenes, something we didn't
Speaker 1: see that we won't see? Kind of your behind the
Speaker 1: scenes secret for being a part of Maths that we're
Speaker 1: about to see for twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: Well, every time I go on, I come in, I
Speaker 3: get here in my makeup done, and then the fight
Speaker 3: for me is whether I'm going to stay away from
Speaker 3: the carps that are sitting there in the cafeteria all night.
Speaker 3: I mean, it is delicious, Ben, but if you can
Speaker 3: imagine that I'm going to be sitting in a commitment
Speaker 3: ceremony for ten hours, I can't tuck into the tacos,
Speaker 3: the nachos.
Speaker 2: The potatoes. It's just it's a feast every single time
Speaker 2: we're there.
Speaker 3: So behind the scenes, I am torn between eating and
Speaker 3: make good choices, healthy choices, versus just throwing it out
Speaker 3: the window and having a car fist. Sometimes I can
Speaker 3: be strong, other times unfortunately it gets me.
Speaker 1: It's very relatable, John, It's very relatable. We'd all be
Speaker 1: like that. And I think you look great on the show.
Speaker 1: And it was definitely not me who said you look
Speaker 1: like the penguin from the original Batman.
Speaker 3: You know what, you know what, You've got to be
Speaker 3: able to laugh at yourself, don't you.
Speaker 2: You got it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I've been.
Speaker 3: Called many things plenty, plenty bad over the years that
Speaker 3: I've been on it, but no one's called me the penguin.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to take it. It's unique and I'll
Speaker 2: run with it.
Speaker 1: Enjoy chatting to the media. I just you know what
Speaker 1: I always say to people who ask me about interviewing you, John,
Speaker 1: is how generous you are, how kind and how generous
Speaker 1: and how thoughtful you are of your answers. If everyone
Speaker 1: could join the podcast and be as kind and as
Speaker 1: thoughtful and as generous as you, I think my podcast
Speaker 1: would be an even bigger success.
Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate that. Ben. I do think you're very.
Speaker 3: Easy to sit and talk to because you have a
Speaker 3: very acute understanding of the world that I live in,
Speaker 3: being the reality world, having come from that, and you
Speaker 3: know how to interview.
Speaker 2: And I think also the.
Speaker 3: Questions you will and you will have had this on
Speaker 3: both sides when people are interviewing you. Some people take
Speaker 3: a lot of time to think about what they want
Speaker 3: to ask you, and then others it's really top line
Speaker 3: and superficial.
Speaker 2: So you always go deep and I love that. I
Speaker 2: don't prepare because I don't.
Speaker 3: Know what you're going to ask, but it just means
Speaker 3: that what we get is really, in your words, juicy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wanted to be juicy, but I want it
Speaker 1: to be real and authentic. I have already gone over
Speaker 1: my time with you today. Hopefully John will circle back
Speaker 1: and if not this season, for next year and for
Speaker 1: the next many years that you keep doing the show.
Speaker 2: Love it, love it. And what about this background day.
Speaker 1: It's brilliant.
Speaker 2: I mean, we've just transported you onto set definite.
Speaker 1: Are you telling me it's not real? It's real?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 2: You know it's TV. Okay, we'll just leave it at that.
Speaker 1: I love it the best day guys cheer. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. H