Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload, the podcast last.
Speaker 2: Week that live.
Speaker 1: And welcome back guys to TV Reload. As you may know,
Speaker 1: my name is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast
Speaker 1: to get all the inside goss on the popular TV
Speaker 1: shows you may be watching from around the world. Undeniably,
Speaker 1: our TV sets are a major part of our home entertainment,
Speaker 1: and yet very little is known about how our favorite
Speaker 1: shows get made. So each episode I've been finding guests
Speaker 1: that want to dive just that little bit deeper into
Speaker 1: their shows they're currently making, so that you can hear
Speaker 1: all the exclusive stories and gain access to the biggest
Speaker 1: names in Australian television. I want to thank you for
Speaker 1: downloading or subscribing to this podcast however you've found me.
Speaker 1: I love hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave
Speaker 1: a review or a comment on your chosen podcast platform.
Speaker 1: Today's episode, I'm joined by Bo Ryan, the host of
Speaker 1: Amazing Race Australia Celebrity Edition, who is here to brief
Speaker 1: you on the most epic season of the show Australia
Speaker 1: has ever seen. From culture shock, mere budgets and the
Speaker 1: pressure of a NonStop race Australian celebrity races and their
Speaker 1: race partners will get tested in ways we've never seen before.
Speaker 1: Each episode, the celebrities, which include Grant, Denya George from
Speaker 1: Survivor Ben Gillies from Silverchair, amongst many others, meet at
Speaker 1: the starting line by today's guest Bo Ryan, who will
Speaker 1: be sure to throw some twists and turns their way
Speaker 1: as they race across the globe. Bo Ryan is an
Speaker 1: Australian television presenter, actor, singer and former professional rugby league footballer.
Speaker 1: He played for the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks and the Wests
Speaker 1: Tigers in the National Rugby League, but then went on
Speaker 1: to become a TV personality with his comedic work on
Speaker 1: The Footy Show, which I'm sorry was very iconic. We
Speaker 1: do mention his best friend, Bruno boishe a couple of times,
Speaker 1: and I thought i'd quickly addressed that at this point
Speaker 1: because he's a mutual friend of ours. Bruno is a
Speaker 1: bloody legend and you should probably go and google him anyway.
Speaker 1: I will find out if the celebrities are better at
Speaker 1: the Amazing race than the usual players and if they
Speaker 1: were more demanding. We will discuss how hard it is
Speaker 1: to step back from hosting a show like this to
Speaker 1: be a contestant and if that's going to be a massive,
Speaker 1: eager hit for people like Grant Dania and Darren McMullen.
Speaker 1: We will also chat Gladiators and how excited he is
Speaker 1: to be hosting that new series which is a reboot,
Speaker 1: and why he is now making TV shows for families.
Speaker 1: Plus we will get plenty of exclusives from behind the
Speaker 1: scenes of the Amazing Race Australia Celebrity Edition, which launches Wednesday,
Speaker 1: the fourth of October at seven thirty on Network ten
Speaker 1: and you will be able to catch up if you
Speaker 1: fall a little bit behind on ten Play anyway, guys,
Speaker 1: let's bring Bo into the podcast. He is such a
Speaker 1: legend and I hope you guys enjoy this chat. Beny boys,
Speaker 1: how are you, buddy, You're well.
Speaker 2: I'm good. I'm really excited mate. It's a really it's
Speaker 2: a superseeds. Obviously, we've got the celebrities who are another
Speaker 2: level as you know. Yeah, but places we go to
Speaker 2: made are incredible, a hostile, they're hot, they take their
Speaker 2: prisoners and perfect for celebrities.
Speaker 1: I want to know though, with these celebrities, do you
Speaker 1: reckon that they take it a little bit more seriously
Speaker 1: than your usual non celebrity contestants. I mean, what's the
Speaker 1: difference between the type of people.
Speaker 2: No, because they're all if any, I would have thought
Speaker 2: the other way around, because the people are regular people
Speaker 2: who have been competing over the last five years, are
Speaker 2: competing for a massive prize money of quarter of a
Speaker 2: million dollars or cars added, it can change your life.
Speaker 2: So I actually thought, in all honesty, the celebrities would
Speaker 2: it'd be harder to get them going, do you know
Speaker 2: what I mean? But they're all competing for charity, and
Speaker 2: pretty much from the first app, probably the second app,
Speaker 2: I realized how much it meant to that because their
Speaker 2: charity has mean everything to them. And I've competed in
Speaker 2: shows are representing a charity and you do dig deep,
Speaker 2: and I thought I was astonished by how how hard
Speaker 2: they went and what they put themselves through to reward
Speaker 2: their charity.
Speaker 1: The weird thing about this series was I knew so
Speaker 1: many famous people that had said to me over the
Speaker 1: last ten years that they really wanted to do the
Speaker 1: Amazing Race. I don't know why this particular show is
Speaker 1: one that celebs had been wanting to do. But I
Speaker 1: thought about you and the type of person. We are
Speaker 1: very generous as a friend. I'm imagining that you've got
Speaker 1: a lot of celebs hitting you up on your Instagram
Speaker 1: asking to put in a good word for them. Am
Speaker 1: I going down the right path here? Does this happen
Speaker 1: to you every year?
Speaker 2: One hundred percent? And just in terms of casting, it
Speaker 2: is the most popular show in Australia. We have like
Speaker 2: thirty thousand teams apply. I'm talking fifty sixty thousand people
Speaker 2: apply and celebrities and you'll see on this season we've
Speaker 2: got some great names. We had a few people pull
Speaker 2: out late because of clashes in their availability. But in
Speaker 2: terms of people like Ben Gillies, for example from Silverchair
Speaker 2: has been asked to do every show forever and doesn't
Speaker 2: even flinch. Beck Judd is another one has been asked
Speaker 2: every year. They keep coming back, you know, to suit her,
Speaker 2: more money, whatever. And these are people that are fans
Speaker 2: of The Shadow. These are people that love the show.
Speaker 2: They want to experience, whether it's travel because we've been
Speaker 2: you know, inside for three years and they want to
Speaker 2: get out, or they want to experience something with their
Speaker 2: last one or best friend, or mom or brother. So
Speaker 2: it's actually not that hard to cast, which is great
Speaker 2: because then we can get some wonderful names.
Speaker 1: I remember Stephen Tate emailed me once about it and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, wow, that would be good to
Speaker 1: be back on television again. How exciting. And then the
Speaker 1: people that they suggest that I go with, like it
Speaker 1: was like someone i'd done Big Brother with or my partner,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I really value that friend, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to get a divorce.
Speaker 2: So I just said, no, you're a hundred percent right,
Speaker 2: do not do it with your partner, my wife and
Speaker 2: I would last I reckon two minutes. I'm talking about marriage.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking on the show. Yeah, it's intense, man, Like,
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know what it's like reality TV. I'm
Speaker 2: talking fourteen sixteen hour days every day for a month
Speaker 2: or or longer sometimes, and cameras are in your face
Speaker 2: and it's a lie. We drop on you in the
Speaker 2: middle of a country or a city where you don't
Speaker 2: know the language, right, you don't know the currency, you've
Speaker 2: got no bearings, you've got no technology, and you've got
Speaker 2: to come and find me.
Speaker 1: That's something I could do easily. My friend that is
Speaker 1: that I remember you doing one of the footy show things.
Speaker 1: You can see how I'm into sport with the way
Speaker 1: that I've just said it that way. But I remember
Speaker 1: I was on a radio show in central Queensland and
Speaker 1: my one job was to go and interview and you
Speaker 1: were the easiest person to find because you and my
Speaker 1: friend have this fan base that was like you were
Speaker 1: a pied piper. We just saw this big tale of
Speaker 1: crowd moving and that was where you find bo Ryan.
Speaker 2: I don't know what it is I feel like. I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously we're in Queensland. It's a rugby league city and state.
Speaker 1: You're a god. You're a god there.
Speaker 2: But it's great up there. Footy show days were crazy, mate.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you one thing about We used to do
Speaker 2: four or five outside broadcasts a year and they're a
Speaker 2: big thing to put together. We'd go to Newcastle, woman Gold,
Speaker 2: but our one's in Queensland. I'm talking North Queensland, Brisbane.
Speaker 2: One time we're in North Queensland and we had eight
Speaker 2: thousand people there out of one of the entertainment centers.
Speaker 2: I was standing out the front and it was like
Speaker 2: a concert. So we went and had a rehearsal in
Speaker 2: the day, not a rehearsal, but you know, we got
Speaker 2: our bearings. But we went down there and it was
Speaker 2: people lining up, and I went and saw one of
Speaker 2: the people in the crowd and started talking to them,
Speaker 2: and a lady that worked on the ticket thing at
Speaker 2: the front said the footy show sold out quicker than
Speaker 2: Elton John. And that's when it hit me where I
Speaker 2: was like, okay, okay, maybe this is a little bit
Speaker 2: bigger than I think it is. And of course Queensland
Speaker 2: don't really get you know, we don't really We're not
Speaker 2: there every week, and Sydney probably take it for granted.
Speaker 2: We've got so many different sports and opportunities down here.
Speaker 2: But go on to Queensland, mate, I am. I love it.
Speaker 2: And plus my wife's a Queensland so you know, holds
Speaker 2: a special place in my heart and my daughter was conceived.
Speaker 1: There the other there you go. I mean, you're a
Speaker 1: full service showman, which means that you're getting a Elton
Speaker 1: John performance somewhere along the way anyway you do a
Speaker 1: good rocket man or you know, candle in the wind
Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, yeah, right, No, I just was thinking
Speaker 1: Network ten is not going to pay for the divorce.
Speaker 1: So that's the reason why I was like, definitely not
Speaker 1: doing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, you're smart, very very smart play but yeah
Speaker 2: it's popular and it's a test exactly right what you said.
Speaker 2: It's a test. It'll test you because what happens in
Speaker 2: your little world, whether you're in your car, driving somewhere
Speaker 2: in your kitchen or at home in your bedroom doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: And you've got your little private moments and whether it's
Speaker 2: an argument or affection or whatever it is, that's your
Speaker 2: safe space. But having Australia see it sometimes with no context,
Speaker 2: it's it's exposing. And I admire the people that come
Speaker 2: on the show because, like I said, I could do it,
Speaker 2: couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask about the application process because you
Speaker 1: guys had started advertising for a non celebrity version. What
Speaker 1: was the change in mind? Do you get to know
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff? I mean, I don't know how
Speaker 1: much skin you've got in a game making those decisions.
Speaker 1: But there was a lot of people applying already before
Speaker 1: it became the celebrity version.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, like I said earlier, when we got like
Speaker 2: I'm talking tens of thousands of people ready to go
Speaker 2: every year, and obviously you want to fit a character
Speaker 2: or a fit a type of person or type of
Speaker 2: personality we need on the show. You can't have all
Speaker 2: the same people. And a lot of people want to
Speaker 2: just come on because they want to win the show.
Speaker 2: We're making a TV show. Essentially, it is a race,
Speaker 2: but it's a TV show. It's for entertainment. But I remember,
Speaker 2: I think it was last year when we come back
Speaker 2: from the Europe and South American series and we'd shot
Speaker 2: over the four years, three seasons, and you know what
Speaker 2: TV is like. After about three or four season, you
Speaker 2: got to mix it up. Now, whether we were going
Speaker 2: to bring it all stars in or a celebrity, the
Speaker 2: timing was now, and we sat and we spoke and
Speaker 2: there were some feelers put out and then the thing
Speaker 2: with the amazing race. Yeah, it's a big production. We've
Speaker 2: got I'm talking one hundred and fifty people on the road,
Speaker 2: but it's a six month prep because we need people
Speaker 2: to go over and wrecky the spots. We're going to
Speaker 2: the countries. I use the franchise people and rules so
Speaker 2: we can get the layer of the land and this
Speaker 2: will everyone happened quick. So usually I've got a few months,
Speaker 2: a few months. Some might sleep when I know we're going.
Speaker 2: I'm lucky that you know ten pretty much just tell
Speaker 2: me what to do and where to be all the time.
Speaker 2: So I'm literally at their service whenever. And I remember
Speaker 2: I got a call off Tay and he's like Stephen
Speaker 2: Tate and he said, mate, we are going in three weeks, right,
Speaker 2: So then I had that conversation with my wife and
Speaker 2: it was it was good. I mean, it wasn't a
Speaker 2: long season in terms of how long we're away, running
Speaker 2: away a month in total, but it happened quick, mate,
Speaker 2: It happened quick.
Speaker 1: Well, knowing you your wife would be like, go on,
Speaker 1: go and have fun. But how was Bruno? Was Bruno
Speaker 1: okay with you?
Speaker 2: The thing about Bruno, The funny thing is Bruno and
Speaker 2: I share each other's locations, right, We're the only thing
Speaker 2: I don't share my I've got my daughter's location on
Speaker 2: my phone so I can find out where she is.
Speaker 2: But Bruno, I'll share each others locations. Now. At the time,
Speaker 2: I was actually meant to go to France. Oh wow,
Speaker 2: I'm going to go to France to see Kyle and
Speaker 2: Bruno over there at Coles honeymoon of course, of course,
Speaker 2: and that's when I got called up. And I remember
Speaker 2: Bruno text you one day and said, how's Cambodia. I
Speaker 2: stopped checking my Instagram because I didn't want to see
Speaker 2: him and Kyle drinking. Of course, I mean Cambodia in
Speaker 2: a rice field at four hundred. Well, I said to Bruno,
Speaker 2: talked to you in two weeks and it was the
Speaker 2: hardest thing he ever went through, and he's been through
Speaker 2: some hard stuff.
Speaker 1: They're the real tears. As I said, your wife's like,
Speaker 1: go on, have fun, we'll see you.
Speaker 2: So send the money back. We'll be good.
Speaker 1: Have you have people ever been cast to be on
Speaker 1: the show and then you've found out that they've got
Speaker 1: like misdemeanors or travel restrictions or something that has happened
Speaker 1: to them that has meant that you've got to recast
Speaker 1: them at the last minute.
Speaker 2: Short answers, Yes, I was no names, no names. I'm
Speaker 2: not talking misdemeanors. But I remember our first season, so
Speaker 2: we did a quarantine in two thousand, I think eighteen nineteen,
Speaker 2: where before quarantine was a thing, right, but we you
Speaker 2: do the quarantine to psychological We get the teams in
Speaker 2: a bubble and you know a bit of warfare, bit
Speaker 2: of mine games. I remember we were in South Korea
Speaker 2: and I walked into the room. I'm talking there's fifty
Speaker 2: camera set up and the in noormally was hitting its
Speaker 2: first season and I didn't make the contestants till just
Speaker 2: before I meet him first time at the pit stop,
Speaker 2: which is I always liked to stay away from because
Speaker 2: you want first reaction of coause there was a there
Speaker 2: was mayhem the day before it started, might have been
Speaker 2: two or three days before it started, actually, because the
Speaker 2: teams had walked in and when they met each other,
Speaker 2: one of the one of the mums. There was two
Speaker 2: mums in there. Two mums who were a team met
Speaker 2: one of the other teams and they were related. Oh
Speaker 2: so that was her auntie or something like that. So
Speaker 2: we flew one of the teams home and brought in
Speaker 2: an emergency team because that was political, right, that was
Speaker 2: seen as an advantage. And I still think about that
Speaker 2: team all the time because they were sent back back
Speaker 2: to Australia.
Speaker 1: Which how do you choose, Like who's choosing that? Like
Speaker 1: did you paper rocks as this family or did you
Speaker 1: work out who had a better personality for the show.
Speaker 1: What happened to that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously I wanted them to wrestle. It was again
Speaker 2: fitting what we needed in the show and who could
Speaker 2: come in. All about availability, I'm talking, we've got twenty
Speaker 2: four hours. Man, you've got to get someone from here
Speaker 2: to Korea? Do you know what I mean? The normality
Speaker 2: was like availabilities because people have told they're not on
Speaker 2: the show. We had people on planes. They've got to
Speaker 2: get off work this back then we're doing six to
Speaker 2: eight weeks away. So it's a process. They made it
Speaker 2: happen and we shot a season.
Speaker 1: It's crazy with each contestant because you were saying, there's
Speaker 1: like one hundred and fifty people going on tour with
Speaker 1: this show. So does each contestant get like one cameraman
Speaker 1: and one producer? And what stops the what stops these
Speaker 1: two other people possibly from helping them? You know, with
Speaker 1: the process.
Speaker 2: We have a rotation policy o WO policy. So if
Speaker 2: me and you're a team, for example, I haven't really
Speaker 2: touched on this is a very good question. We'll have
Speaker 2: a camera, a cameraman, camera woman, on audio person and
Speaker 2: a sort of a producer. So you think, you know,
Speaker 2: we we got got twelve teams this year at four
Speaker 2: name we started, so that you've obviously got twenty four people.
Speaker 2: We rotate them every two days, sometimes three days, so
Speaker 2: they don't get any that even though they're not allowed
Speaker 2: to speak to them, there's no relationship formed or bias.
Speaker 2: Then we have zone cameras, and that where it became
Speaker 2: an issue. Not an issue, but aheadache last year or
Speaker 2: the year before, I can't think because I don't really
Speaker 2: know what dat is. But we were in Morocco and
Speaker 2: we did a world record. We had twenty teams. So
Speaker 2: we had twenty teams, which is forty people, which forty
Speaker 2: people means forty cameramen.
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
Speaker 2: I think forty camera We had the zone people, we
Speaker 2: had the audio people, we had producers. That production I'm
Speaker 2: talking hundreds and hundreds on the road and then shuffling
Speaker 2: them was literally erasing itself moving people around. So the
Speaker 2: production is I can't speak highly enough of them, but
Speaker 2: it is a big process. Mate. Like I've worked in
Speaker 2: many shows, this show is like and so many movie parts.
Speaker 2: Then you throw in COVID the other year. It's just
Speaker 2: it's incredible. We should it.
Speaker 1: I'm a bit like hannibal lector or serial killer. So like,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know why I'm referring to myself
Speaker 1: as that, but I feel like if I had the
Speaker 1: same producers, the same cameraman, I feel like I'd win
Speaker 1: them over, like that's just a part of my personality.
Speaker 1: They'd be totaled to talk to me, and I would
Speaker 1: because I remember even with big brother had a minder
Speaker 1: and I managed to get actual inside information out of
Speaker 1: him by just like being myself, like you know, just
Speaker 1: manipulating him. And I feel like that's amazing that you
Speaker 1: said that they rotate everyone to stop that kind of
Speaker 1: thing from happening, because I mean, I wouldn't be the
Speaker 1: only one with that kind of superpower, you know.
Speaker 2: Of course, and everyone's trying it, and but sometimes it's
Speaker 2: a random work, you know what I mean. One word
Speaker 2: can change, can change a result, you know, you accidentally
Speaker 2: say Portugal or something like that, and little things like
Speaker 2: that can give teams advantages. Like it's massive. I mean,
Speaker 2: they're all they're all the cameramen and the audio and producers,
Speaker 2: especially the ones that have been doing it for a while,
Speaker 2: which is good, we run a tight ship. And also
Speaker 2: the new ones that come in a lot of the time,
Speaker 2: I sort of it's not that they're scared, but they
Speaker 2: are very to a tee, they very professional. It's like
Speaker 2: they're a bit nervous. They don't want to step out.
Speaker 2: And we have a lot of new producers and crew.
Speaker 2: That's when it runs the smoothest.
Speaker 1: And celebrities are full on like you know you and
Speaker 1: I know this. We've been around them for a long time.
Speaker 1: They know how to manipulate people, they know how to
Speaker 1: get what they want. I mean, if I was a
Speaker 1: producer and Grant Daniel started to, you know, look like
Speaker 1: he needed my help, I think I'd struggle to not
Speaker 1: help him. It's Grant Daniel, that's right.
Speaker 2: You're gonna understand a lot of these guys have worked
Speaker 2: with producers and camera group people in previous seasons of
Speaker 2: different shows, or worked with them in studio shows, or
Speaker 2: they know them from around around town. So the rotation
Speaker 2: is a key to the show's success. But yeah, mate,
Speaker 2: celebrities and other level Mate, they're entitled. They're entitled. You know,
Speaker 2: everyone's entitled. Every everyone who's shot one series of something
Speaker 2: thinks thinks they're entitled to something. And the thing is
Speaker 2: that's surprising about these this season, and I'll be honest
Speaker 2: with you, the ones I thought would be entitled were
Speaker 2: actually the most level.
Speaker 1: Wow, I feel like I want the names, but I'll
Speaker 1: move on to Darren McMullan anyway you'll find it. You know,
Speaker 1: I thought it was funny that Darren was there because,
Speaker 1: like in the first episode, I think you give him
Speaker 1: a bit of a job about him wanting your job.
Speaker 1: But I also thought it was kind of cool that
Speaker 1: you've got Grant Dan here and Darren mcmullum there in
Speaker 1: case you get sick. They can stand in as a
Speaker 1: TV host.
Speaker 2: You know that's right. But obviously with Darren would probably
Speaker 2: need a translate, and we Grant Daniel would probably named
Speaker 2: four or five telephone books for hunder stand on. It
Speaker 2: made that very clear TV works. And I know you
Speaker 2: all want my job and it ain't happening.
Speaker 1: But you know what's so funny about The Amazing Race
Speaker 1: is that all over the world it's so popular that
Speaker 1: people have tried to clone the game in some way.
Speaker 1: We saw one I think it was called rush or
Speaker 1: I can't remember it now, but you know, nobody else
Speaker 1: that's tried to mix up this formula has ever made
Speaker 1: it work. It's never been as good as The Amazing Race.
Speaker 1: Why is that? I don't understand. Like Russi and a
Speaker 1: few others were almost the same sort of show, but
Speaker 1: it just didn't land. What happens a few things you're
Speaker 1: not in it.
Speaker 2: People always love who's first. Right. If you do something first,
Speaker 2: especially in our industry, you're because you're rolling the dice
Speaker 2: on something right and you're stepping out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 2: The Amazing Race's been around for over twenty years. When
Speaker 2: Phil Cogan and that got it, I've met cameraman. So
Speaker 2: you gotta understand. When we're shooting the series, not only
Speaker 2: do we have the production company there and the networks
Speaker 2: and there, we've also got Amazing Race franchise people there
Speaker 2: to keep it all above board. But I remember we're
Speaker 2: running through India, we're running through China years ago, and
Speaker 2: people are pulling us up and saying, that's the Amazing Race.
Speaker 2: They don't know me, they an't the teams, but they
Speaker 2: know the Amazing Race. And that happens every day in
Speaker 2: every city, and that's when it hits you. The normity
Speaker 2: of the show in terms of why the other shows work.
Speaker 2: I just think we were first right, and they've worked
Speaker 2: this system and this partner out. They know what works.
Speaker 2: There's so many different options in the show, whether it's
Speaker 2: a roadblock or a U turn, and they've actually mastered
Speaker 2: it over twenty years. I've seen the first couple of
Speaker 2: seasons and when I was shot, they were rogued. It's
Speaker 2: like me following you with an old handicamp, and they've
Speaker 2: taken twenty years to master it. So when a rush
Speaker 2: comes in or the greatest race around the world, they're
Speaker 2: starting from square one because they don't want to be
Speaker 2: the Amazing Race Australia and we've got twenty years in
Speaker 2: front of them and they'll never be another Amazing Race Australia.
Speaker 2: And being a global franchise made it hits you with
Speaker 2: your normany you know. It is one of the biggest
Speaker 2: shows in the world. I'm talking the American show. They
Speaker 2: got their budgets like fifties plus million, they're flying chartered jets,
Speaker 2: They're like another level. This show is a very expensive
Speaker 2: show to make, but there will never be a show
Speaker 2: like this ever again.
Speaker 1: It was interesting though. I went back. I watched the
Speaker 1: first episode of the new series and it's very good
Speaker 1: and then I was curious, so I went onto YouTube
Speaker 1: and watched some of the old episodes from when it
Speaker 1: first started all those years ago overseas, and it was
Speaker 1: really interesting to see how well the show has been
Speaker 1: polished to what it is now, Like it still maintains
Speaker 1: that integrity in a lot of ways, but it's just
Speaker 1: been sort of more well oiled or something. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It was really interesting to see.
Speaker 2: You're right, You're right, I said earlier. Our audience is
Speaker 2: different when you know this. If the Amazing and the
Speaker 2: Amazing Race, whether it's a US version, Canadian Asian version,
Speaker 2: they're all wonderful shows. But our show is different because
Speaker 2: we lean into a lot of things, whether it's we
Speaker 2: lean into the culture and a little bit more, or
Speaker 2: we try try and get away. I push the limits
Speaker 2: in terms of what I say because our audience is
Speaker 2: very demanding. They're ruthless. We have to be entertained constantly.
Speaker 2: I can't just sit there and give you a flat
Speaker 2: piece to camera because people get bored quick so they
Speaker 2: can get away with it, especially in the UK, different countries,
Speaker 2: because the show so big and people love it. Australians
Speaker 2: want to laugh now, want to be entertained now every
Speaker 2: single piece, every episode, they want to feel something. So
Speaker 2: I feel our season and I watch a lot of
Speaker 2: the seasons. I watch a lot of the hosts. My
Speaker 2: role is to be outside the box and really bring
Speaker 2: something that the other seasons don't. And I've done that
Speaker 2: since the first season. And I remember seeing there with
Speaker 2: the amazing race franchise people laughter, my first piece of camera,
Speaker 2: and I threw some things in there with me and
Speaker 2: we're pushing it already, and I saw him looking at
Speaker 2: each other going, holy shit, I've we got this guy.
Speaker 2: This is a problem. You know what I mean? This
Speaker 2: is I saw them look at each other going, this
Speaker 2: is this is not what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: Well, luckily grand Edi wasn't around for the first series
Speaker 1: because they could have easily replaced you. But you know,
Speaker 1: you give the biggest lolls of this first episode. You know,
Speaker 1: you are very funny, and I was wondering, I mean,
Speaker 1: I've seen you do live piece to cameras. I've seen
Speaker 1: you make it up on the fly. It is your
Speaker 1: skill set, But is anyone writing your jokes like? You're
Speaker 1: very funny?
Speaker 2: Now we've got I mean, we've got to write it
Speaker 2: for our scripts, but our producers do a wonderful job
Speaker 2: where you need to understand, especially India, were standing in
Speaker 2: a pitstock. We might get there at two pm after
Speaker 2: filming all day some challenges because all shoots for four
Speaker 2: or five challenges a day, they might only do four,
Speaker 2: or I might do six challenges just to cover them all,
Speaker 2: just in case they don't go to the Hindu temple
Speaker 2: or they go to the fishing boats. So we're going
Speaker 2: to cover all that. But sometimes I'll be in the
Speaker 2: pit stock. Average time five hours. I'm standing with you
Speaker 2: for five hours. Man, I'm going to say something funny
Speaker 2: in five hours. Time is on my side. Time is
Speaker 2: on my side.
Speaker 1: You're talking long enough, there's got to be something funny
Speaker 1: in there.
Speaker 2: Long enough to make it sound funny. So that's the
Speaker 2: only thing I.
Speaker 1: Want to talk to you about some of the sleds
Speaker 1: really quickly before you go, So just a quick thing.
Speaker 1: Is it hard because I mean you went into the
Speaker 1: jungle and you really had to take your post hat
Speaker 1: off to become a contest. Is that a really hard
Speaker 1: thing to do for your ego when you have hosted
Speaker 1: your own shows, Because as we've been talking about, we've
Speaker 1: got grand and Darren's there is it hard to take
Speaker 1: a step back and go on these shows and not
Speaker 1: be the host once you've already done that.
Speaker 2: I feeled alright in the Jungle. In terms of doing that,
Speaker 2: I can't speak for Darren and Grant. I just wasn't
Speaker 2: prepared for the Jungle. I wasn't prepared.
Speaker 1: You hated the Jungle, didn't you. I remember someone telling
Speaker 1: me that you thought it was the worst. I mean,
Speaker 1: you were happy to do it and you said yes,
Speaker 1: and you thought it would be great, but you hated.
Speaker 2: It physically and mentally. That was the season we didn't
Speaker 2: have a race season for ye and I can't relate
Speaker 2: to agree. I just wasn't ready. But in terms of
Speaker 2: being humbled now, I sort of was doing what I
Speaker 2: could for the network and helping and wanted to test myself.
Speaker 2: And I don't think many other shows would have shown
Speaker 2: like you do have to humble yourself and swallow your pride.
Speaker 2: But this show is an entertaining show. It's a fun show.
Speaker 2: It's hard and hostile, but people want to travel, like
Speaker 2: I said, like Darren wants to travel the world. They
Speaker 2: want to test themselves. They want to be on Grant
Speaker 2: wants to spend some time with his wife, give her
Speaker 2: a chance to shine. So as hard as it is
Speaker 2: to humble yourself, you still get to experience stuff that
Speaker 2: you'll never ever experience ever again.
Speaker 1: Good And do you know I'm the most excited for
Speaker 1: George from Australian Survivor, Like, I'm did you watch his
Speaker 1: seasons of Australian Survivor. I'm mad for this guy.
Speaker 2: Last couple he's a Yeah, he's something else, George. He's
Speaker 2: so important to the show. He's real, he's legit.
Speaker 1: Would he throw his own sister under a bus to
Speaker 1: win this series? And is that something he can do
Speaker 1: or did you put that in his contract to make
Speaker 1: sure he didn't throw her under a bus to win?
Speaker 2: Yeah? He throw anyone off anything to win. That's him apart, right,
Speaker 2: that's what makes him the king, and he's so valuable
Speaker 2: to the show. But him and Pamah, his sister, are wonderful,
Speaker 2: super important.
Speaker 1: I just towards the end of watching this first episode
Speaker 1: of just imagine she'd be asleep and he'd be dragging
Speaker 1: her along, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, look, he wouldn't be the perfect partner. I'm
Speaker 2: not going to lie to you, but he would be.
Speaker 2: He's entertained and that's why he's there. He's wonderful, he's
Speaker 2: a weapon. His mentality is out of this world and
Speaker 2: he does well.
Speaker 1: What about some of the celebs. Are they allowed to
Speaker 1: promote their own brands? Because I'd be like, I'll do
Speaker 1: that show because you know I've got a new clothing line.
Speaker 1: Are they allowed to bring that stuff in? Or do
Speaker 1: you censor that?
Speaker 2: It's all part of it. It's all part. You know,
Speaker 2: you're trying to get people across the line, and you
Speaker 2: know everyone's different, everyone's contracts different, and you know this
Speaker 2: better than anyone. It's all it's all relative. But you
Speaker 2: know a lot of people aren't thinking. The last thing
Speaker 2: they're thinking is trying to advertise their shoes when they're
Speaker 2: over the India. Do you know what I mean? They're thinking,
Speaker 2: how do I stay alive?
Speaker 1: Yeah? How do I kill my diarrhea?
Speaker 2: That's right, That's right. It's a very even playing field.
Speaker 1: I also loved you mentioned Ben before, you know from Silverchair,
Speaker 1: which is he's amazing. I've met him a couple of times,
Speaker 1: the lovely guy. But Jackie Gillies, his wife is a psychic.
Speaker 1: Did she already know that she was going to win
Speaker 1: or lose by the time she got there?
Speaker 2: She didn't. She's a psychic, and she's a psycho. I
Speaker 2: think she is.
Speaker 1: I love her too.
Speaker 2: She's great, so good. She and then together irreplaceable. They
Speaker 2: were so good and I've never met them before. Grew
Speaker 2: up watching Ben obviously, and Jackie is a superstar. Was great.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, I think you have to talk to me
Speaker 1: about The Gladiators. But do you remember the Gladiators because
Speaker 1: you've just come out and they've announced that you're the
Speaker 1: host of this show which was huge in the nineties.
Speaker 1: Do you remember that show? How much of that was
Speaker 1: a part of your life growing up?
Speaker 2: Come on, man, of course I remember Gladiators. It was
Speaker 2: everyone's life growing up, everyone our age, you know, everyone
Speaker 2: in their late twenties, early thirties, even forties. I grew
Speaker 2: up idolizing The Gladiators and watching it was it was
Speaker 2: weekly viewing. And we've started filming now and it's mate,
Speaker 2: it's crazy. Wow, it is next level.
Speaker 1: But what have they done to up the ante? I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean I would watch a great reboot, but I
Speaker 1: mean of their holograms. I mean what how have they
Speaker 1: brought the Gladiators into twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: By bringing in twelve new gladiators, right, no one's ever
Speaker 2: seen or heard of before? Who are out of this world?
Speaker 1: Have you tried to take any of them on? Are
Speaker 1: you stronger than a gladiator?
Speaker 2: No, I'm scared of most of them. A good shoulder
Speaker 2: one of them the other day accidentally, just to see
Speaker 2: if I still got it, and I don't. That'll be
Speaker 2: out soon too, and it's something I'm really excited about.
Speaker 2: That one's next level and you're going to.
Speaker 1: Get to to get to try when because you've already
Speaker 1: started filming, do you get to try any of these challenges?
Speaker 1: Like can you? Can you do?
Speaker 2: I do? I mean I took my kids in there
Speaker 2: the other day when we're filming, and the pyramids literally
Speaker 2: the same size as the pyramid in Cairo. Wow, massive soul.
Speaker 2: But I stand up there and you know, in safety.
Speaker 1: That's when you get to play the dad card and
Speaker 1: be the best out of the world, when you can
Speaker 1: take your kids along to the set of Gladiators and
Speaker 1: they get to try those challenges, like seriously, you must
Speaker 1: be down of that year.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's the because you can't really explain Gladiators
Speaker 2: the kids. I haven't seen it, so they had to
Speaker 2: get there and they're coming back.
Speaker 1: I still remember I had all my favorites, like I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm not even the blowkiss guy alive, But I
Speaker 1: mean the Gladiators really appeals to a big family audience.
Speaker 1: I could remember as a family, we would all sit
Speaker 1: around and watch it. It was on like a Saturday
Speaker 1: before Hey Hay or something. I can't remember, but I
Speaker 1: remember fully sitting there as a family and we would
Speaker 1: never miss that episode. Crazy one percent.
Speaker 2: And that's what's going to happen in January again. It's
Speaker 2: back early January, and it's going to be the biggest
Speaker 2: show of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I just think that more television where you can
Speaker 1: sit there with a family is important because my childhood
Speaker 1: growing up, that was the stuff where where he has
Speaker 1: a family really bonded, was where we could find a
Speaker 1: show we could all watch together. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what this is.
Speaker 2: And that's why I've working on family shows. I had
Speaker 2: a young family myself, and we like to do that.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I couldn't be happy of being a part
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: Well, before you go, something I ask everyone who joins
Speaker 1: the podcast, is what is something from behind the scenes. Well,
Speaker 1: we're talking about Amazing Race, So what's something from behind
Speaker 1: the scenes of Amazing Race Celebrity Edition? Something we won't see,
Speaker 1: kind of like a behind the scenes secret or something
Speaker 1: weird that happened to you while filming.
Speaker 2: I had it. I was called with the cobra. Oh
Speaker 2: really luckily after and I found out it was de venumed.
Speaker 2: You know how they why. I was doing a piece
Speaker 2: of camera and I got really really close to a cobra.
Speaker 2: How do I know it's de venum. I wouldn't, so
Speaker 2: you can imagine how it was when I nearly stepped
Speaker 2: on a king cobra and that. But I definitely have
Speaker 2: the heart rate to tell you about it.
Speaker 1: Well, I have PTSD for watching Shane Ward when he
Speaker 1: was bitten by a snake years ago in the jungle.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can cope with it, mate.
Speaker 1: So good to chat to you, as always. Good luck
Speaker 1: with this series, I said, I've been lucky enough to
Speaker 1: see the first episode. It looks amazing. Can't wait to
Speaker 1: watch more. Yeah, and thank you for being so generous
Speaker 1: and chatting with me today about it.
Speaker 2: Oh good mate. Thank you so much for your time
Speaker 2: as always, and I speak to.
Speaker 1: You sin always love it, always love. I've always got
Speaker 1: fomo watching you on social media through Bruno. I'm always whatever,
Speaker 1: Wherever you guys are, whatever you're wearing, I'm always like
Speaker 1: that is my jam. I wish that I was there
Speaker 1: with these people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Tommy, come with us
Speaker 1: Okay, next time I will