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Speaker 1: It's that time of the year. It's come on, my gosh,

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Speaker 1: it's come around so quick. Married at First Sight starts

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Speaker 1: on Monday, January twenty nine at seven point thirty on

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Speaker 1: Channel nine and nine now, so the Monday after the

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Speaker 1: long weekend for Australia day. It's always the way it

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Speaker 1: seems to work. And John Aken is with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Morning John, John, Good morning.

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Speaker 3: You took to the studio. John.

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Speaker 1: There is no other show on TV that creates the

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Speaker 1: buzz that this one does.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's the.

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Speaker 1: Show we love to hate, yes and hate to love.

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Speaker 3: Well put. I mean, one of the things I found

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Speaker 3: so interesting about this show is that no one sits

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Speaker 3: on the fence when they watch it. Yeah, they either

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Speaker 3: love it or they hate it, but they must see

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Speaker 3: what's going on, and then they talk about it the

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Speaker 3: next day. And as long as people are being polarized

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Speaker 3: and are talking about relationships, I'm all for it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, And the old fashioned water cooler conversation at

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Speaker 4: work with me, it's now the coffe I guess it works.

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Speaker 2: It gets people going to it.

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Speaker 3: Does, and there's not that many shows out there that

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Speaker 3: have that sort of effect. And I think a lot

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Speaker 3: of people have thought about why it is that ours

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Speaker 3: has done so well. Are both here and overseas, and

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Speaker 3: I mean, relationships are universal, and I think people have

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Speaker 3: opinions about them all, and they get invested in these

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Speaker 3: couples that we try and match and they pull their

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Speaker 3: hair out when they see behavior that absolutely is outrageous.

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Speaker 1: You must pull your hair out to I mean, there

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Speaker 1: have been I mean, let's face it, in the last

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Speaker 1: few years, there have been some people as we've moved along,

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Speaker 1: you know, a couple of months in that have sort

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Speaker 1: of shown themselves to have been not very nice people.

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Speaker 1: And but you're not going to know that in the

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Speaker 1: first week of hooking people up and stuff.

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Speaker 3: Do you sometimes think, oh, yeah, I mean we are

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Speaker 3: there and we spend several months doing all the matching

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Speaker 3: and the assessments. It's very comprehensive, and then you put

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Speaker 3: them together with high hopes and then you start seeing

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Speaker 3: appalling behavior come out, which is shocking. It kind of

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Speaker 3: is one of the secret sources of the show though,

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Speaker 3: because it's so unpredictable, it's not scripted. We don't know

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Speaker 3: what's going to happen. One of the big ones was

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Speaker 3: when Olivia and Dom had their arts rivalry a couple

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Speaker 3: of years ago, and that just came out of nowhere

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Speaker 3: halfway through the experiment, and that was an example there.

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Speaker 3: And then you know some things that some of the

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Speaker 3: men did last year that you needed to be called out.

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Speaker 3: I mean it's like a soap opera essentially. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 3: actually occurring in front of your eyes. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: The thing about human nature, isn't it how people can

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Speaker 1: really keep some things close to their chest and then

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Speaker 1: reveal themselves under certain stimulus triggers.

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Speaker 3: And I do think they forget after a while that

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Speaker 3: the cameras are on them.

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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, it seems to be the thing with so

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Speaker 4: much reality TV for so many years, that's right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And it is intense, and the cameras are on

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Speaker 3: them for ten weeks twenty four to seven, So it's

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Speaker 3: it's not an easy thing to do. And I think

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Speaker 3: once they're in it, they just say, look, I'm going

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Speaker 3: for it, the good, the bad, the ugly. I'm just

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Speaker 3: going to put it out there.

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Speaker 4: John, How do you follow up from last year? From

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Speaker 4: twenty twenty three, we had that you know, the couple,

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Speaker 4: and there was people had known each other in their

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Speaker 4: real lives before, and that unfolded fairly earlier last year's series.

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Speaker 4: How do you follow that up or do you just

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Speaker 4: have to do the casting people just have to do

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Speaker 4: their best.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. We don't try and top previous series because I

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Speaker 3: think that tends to mean that you might be putting

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Speaker 3: pressure on to do things that you may.

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Speaker 2: Not work manufacturing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think what we do is we just let

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Speaker 3: it evolve and the cast every year will give us

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Speaker 3: the gold. And this year we went for I think

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Speaker 3: we've got a more diverse cast. We've got a sixty

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Speaker 3: two year old guy in the mix, who's the oldest

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Speaker 3: participant we've ever had on the experiment. We've got the

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Speaker 3: same sex couple in the mix. These guys are quite

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Speaker 3: relatable and down to earth. And then you've got you know,

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Speaker 3: this group dynamic where because when you put some older

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Speaker 3: people in the mix. Yeah, and you've got take.

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Speaker 1: The six two year old grooms hooked up with an

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Speaker 1: equally older bride.

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Speaker 3: Yes, the same age and stage, yes of their lives. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: what you have is young ones going at the older

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Speaker 3: ones and vice versa. And it's an dynamic that you know,

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Speaker 3: we haven't really had that before, Yeah, in such a

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Speaker 3: big way. So that's quite layered and juicy.

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Speaker 2: So no one on the shows ever, ye hate boomer.

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Speaker 1: Boomer.

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Speaker 3: You can imagine them sitting there going listen, you know

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Speaker 3: you're twenty five, just piped down?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, yeah, you get it.

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Speaker 1: You can imagine twenty five.

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Speaker 2: Year old respond to that too. Funny.

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Speaker 1: Tell us about the way bride and grooms. Lauren works

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Speaker 1: in pr Collins has no dating experience and Steven, judging

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Speaker 1: by his picture, I wouldn't have thought it was too

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Speaker 1: for a date.

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Speaker 2: The hairdressone's like a movie start he does.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, like a movie start. Well, I mean the Western

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Speaker 3: Australian participants are amazing that she Lauren is someone who

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Speaker 3: you've got to keep your eye on because you know,

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Speaker 3: in every series we have a person that will speak up,

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Speaker 3: no filter, will give you everything the table, and she

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Speaker 3: does that in spades, and you need that to keep

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Speaker 3: certain people in check. You know, we're bad behaviors going on.

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Speaker 3: I can't be the only one calling it out. You

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Speaker 3: need some people in the group to say, listen, I

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Speaker 3: see through you, I know what you're like, and this

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Speaker 3: is some feedback for you. And she is definitely a

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Speaker 3: front and center in most of it and then Collins

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Speaker 3: is interesting because he's never had a relationship and yet

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Speaker 3: he's now trying to navigate one that is full on

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Speaker 3: and intense, from honeymoons to moving in together to you know,

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Speaker 3: meeting family and friends. So how you go from no

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Speaker 3: relationship to I'm going to cope with all of this?

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Speaker 3: It's very compelling to watch.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and Steven, it says on his little blurb here,

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Speaker 1: became a participant after an original groom pulled out of

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Speaker 1: the show after attending.

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Speaker 2: The Bucks night.

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Speaker 1: Well, if that doesn't scream, can't wait to see what

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Speaker 1: the heck quent down about?

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Speaker 3: We do have we have a runaway groom.

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Speaker 1: Run away run away Okay, wow before oh right.

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Speaker 3: It's never happened before. You'll see it this year. Before

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Speaker 3: he even gets to the old I won't tell you

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Speaker 3: exactly when it happens, but.

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Speaker 2: John, that happened on the block this year. What's going on?

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Speaker 3: These people just aren't committing, you know, I don't know

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Speaker 3: what it is, but yeah, and you know the fact

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Speaker 3: is I, after doing it for eleven years, still don't

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Speaker 3: know what they're going to do in front of me.

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Speaker 3: And I would say five times this year there's been

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Speaker 3: things that they've said or done that have just been

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Speaker 3: a first for me. Okay, I've just gone I can't

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Speaker 3: believe you. Just yeah, I can't leave. That was your

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Speaker 3: choice and that's what you did.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Maybe we know you're a professional, but there must be

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Speaker 4: times you have to calm yourself down because you must

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Speaker 4: get very angry with people.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, I simmer away on the couch there,

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Speaker 3: and I've learned that less is more. You must have

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Speaker 3: to buy your cheek a for you. I just wait,

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Speaker 3: and I'm thinking, did you say that? I think I did. Wait,

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Speaker 3: they're digging a hole, and I don't think. I'll just

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Speaker 3: wait because I found that you know when when when

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Speaker 3: you wait and you come in with a short, sharp

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Speaker 3: piece of home truth that really lands. Well, if you

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Speaker 3: talk too much, it sort of gets lost in the mix.

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Speaker 3: So my one of my things is really just to

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Speaker 3: hold a mirror up in a very blunt way in

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Speaker 3: the hope that they change. And you know, some of

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Speaker 3: them do, but a lot of them don't. And that's

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Speaker 3: one of the reasons why they are single and doing

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Speaker 3: the same things wrong over and over again.

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Speaker 2: Very shut their eyes.

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Speaker 1: I've heard a rumor that someone may be removed from

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Speaker 1: the show.

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Speaker 3: Definitely. There's definitely a couple of big moments, and one

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Speaker 3: of them I have to I have to threaten to really,

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Speaker 3: because there are certain times when the behavior gets so

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Speaker 3: bad that you've got to draw a line in the sand.

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Speaker 3: And there is a moment this year where I have

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Speaker 3: to draw a line in the sand, all right, So

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Speaker 3: you look out for that one.

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Speaker 1: I look out for that one. And you mentioned the short,

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Speaker 1: sharp shot that you have to deliver sometimes. Mel is

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Speaker 1: the queen of doing that. I do love to watch her.

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Speaker 1: And how is she doing? Because she had a health

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Speaker 1: scare at the end of last year.

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Speaker 3: She did and thankfully the operation went well. She's doing

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Speaker 3: very well, she said, and she's now filming the UK

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Speaker 3: version over there as we speak. So I think, I mean,

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Speaker 3: that's just going to be a long journey.

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Speaker 4: I've heard it.

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Speaker 3: But we're all in her corner and I think she's

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Speaker 3: she's done remarkably well if.

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Speaker 2: She's doing you well. It's a busy schedule, isn't It's yeah, busy.

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Speaker 3: I mean this maths show now, I mean, it takes

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Speaker 3: up so many months of the year. It's grueling, and

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Speaker 3: particularly the filming of it's very grueling, the commitment ceremonies,

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Speaker 3: the dinner parties, they go, you know, they can go

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Speaker 3: to four or five in the morning. So it's a

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Speaker 3: very long, intense sort.

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Speaker 2: Of shoot for all of you fast and grow.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, that's when you get some of

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Speaker 3: the best content is when people are really just being

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Speaker 3: honest with you.

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Speaker 1: Well as usual. I don't know how I feel about

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Speaker 1: the fact that I cannot wait, but I can, but

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Speaker 1: I cannot wait. It starts on Monday, January twenty nine

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Speaker 1: at seven thirty on Channel nine and nine.

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Speaker 3: Now John, lovely to see.

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Speaker 2: You, great to see you too.

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Speaker 4: Enjoy we knew you were back well untily Now giant

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Speaker 4: billboard down on count Highway.

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Speaker 2: A lot of people are seeing this morning. It is massive.

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Speaker 3: It's coming