Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week their light.
Speaker 2: Welcome back guys to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin
Speaker 2: Norris and on this podcast I go behind the scenes
Speaker 2: with the biggest players in television. Each episode you will
Speaker 2: get a front row seat with content makers like executive producers, writers,
Speaker 2: editors and casting agents, plus the talent that we see
Speaker 2: on our screens. TV Reload reloads the shows that we
Speaker 2: are currently watching and gives you a better insight into
Speaker 2: our television industry and our streaming services.
Speaker 1: Today.
Speaker 2: On the podcast, I have one of Australia's most celebrated
Speaker 2: interior designers. It is Channel nine's Darling Shana Blaze. Shana
Speaker 2: is a television personality, writer and former singer and for
Speaker 2: the first time, we're going to see her like never
Speaker 2: before as she takes on a reality show that puts
Speaker 2: her in the driver's seat boots it all. The new series,
Speaker 2: titled Country Home Rescue, starts next Wednesday at seven thirty
Speaker 2: on Channel nine, where you will see the dynamics of
Speaker 2: her family life post divorce, featuring both of her children
Speaker 2: now adults, joining her on an adventurous and somewhat ambitious
Speaker 2: renovating project situated in Victoria's regional town of Kinton. I
Speaker 2: will ask Shana how the project came about, whether she
Speaker 2: pitched it, or whether they came to her, if her
Speaker 2: kids were genuinely willing to take part, what she thinks
Speaker 2: of the media intrusion of her private life, and we
Speaker 2: will also hear some of her thoughts post the dramatic
Speaker 2: Block finale. However, let's get started with today's episode. I'd
Speaker 2: like to welcome Shana Blaze to TV Reload.
Speaker 3: I had to go into celebrity printice, going boots and
Speaker 3: all just being me.
Speaker 4: Shana Blaze has created more magic in more homes than
Speaker 4: any Aussie alive.
Speaker 3: If we did Country Home Rescue before that, we may
Speaker 3: not have been as raw.
Speaker 4: As a judge in The Bloc has inspired countless renovators
Speaker 4: across our great Southern land.
Speaker 3: The Block doesn't have manufactured drama. It just happens to
Speaker 3: be people against each other.
Speaker 4: Competition does that for the first time ever, Shane is
Speaker 4: doing something she's never done before.
Speaker 3: But I sort of felt like a lot of my
Speaker 3: private life was taken out of my control.
Speaker 4: And the family band together and create Shanea's Forever Country Home.
Speaker 3: There was a lot of nervous laugh moments in there too,
Speaker 3: where things were just going a little bit too pear shape.
Speaker 1: Hi Bear, how are you?
Speaker 5: I am fabulous.
Speaker 3: I've been waiting for this show to go to air
Speaker 3: forever and I'm really excited.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm excited to have you on the podcast. I
Speaker 2: have so much admiration for you, and I have been
Speaker 2: delighted to preview the whole series and now have this
Speaker 2: chat with you.
Speaker 5: Wow. How lucky are you? I hope, I hope.
Speaker 2: I hope people come with you on this journey because,
Speaker 2: like for me, I have to be honest. I was
Speaker 2: a little bit skeptical about it myself. I wasn't sure,
Speaker 2: you know, how it would all come together. But it
Speaker 2: is a beautiful show and you can't see this, but
Speaker 2: this is my study area and I've I've actually cleaned
Speaker 2: it all up because you've inspired me to be Shane A.
Speaker 5: Blaze and if it does that, I'm very happy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my part is also happy if I'm going to
Speaker 2: be a much cleaner person. I was saying to Channel
Speaker 2: nine before watching Country Home Rescue, how much I love
Speaker 2: your laugh And it felt like my prayers for answer
Speaker 2: because we get you laughing a lot in this.
Speaker 5: I think there's a lot of nervous laughter too.
Speaker 3: Look, I'm in my happy space, I'm with my family,
Speaker 3: I know a lot of the trays. It was really comfortable,
Speaker 3: and I think when you're doing something that's coming from
Speaker 3: your heart and your soul, it's so easy to laugh.
Speaker 3: But there was a lot of nervous laugh moments in
Speaker 3: there too, where things were just going a little bit
Speaker 3: two pear shape.
Speaker 2: Well, if it doesn't go pair shaped, then there's a
Speaker 2: lot of the enjoyment that that's taken out of it.
Speaker 2: Because in real world, like we all have things that
Speaker 2: come across our table, and I think it's important to
Speaker 2: try and laugh that kind of stuff off.
Speaker 1: You know, you should have a sense of humor about
Speaker 1: these things.
Speaker 3: I literally have built my life on that. Like, you know,
Speaker 3: the problems will always come you and the only way
Speaker 3: you can grow, the only way you can get the
Speaker 3: good out of it, is to really embrace it and
Speaker 3: then work out, well what am I going to do?
Speaker 3: Because if you shy away from things going wrong, you're
Speaker 3: never going to grow or move forward.
Speaker 2: Well, how did this show come about? You know, did
Speaker 2: you pitch this show? To the creators or did the
Speaker 2: creators come to you?
Speaker 3: No, I pitched it, So I pitched it actually before COVID,
Speaker 3: so it actually was accepted before COVID in early twenty nineteen,
Speaker 3: and then twenty twenty we were about to sort of
Speaker 3: go yep, let's do this, and it just went bang.
Speaker 3: And so once I was lucky enough to win Celebrity
Speaker 3: of Printers, Channel nine went maybe we should revisit that show,
Speaker 3: and then that's how that came about. So the following
Speaker 3: year we started in early twenty twenty one, which is eighten.
Speaker 5: Like nearly two years ago. So yeah, it was it's
Speaker 5: been a long.
Speaker 2: Time coming, am I right by saying that we got
Speaker 2: to see a little bit of a sneak peek at
Speaker 2: the start of the season of the Block this year,
Speaker 2: did we when they mentioned the tree change and they
Speaker 2: said that all the judges would have had a tree change,
Speaker 2: we got to see a glimpse of it, right, you did?
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I wassued in the land room.
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't give away to show too much of this house,
Speaker 2: and hopefully everyone forgets you know.
Speaker 3: Everyone loves it before and after, but it's the middle
Speaker 3: bit that makes the after so good. And this is
Speaker 3: part of I'm sure you've got a million questions because
Speaker 3: you've seen the whole show, is that this is personal
Speaker 3: and this is not a competition and it's not for sale.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean I wanted to ask because I've seen
Speaker 2: it all. I'm desperate to know how much the house
Speaker 2: would now be worth, you know, not to spoil it
Speaker 2: for anyone to say that the house is amazing or
Speaker 2: it's terrible or whatever. I don't want to spoil that,
Speaker 2: but I will have to get back to you and
Speaker 2: asking that question because I'm.
Speaker 1: Dying to know.
Speaker 5: I'm like a lot went into it.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's plenty to digest here, and there's a
Speaker 2: lot for viewers to invest in. Was it difficult or
Speaker 2: was it a difficult decision for you to let us
Speaker 2: in like we haven't seen you before.
Speaker 5: Absolute lutely.
Speaker 3: It was one of those things where I feel like,
Speaker 3: just the way my life's been the past couple of
Speaker 3: years that my private I hold my life very private,
Speaker 3: and a lot of people didn't even know I had
Speaker 3: adult kids.
Speaker 5: A lot of people thought I had kids in high school.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of you know, you can sort
Speaker 3: of put your life out there in the public, you
Speaker 3: don't have to let them into your private life.
Speaker 5: But I sort of felt like a lot of.
Speaker 3: My private life was taken out of my control, and
Speaker 3: so I was getting chased by paparazzi. I had media
Speaker 3: at me and really invading me, trying to tell my story.
Speaker 3: So part of this was also to say, look, you
Speaker 3: think you might know who I am and through snippets
Speaker 3: of gossip whatever, but this.
Speaker 5: Is who I am.
Speaker 3: So it was a little bit of just saying, you
Speaker 3: know what, I need to take control of who I
Speaker 3: am as a person too, So that came into play
Speaker 3: as the beginning of the pitch.
Speaker 2: What do you reckon percentage wise on the media getting
Speaker 2: it right when they talk about you? Because I've read
Speaker 2: stuff in the past only knowing you. I've got girlfriends
Speaker 2: that are friends with you, so like they off and say, oh,
Speaker 2: a lot of it's really untrue. What do you think
Speaker 2: the percentage is on what the media says about you
Speaker 2: compared to what's actually accurate?
Speaker 5: Probably twenty percent. Wow, Yeah, it's not much. And the
Speaker 5: thing is also like there's a lot.
Speaker 3: Of magazines and online ones that you want to write
Speaker 3: something about me, and I don't talk to them because
Speaker 3: they misconsidrue everything is say they printed anyway and just
Speaker 3: make up stuff and just say, you know, a source
Speaker 3: is snow source. It's just people sitting in a room gossiping,
Speaker 3: that's all it is. And you know they might take
Speaker 3: a thread of a truth and there have been and
Speaker 3: then expand on that, and some of them you just go, oh,
Speaker 3: how did you know that?
Speaker 2: How?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 3: Because I know my friends are a vault and so
Speaker 3: there was a couple of things.
Speaker 5: That I just went, wow, okay, yeah, that's through me
Speaker 5: to six.
Speaker 2: I think that I've started to believe that maybe they're
Speaker 2: psychic writers, you.
Speaker 3: Know what I mean.
Speaker 2: They kind of are looking at your image like you
Speaker 2: would if you went to a psychic medium, and they're
Speaker 2: trying to draw what they assume to be true just
Speaker 2: from the very small facts that they have in front
Speaker 2: of them, and some of them very good at it,
Speaker 2: and that's how they get it right, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean?
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, And it's also taking pictures that you're unaware
Speaker 3: of and following you and making stories out of what
Speaker 3: you did. Like I'm sure people couldn't give two hots
Speaker 3: about me coming back from pilates, but the amount of
Speaker 3: times I have been chased at eight in the morning
Speaker 3: going to pilates like it's caah.
Speaker 2: Because I think, you know, you are someone who we
Speaker 2: do care about. I think we have an ownership over you.
Speaker 2: And I think as much as it could be very intrusive,
Speaker 2: I think that you have to be like, wow, I'm
Speaker 2: surprised that you know, people are that interested, But I
Speaker 2: want to tell you, I.
Speaker 3: Think they really care that I go to pilarates.
Speaker 1: It's not about you're going to pilates.
Speaker 2: It's about us, you know, seeing that you're happy and
Speaker 2: you're well and you know, and I think that's inspiring
Speaker 2: for other women to see that you're an active woman,
Speaker 2: you know. I think that's what they're interested in. I mean,
Speaker 2: as I said, though, yeah, it is. It is incredibly intrusive,
Speaker 2: but I imagine that you winning Celebrity Apprentice gave you more
Speaker 2: common fidence in letting us be a little bit more
Speaker 2: a part of you because you have been in you know,
Speaker 2: the end to Tayable.
Speaker 1: You've done what fourteen seasons of the block.
Speaker 3: Fourteen seasons block thirteen of selling houses and I started
Speaker 3: over fifteen years ago.
Speaker 2: So yeah, but we only got to sort of see
Speaker 2: the Better Homes and Gardens version of you to a
Speaker 2: certain point, you know, and then to go on a
Speaker 2: reality show where it's your name and it's your words.
Speaker 2: Was it Celebrity Apprentice that gave you the confidence to
Speaker 2: sort of go a little bit further with that?
Speaker 5: Absolutely?
Speaker 3: I sort of feel like if we did Country Home
Speaker 3: Rescue before that, we may not have been as raw.
Speaker 3: In this version of Country Home Rescue. The I had
Speaker 3: to go into celebrity printice going just boots and all
Speaker 3: just being me, which I can't be anything, but but
Speaker 3: there was a lot of machinations of people seeing me
Speaker 3: behind the scenes of how I deal with people, what I.
Speaker 5: Do, and you know, getting my kids on there.
Speaker 3: So we sort of, you know, made ourselves exposed by
Speaker 3: talking about who I am and what I do, but
Speaker 3: also you know, snippets into my past of why I
Speaker 3: was doing Celebrity Prentice, And you know, people didn't know
Speaker 3: at the time that when we were doing that, I
Speaker 3: had just come off the attack of being attacked in
Speaker 3: the street months earlier.
Speaker 5: So I was so raw, so raw. So I felt
Speaker 5: like it was a.
Speaker 3: Family decision that if I was going on that the
Speaker 3: kids had to know and accept. I wasn't going to
Speaker 3: go on without their permission because it's their life as well.
Speaker 5: Not just mine, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So I went in there going well, boots and all,
Speaker 3: that's just what I can do. And I have to
Speaker 3: say it was an incredible experience. I have alleterally have
Speaker 3: my heart in my throat every single day. But everybody,
Speaker 3: every contestant on there was there for all the right reasons.
Speaker 3: I think if somebody was there just for you know,
Speaker 3: to level their status or you know, get something else, probably.
Speaker 5: Would have been a little bit different.
Speaker 3: But I found everybody to be so real and it
Speaker 3: was just it was amazing.
Speaker 5: When I reflect on that part, I think.
Speaker 2: We want our celebrities to be real though, do you
Speaker 2: know what I mean? Like, I think that's the currency.
Speaker 3: I think it's the one who have a short term
Speaker 3: shelf life that aren't real.
Speaker 5: You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: You see it more so with the reality space, because
Speaker 2: you know, their way into reality is applying for a
Speaker 2: show and the door opens and then they're a celebrity,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, well, temporary celebrity lately, and
Speaker 2: so then they're trying to like manage that where for
Speaker 2: people like yourself I mean, your passion for what it
Speaker 2: is that you do is your reason. It's your origins
Speaker 2: to why you're on television, which gives you a lot
Speaker 2: more gravitas, you know what I mean?
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 3: If you're going in for like an experience of what
Speaker 3: you do, whether you're an actor, you are a singer
Speaker 3: and entertainer, an artist or something like that, it's not
Speaker 3: about celebrity status. It's about what you do. And then
Speaker 3: the celebrity because I still hate that word. I call
Speaker 3: it well known. That status is then that layer that
Speaker 3: sits on that. And you don't live and die by
Speaker 3: people have know you. You live and die by your craft.
Speaker 3: Do you live and die by the people around you?
Speaker 2: I have to say I love you on Twitter. I've
Speaker 2: been following you on Twitter the day you started. But
Speaker 2: the reason why I love you on Twitter is because,
Speaker 2: like you're very open and you're very opinionated, and I
Speaker 2: was brought up by opinionated women in my family, so
Speaker 2: like it's just that's just how we all should be,
Speaker 2: you know, That's how all women should be, do you
Speaker 2: know what I mean? But I love how you make
Speaker 2: some people accountable in the news, and you feel so
Speaker 2: confident to be able to have that.
Speaker 1: But I wonder do you have any rules? Because Rob
Speaker 1: Mills once told me.
Speaker 2: That he writes out a tweet and then he waits
Speaker 2: an hour before he presses send. Do you, because you
Speaker 2: are so opinionated in that forum, do you have a
Speaker 2: process or do you just like I'm doing it?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I wish I had that. No, No, don't.
Speaker 3: I don't have rules. I just I have I literally
Speaker 3: have that thing. If my kids see this, would I
Speaker 3: be Okay? That's more where it comes from. It's that
Speaker 3: sort of thing. And there are so there's so many
Speaker 3: levels of great people on Twitter, and then the level
Speaker 3: of like people that are literally white noise. I call
Speaker 3: them the people that shout from across the street. And
Speaker 3: so the people that are shouting across the street that
Speaker 3: look like a little bit dodgy and look like they
Speaker 3: haven't had a great day, do you really go.
Speaker 5: And talk to them? And your auntswers?
Speaker 3: So why would you say that, Like, you know, I'm
Speaker 3: really upset that you don't like what I'm thinking. It's
Speaker 3: just like you're the strange person shouting across the seat street.
Speaker 5: You have no room in my life.
Speaker 3: So as long as I'm comfortable with what I'm doing,
Speaker 3: and you know my kids wouldn't turn around and just
Speaker 3: get done, then I'm okay.
Speaker 2: Did you have to convince your kids, Carly and Jess
Speaker 2: to be on the show. Have they ever expressed any
Speaker 2: interest in having a media career like yours?
Speaker 3: Well, my dad, my son is an actor, like he
Speaker 3: did a night of training a long time ago. He
Speaker 3: wrote the movie and acts in the movie that we
Speaker 3: initially bought the house for for the fort and my daughter, no,
Speaker 3: behind the scenes, she doesn't like it, but I think
Speaker 3: she's liking it now. She's very much enjoying being on
Speaker 3: the camera in a good way.
Speaker 1: She's great, She's very good on camera, so.
Speaker 5: And that's her.
Speaker 3: She's so natural, she's just absolutely just hilarious. And my
Speaker 3: son took a lot more convincing because he loves being
Speaker 3: on this camera and the screen, but this is our
Speaker 3: personal life and he's like, oh, mom, I'm not sure
Speaker 3: about that. And he was coming from a protection mode
Speaker 3: of also like are you thinking this through? Is this
Speaker 3: something that you're sure about? And also exposing him personally,
Speaker 3: So it was more of my son. But once they
Speaker 3: both decided it was a case of like, well, if
Speaker 3: we're we're in.
Speaker 2: COVID really sort of changed the course of you know,
Speaker 2: for a lot of Australians. Do you think that you
Speaker 2: would have taken this opportunity to make a tree change
Speaker 2: if it wasn't for these lockdowns. Although you were already
Speaker 2: pitching the show, you were saying, I've been looking.
Speaker 3: To in Kineton and massive in Rangers, probably about three
Speaker 3: or four years.
Speaker 5: Before I pitched the show before we bought.
Speaker 1: It, always ahead of the trend, Shaer.
Speaker 3: But I always wanted that country get away because I
Speaker 3: just knew that it wasn't just a in a city
Speaker 3: living that it was always just getting away and then
Speaker 3: you know, eventually it could be somewhere where you'd spend
Speaker 3: weeks at a time and having the access to the
Speaker 3: city because it's only an hour and fifteen from Melbourne,
Speaker 3: so it's not like that two three hour trip where
Speaker 3: you can only go every month or something like that.
Speaker 3: But it wasn't somewhere where I imagined that would be
Speaker 3: almost like a full time place or embraced.
Speaker 5: But definitely lockdown.
Speaker 3: Changes your perspective and changes, and you know, my whole
Speaker 3: career with selling houses was traveling the country for eight
Speaker 3: months of a year, and I don't think people realize
Speaker 3: that the amount of time that you are traveling and
Speaker 3: being able to be home lockdown was hard, but actually
Speaker 3: being based and calm and with my family just really
Speaker 3: just went.
Speaker 5: You know what, I think. I think this is a
Speaker 5: good thing.
Speaker 1: I really miss you on selling houses. If I'm honest,
Speaker 1: we have.
Speaker 5: A time period and this is the next step for me.
Speaker 2: I think that you've always been destined to have your
Speaker 2: own show, doing this kind of show, Like it just
Speaker 2: feels like this is the natural progression for you. I
Speaker 2: mean as soon as you won Celebrity Apprentice, I was like, yes,
Speaker 2: this is going to give us more of you, and
Speaker 2: I think that door has definitely opened. Although we everyone
Speaker 2: still loves you on the Block, so you have to
Speaker 2: keep doing that as well.
Speaker 5: I'm not going until I get pushed out. I'm not going.
Speaker 2: What's really interesting this show is a really interesting experiment
Speaker 2: because the show is quite similar to the Block, but
Speaker 2: yet all the drama that we've seen amongst the contestants
Speaker 2: is not there.
Speaker 3: No, because the thing is one, I am in the industry,
Speaker 3: two it's my kids, and then it's just you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of people renovate with their family.
Speaker 5: A lot of people renovate with their siblings.
Speaker 3: A lot of people renovate with the partner without the
Speaker 3: stress of competition and without the stress of being judged,
Speaker 3: and without the stress of worrying about the market. So
Speaker 3: this is not for profit. This is not about you know,
Speaker 3: something that's going to date in twelve months. This is
Speaker 3: about me showing you design for your life, how to
Speaker 3: design for your family, how to design for something that
Speaker 3: for me.
Speaker 5: I would like to pass on to my kids in
Speaker 5: the next generation. That's the key.
Speaker 2: Did you ever think of having the element in this
Speaker 2: show of say the two boys from the bloc come
Speaker 2: in and do a score and a thing. Was there
Speaker 2: ever any discussion about each room being graded?
Speaker 5: What with Darren and Neil?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I actually wanted them to be on one of
Speaker 3: the episodes to come through and do that, but because
Speaker 3: of lockdown we couldn't because we had four lockdowns in
Speaker 3: Melbourne last year.
Speaker 5: And no, they were definitely both meant to be in
Speaker 5: the show.
Speaker 1: I love them.
Speaker 3: We are such great friends that I think that's why
Speaker 3: we can have such strong banter and have our times
Speaker 3: where we disagree or we can almost like get someone
Speaker 3: else over the line because we are such great friends
Speaker 3: and we don't have any buffer and any sort of
Speaker 3: like hang on a minute, we can just be ourselves
Speaker 3: with each other too.
Speaker 2: There's this ongoing debate online that fans don't like the
Speaker 2: drama on the Block. Do you think that this show
Speaker 2: might prove a point here? Because you know, we have
Speaker 2: removed the drama and it is quite similar to the block.
Speaker 2: But is that going to give an answer to the fans?
Speaker 2: Because I wonder whether or not the fans they want
Speaker 2: the drama, Like, I'm like, you complain about it online,
Speaker 2: but if it wasn't there, would you be as invested
Speaker 2: Where this show is the Block without the drama?
Speaker 1: So like, do you think this is going to this
Speaker 1: show might prove a point?
Speaker 3: I totally agree with you because I sort of feel like, well,
Speaker 3: if people don't want to see Reno's people say they
Speaker 3: want to see Reno, they want to see the design
Speaker 3: without the drama, Well this actually is it, and if
Speaker 3: they don't watch it, they're telling porky pies because you know,
Speaker 3: we know drama gets ratings, and you know the the
Speaker 3: Block doesn't have manufactured drama. It just happens to be
Speaker 3: people against each other. Competition does that. So the drama
Speaker 3: is real life. The drama is the problems you come
Speaker 3: up against. The drama is with your family. The drama
Speaker 3: is your your own budget. Your own money is spending,
Speaker 3: not something that is sponsor has given you. This is
Speaker 3: my own money. So this is this is real and
Speaker 3: I think that's what I hope people get and if
Speaker 3: they don't watch it, they tell them lies.
Speaker 1: I think this is great.
Speaker 2: That's the reason why I think it's going to still
Speaker 2: rate and I think that'll make maybe even Jules his
Speaker 2: executive producer, been making the block since the start, maybe.
Speaker 1: Look at that a little bit more.
Speaker 2: But you know, as you said, you know, it's just
Speaker 2: human nature to have a bit of conflict, you know
Speaker 2: when you're in a competition style show like that, and
Speaker 2: the competition element is taken out of your show. So
Speaker 2: it's definitely going to be interesting.
Speaker 3: I think in the end that like the jeopardy in
Speaker 3: mind is being able to finish it, and the jeopardy
Speaker 3: in what I want.
Speaker 5: Can we get ahead and do it? I think genuinely.
Speaker 3: People want people to get through to the end. But
Speaker 3: if it's all humming all the way through, it is
Speaker 3: a bit boring.
Speaker 2: Well, I hope you continue with the show because I'm
Speaker 2: actually hoping that you could move on and then do
Speaker 2: this country home rescue on homes that maybe could be sold,
Speaker 2: like with Osenomer. If this show is a success and
Speaker 2: it continues, would you be interested in building homes that
Speaker 2: could go to charity or look at it a different way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a few different versions, and it does come
Speaker 3: down to money and sponsors to be able to do that.
Speaker 5: That's the thing. And you know the amount of people
Speaker 5: put their hand up and say you want.
Speaker 3: To risk you my home, no worries, but unless they're
Speaker 3: willing to put all that money in, you just can't. Like,
Speaker 3: you know, it's a lot of money to get the trades,
Speaker 3: to get the bill, to get the supplies, and you know,
Speaker 3: pushing with the camera and a production.
Speaker 5: So it is.
Speaker 3: You know, I've got a couple of ideas, so fingers
Speaker 3: cross will see how the concept goes and take it
Speaker 3: in a few different directions.
Speaker 2: Well my fingers across for that. But you know, there
Speaker 2: had never been more commentary on a finale in the
Speaker 2: history of Australian TV, you know, with the block and
Speaker 2: I read the tweet, I think it was the next day,
Speaker 2: or maybe it was a couple of days later, because
Speaker 2: it took you a while to process that finale, and
Speaker 2: I felt like Australia you wrote, whateveryone in Australia was thinking,
Speaker 2: you know, it's taking some time to process this, but
Speaker 2: what do you think could be changed next year that
Speaker 2: might allow for a happier ending. I mean, life doesn't
Speaker 2: have always a happy ending, so that's okay too. But
Speaker 2: I guess for that show, it's such a huge investment
Speaker 2: for Australia. You know, what could we do to make
Speaker 2: sure that, you know that we get that feel good moment.
Speaker 1: At the end?
Speaker 3: Fortunately, that is the concept and it is who's going
Speaker 3: to pay the money on the day. That is real life, Like,
Speaker 3: you know, the amount of options that are being passed
Speaker 3: in at the moment. You know, if you've every day
Speaker 3: people buying the houses, that gives the actual action decision,
Speaker 3: that would be what we know in every day life. No,
Speaker 3: that's not what's happening because the houses are so expensive
Speaker 3: and so big. I sort of feel like the next
Speaker 3: series and I'm not doing a spoiler because it is
Speaker 3: out there in the public. You know, going back to Hampton,
Speaker 3: it will be that lower price bracket where we will
Speaker 3: have the everyday people being able to purchase these.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I think that's the jeputy as well. That is it fair?
Speaker 3: No, But at the same time, you look at Tom
Speaker 3: and Sarah Jane. They are so talented, they have done
Speaker 3: such an incredible job and I know a lot of
Speaker 3: people want to see them again again, So I doubt
Speaker 3: Channel nine would let that go.
Speaker 5: So in the end, they may not win the money.
Speaker 5: This is me just speculating.
Speaker 3: They may not win the money in the auction, but
Speaker 3: they might win in another way in the future.
Speaker 2: This is that whole woman's day thing, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, like where they have to like try and
Speaker 2: guess with the pieces that they've got, and everyone's already like, well,
Speaker 2: I've read it so many times over.
Speaker 1: Oh well, you know that Tom and Sarah Jane are
Speaker 1: back next year.
Speaker 2: They're being brought back for a Fans Versus Favorites and
Speaker 2: nothing's been decided yet. I'm sure Jules is on a
Speaker 2: holiday somewhere, not wanting to think about the block, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, Like, no contracts are gone out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Fan Versus fade the series before probably
Speaker 3: wasn't the right thing to happen straight away for a
Speaker 3: couple of those contestants.
Speaker 5: There wasn't enough break.
Speaker 3: So I think Tom Sarah Jane coming back for a
Speaker 3: fans in faves, we've already had one two years ago.
Speaker 3: That that's again me my own crystal ball. I couldn't
Speaker 3: imagine that being something. You know, they might come back
Speaker 3: as a guest, they might come back and do something
Speaker 3: special with them, or or do their own renovation themselves
Speaker 3: in film, And I don't know.
Speaker 5: It is one of.
Speaker 3: Those things of like fans and faves, you know you
Speaker 3: need you need that break from the couple because otherwise.
Speaker 5: You go, oh god, I just saw them last year.
Speaker 2: I feel like I could watch Tom and Sarah Jane
Speaker 2: every year. I don't know what it is about them,
Speaker 2: And you know, we went on a real journey with them.
Speaker 2: When they turned up, people were like, I hate these people.
Speaker 2: They're mean to each other, they swear a lot, and
Speaker 2: then by the endustry, it's like, I love these people
Speaker 2: because they're real.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they're so real.
Speaker 3: And I think the thing is, you know people say, oh,
Speaker 3: you've favored them again, It's just like there's no favoritism.
Speaker 5: I don't know them from a bar of soap.
Speaker 3: I've met them twice as they're coming out of the
Speaker 3: mund with two with one sentence, that's it.
Speaker 5: You can't favor someone you don't know, and also you don't.
Speaker 3: We don't get anything out of giving anybody a score.
Speaker 5: We're scoring them because they work hard, the execution, they
Speaker 5: do this great finish, they do something. It's not just
Speaker 5: how it looks on the picture, and it's how it
Speaker 5: all works. And then people go, oh, you've got egg
Speaker 5: on your face because your favorites didn't win.
Speaker 3: Do you see who bought the houses? Yeah, everyday person
Speaker 3: buying in other countries. So that's you know, people need
Speaker 3: to weigh everything up.
Speaker 2: We all walk away from a show, though, you know,
Speaker 2: with a feeling about someone you know.
Speaker 1: Is there a feeling that you want us to have?
Speaker 2: I mean, I know what it is, and like, as
Speaker 2: soon as you turn up on my screen this morning
Speaker 2: to have this chat, I was like, oh, you know,
Speaker 2: I have the warm and fuzzies. Is there is there
Speaker 2: something you want from the audience once they watch this
Speaker 2: show to know about you a little bit more?
Speaker 5: I think I'd like.
Speaker 3: Them to know the thought processes. Even though it's not
Speaker 3: like a design documentary. It's just to do what I
Speaker 3: do as a judge to renovate all these other houses.
Speaker 3: That the processes that go in my mind. I tend
Speaker 3: to go on ten different tangents to come back to
Speaker 3: the reality of practicality. And it is a process that
Speaker 3: I live and breathe. It's not something that I just
Speaker 3: turn up one day and do. This is something I
Speaker 3: built from when I was, you know, eighteen years old.
Speaker 3: So it is one of those things that I want
Speaker 3: people to see. But also that I'm a family person
Speaker 3: and you know, I love my family and as I
Speaker 3: said before, you know, living and dying, I live and
Speaker 3: die for my family and without them in my life,
Speaker 3: you know why bother.
Speaker 2: I think everyone's going to say at the end of
Speaker 2: the show, wish my kids looked at me like Shana
Speaker 2: Blaze's kids look at that, and you look at that.
Speaker 2: It's beautiful to be able to see the working dynamics
Speaker 2: of your family and to see that sort of My.
Speaker 3: Dog in the background, she's having a great time on
Speaker 3: the rug, rolling around.
Speaker 5: It's almost like a bit of ecstasy in the background.
Speaker 2: Even Shana Blaze's dog is having a good time. So
Speaker 2: just that's the message that we want to leave anyway,
Speaker 2: Before you go, I should just say everyone who joins
Speaker 2: the podcast gets asked this question, which is, what is
Speaker 2: something from behind the scenes that we won't see on
Speaker 2: the show, kind of like a behind the scenes secret
Speaker 2: of making this show.
Speaker 3: Well, you don't see all the lockdowns. You don't see
Speaker 3: the fact we have to shut down for a lot.
Speaker 3: You don't see me almost falling apart because I just
Speaker 3: can't finance it. You see snippets of it, and you
Speaker 3: see snippets of it.
Speaker 5: I think the reality of the mud, you just don't
Speaker 5: understand it. You see bits of it.
Speaker 3: You just don't get it, like the mud and the
Speaker 3: rain it didn't stop, and the cold like if you
Speaker 3: actually had a temperature gauge, it's just not there. But look,
Speaker 3: I think there's essence of everything in there. And one
Speaker 3: thing that I hope people really understand is the teamwork
Speaker 3: with the trades, Like they are phenomenal. The conditions they
Speaker 3: did this under and they were there right to the end,
Speaker 3: and a lot of them have said this is the
Speaker 3: most enjoyable experience as a builder or as a trade
Speaker 3: because they got to.
Speaker 5: Do things they don't normally do.
Speaker 3: And that just gives me so much joy because it
Speaker 3: wasn't just me doing something completely hair brained and off
Speaker 3: the rails.
Speaker 5: They got to be part of that process.
Speaker 3: I'd like to know from you, and you don't want
Speaker 3: to give a spoiler, but was there one thing that
Speaker 3: you went, oh, I think she's going too far?
Speaker 2: No, I think that you were just being honest, Like
Speaker 2: I didn't get my fear with this show from you,
Speaker 2: and you know I'm a buyer of your products. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm someone who's been in your market for a really
Speaker 2: long time. Was too much censorship and yet I felt like,
Speaker 2: you know, we did get to see some real moments,
Speaker 2: you know, between you and your children without it being salacious,
Speaker 2: do you.
Speaker 1: Know what I mean? Yeah, you know, without drama.
Speaker 2: For drama's sake, We got some moments. So no, I
Speaker 2: don't think that there was ever. I mean, at one
Speaker 2: point I was my partner sitting next to me, went oh,
Speaker 2: of course she needs a bell tower.
Speaker 5: And don't worry. Both my kids said the same.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, but that's what we all should be saying
Speaker 2: at home because we're watching.
Speaker 1: You know, television is a currency.
Speaker 2: It works when we can relate to who we're watching
Speaker 2: on TV, and that's what you've been able to pull
Speaker 2: off in a beautiful way. So thank you for coming
Speaker 2: on the podcast and talking about this and good like
Speaker 2: hopefully we'll be doing this next year the same time.
Speaker 2: About the series two, yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Have to say I'm so proud of it, and it's
Speaker 3: something that's been sitting there for a long time where
Speaker 3: you just go, oh God, is it actually good enough?
Speaker 5: But now I'm here, I just can't wait to share it.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much. It was lovely to chat
Speaker 1: with you this morning.
Speaker 5: Thanks Ben,