Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast past.
Speaker 2: Weep that line.
Speaker 1: 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 the
Speaker 1: guests they want to dive just that little bit deeper
Speaker 1: in to the shows they're currently making, so that you
Speaker 1: can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access to
Speaker 1: the biggest names in Australian television. I want to thank
Speaker 1: you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast however you
Speaker 1: found it. I love hearing your feedback, so make sure
Speaker 1: you leave a review or a comment on your chosen
Speaker 1: podcast platform. This chat, I'm joined by actress Virginia Gay
Speaker 1: from the new season of Dancing with the Stars on
Speaker 1: Channel seven, which has its epic finale this Sunday night
Speaker 1: at seven pm. Virginia Gay is an Australian actress, writer
Speaker 1: and director, mostly known for her work on Australian TV dramas,
Speaker 1: Winners and Losers and All Saints, amongst so many others.
Speaker 1: I have been personally obsessed with her for years and
Speaker 1: what a real trait to see her on this show
Speaker 1: and doing so well. Virginia has stolen the show many
Speaker 1: times this season in puting her perfect scoring foxtrot, which
Speaker 1: Shanna Burgess described as dan sexy, which I can also
Speaker 1: agree with. I will find out why Virginia said yes
Speaker 1: to Dancing with the Stars and why she has said
Speaker 1: no to other reality shows. Virginia will discuss what she
Speaker 1: learned about herself and why she thinks dancing has been
Speaker 1: so successful this year. We talk about some fascinating insights
Speaker 1: on why audiences are drawn to community and why shows
Speaker 1: with heart are the highest rating programs on television. Plus,
Speaker 1: we will get plenty of exclusives from behind the scenes
Speaker 1: of Dancing with the Stars, which finishes this Sunday night,
Speaker 1: so make sure you check that out on Channel seven.
Speaker 1: It also is available on seven Plus if you've fallen
Speaker 1: just that little bit behind. Anyway, Let's bring Virginia into
Speaker 1: the podcast, and guys, I hope you really enjoy this
Speaker 1: very special preview of the finale of Dancing with the Stars. Hello, Allan,
Speaker 1: are you I'm very well. I woke up so early
Speaker 1: this morning, so excited to be talking to you that
Speaker 1: I feel like it's Christmas.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. Well, I will try and give your
Speaker 2: gifts them.
Speaker 3: I'll try and do my best.
Speaker 4: Little missus clause at.
Speaker 1: So embarrassing at last year's logis you were walking past
Speaker 1: me and I was like, I've been a huge man,
Speaker 1: just spoiler alert for a very long time, and I
Speaker 1: couldn't help myself, but I tapped you on the arm
Speaker 1: and I just said, I think I said I love you,
Speaker 1: and you've very calm, didn't act like a psycho had
Speaker 1: touched you. You just said thank you very much. That
Speaker 1: means a lot. It's a big night. So you don't
Speaker 1: remember some hideously gay man approaching you and telling you
Speaker 1: that he loves you. At least you knew I was gay,
Speaker 1: because I'm very obviously gay.
Speaker 4: Hiz. I'm honored, I'm thrilled. I couldn't be more stoked.
Speaker 4: And now we get to deep in.
Speaker 5: The friendship and that's the joy, that's the real joy,
Speaker 5: of course.
Speaker 1: I mean, you have done so much this year. Safe
Speaker 1: Home was amazing. I reckon. That's the best show that
Speaker 1: we've made here in Australia this year.
Speaker 2: I listen. I am so proud of Safe Home.
Speaker 4: I am so proud to be a part of it.
Speaker 4: Holy crap.
Speaker 2: I really I watched it back. I saved watching it
Speaker 2: until it was on television because I sort of wanted
Speaker 2: the steeling of watching it as everybody else was watching it.
Speaker 4: And it is so electric.
Speaker 2: That is world class Telly. And I can say that
Speaker 2: because I'm actually barely in this I'm only in about seventeen,
Speaker 2: so I can talk about it like could complete honesty
Speaker 2: and be like, that is world class television.
Speaker 1: I had to keep checking the remote control because I'm
Speaker 1: like SBS. I mean, I love SBS, but I mean
Speaker 1: it just it just felt so incredible. And it also
Speaker 1: the mission statement behind the whole thing was just so
Speaker 1: good and so and I mean all everyone that worked
Speaker 1: on it was so good. But anyway, we're here to
Speaker 1: talk about stars.
Speaker 5: But you know, apparently apparently that's the official thy Yes back.
Speaker 1: In time and do like a like an unpacking session
Speaker 1: of that show. You know, feel free to call me
Speaker 1: back anytime.
Speaker 4: That's your best I love that.
Speaker 1: So I've got to talk to you about Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Star. So it's such a good show. I actually
Speaker 1: think this has been one of the better seasons that
Speaker 1: I've seen in a while. I can imagine, yes, why
Speaker 1: did you think that? I mean, for me, just all
Speaker 1: the performances were really electric. All the celebrities we actually
Speaker 1: knew who they were.
Speaker 2: I just loved. I loved the feeling of What is
Speaker 2: really remarkable about this show and which separates it from literally,
Speaker 2: I think any other reality show, is that the feeling
Speaker 2: backstage is so joyful and loving and really just embracing
Speaker 2: the ridiculousness of this thing that we're doing, the bunktisness and.
Speaker 3: The bravery that it asks of you.
Speaker 2: So their sense of backstage, everybody going like, hey, I
Speaker 2: know that was scary, but you looked really beautiful, and
Speaker 2: I really saw you when you mark when you like
Speaker 2: in those turns.
Speaker 4: I saw how much of your.
Speaker 3: Terms rest is last week, like how much you've grown.
Speaker 2: And so I think there's really really good dancing in
Speaker 2: this season. And I just think everybody is really nice
Speaker 2: and funny and themselves like they're all their own their
Speaker 2: own brand and flavor, Like it's not a sort of
Speaker 2: was of people like We've got It's as silks there
Speaker 2: and we had Matt Matt Matt Cravat his Instagram name,
Speaker 2: but like you know, and then the fabulous Chrissy will
Speaker 2: and Brown and that Oh my God, and Emily Weir
Speaker 2: and Joe.
Speaker 6: Are like in stil from human nature, Like everybody's got
Speaker 6: their own flavor and they're really working within their own
Speaker 6: flavor too, And I think that makes for a very
Speaker 6: varied and very rich show.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I agree. I think it's just it was
Speaker 2: just good people.
Speaker 4: That's a good thing.
Speaker 1: How does it compare to I mean, you've just done
Speaker 1: a cabaret festival in Adelaide and so there wouldn't be
Speaker 1: that feeling before you go on stage and do that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Is it a different kind of feeling
Speaker 1: when you're backstage on a TV show like this and
Speaker 1: you're performing, yeah, sort of live the whole all of Australia.
Speaker 1: I mean, what does it compare?
Speaker 2: It doesn't compare actually, partly because like my whole life,
Speaker 2: my whole performing life, which is you know, from the age.
Speaker 3: Of that it's twelve, was when I decided I wanted
Speaker 3: to do this.
Speaker 2: My skill set has been acting and singing and that's
Speaker 2: just that's where my strengths lie and that's where I
Speaker 2: feel comfortable. So when I feel nervous before I show,
Speaker 2: I can still say to myself, Hey, but you've been
Speaker 2: working towards this, or you know, like nearly thirty years,
Speaker 2: you know in your soul that you can do this
Speaker 2: with dancing. I have worked towards that for six weeks,
Speaker 2: six weeks with no previous sense of my body being
Speaker 2: a useful way to tell a story or to get
Speaker 2: my body by itself without words or without singing, without
Speaker 2: without a you know, a plot or scene around it
Speaker 2: will do the will do the storytelling work that I want.
Speaker 2: So it was like discovering that my body could do
Speaker 2: that at the same time as the audience was discovering.
Speaker 5: That my body should do that. Is that strest.
Speaker 2: It's wild to think that we true, like I truly
Speaker 2: didn't know that I could move like that and that
Speaker 2: I could rely on my body to remember those moves
Speaker 2: and to sell those moves until I did it in
Speaker 2: front of the audience, in front of the camera. And
Speaker 2: that's a very that's a very exposing, beautiful feeling with
Speaker 2: the team, but it's a it's a pretty exposing place
Speaker 2: to be in too, And I suppose that's actually also
Speaker 2: what people are tuning in to watch, not to see failure,
Speaker 2: but to see people who they think they sort of know,
Speaker 2: the put together version of to see them totally and
Speaker 2: it's overused raise totally out of their comfort zone. And
Speaker 2: then you just then you actually just see the real
Speaker 2: person going through.
Speaker 3: Like how do people deal with this level of breast
Speaker 3: and confusion and.
Speaker 2: Lack of lack of assortedness, And then you then you
Speaker 2: just see the real person.
Speaker 3: And that's again that we come back to the fact that.
Speaker 2: Like they really were just very good, very good hearted
Speaker 2: people in that show, so that when you saw them
Speaker 2: totally in the shit, you don't go.
Speaker 3: Or it's you know, it's Carcraft celebs and you go, look.
Speaker 4: At you, you beautiful thing.
Speaker 6: You look at it, right, it's really lovely.
Speaker 3: He's say.
Speaker 2: Still was my favorite for that because that man has
Speaker 2: never never even thought about dancing in his life, and
Speaker 2: he found such musicality and he really grew as a
Speaker 2: dancer and as a performer over the the whole season.
Speaker 2: Like I just love watching him grow and watching him
Speaker 2: kind of blossom.
Speaker 3: Un Sage, I thought that was beautiful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was good. I mean, I think you and
Speaker 1: him particularly worked out the best way to do this
Speaker 1: is to sell the performances, like for both of you,
Speaker 1: for any time that there could be a slight second
Speaker 1: where it's not going the way that you just could
Speaker 1: over sell that part. Is that how you felt about it?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I didn't know that that was a useful skill set
Speaker 2: that I had until somebody mentioned it.
Speaker 3: It was like maybe like week three.
Speaker 2: Somebody was like, yeah, but you're selling it with your face,
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh yeah, because the only times
Speaker 2: that I've ever had to dance before has been like
Speaker 2: a box step in a musical. But when you're in
Speaker 2: a musical, you don't want to let the other incredible
Speaker 2: dancers down by by drawing attention to yourself by by
Speaker 2: looking out of place. So I was like, oh, yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: I can definitely I can do up here for dancing.
Speaker 2: But I did what I didn't have the skill set
Speaker 2: for was also down.
Speaker 3: There for dancing.
Speaker 2: You know, the feet was the feeble, the whole different thing.
Speaker 2: But keeping the smile on my face and like that
Speaker 2: feeling of selling a dunce or selling it as selling
Speaker 2: a move or a stape. That was a really useful
Speaker 2: thing to know that I had in my skill set.
Speaker 2: But again, yes, didn't know that I had. And I
Speaker 2: think also there was something for me where I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that. Actually, of course, my job as
Speaker 2: an accent is also to look at people and go,
Speaker 2: all right, where are you holding your weight right now? Oh?
Speaker 3: Your shoulders a little more slump.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's probably like to look and to observe
Speaker 2: people and to put my observations of those people in
Speaker 2: my own body.
Speaker 3: So I also think.
Speaker 2: That that served me again surprisingly well, that I recognized
Speaker 2: that one of the things that I was doing with Ian,
Speaker 2: my partner all the time, was going, well, yeah, but
Speaker 2: what your hip is slightly?
Speaker 4: Oh right, so you've got your so your weight is
Speaker 4: astley and.
Speaker 2: Your back foot at that point okay, okay, So like
Speaker 2: that's literally the job as an actor is to observe
Speaker 2: other human beings and try and put those qualities on
Speaker 2: their body. So I feel like I also had a
Speaker 2: little trick I'm very grateful for.
Speaker 1: I just have noticed and someone pointed it out recently
Speaker 1: about my favorite actors, and it all comes down to
Speaker 1: that style of acting which I didn't know was of you.
Speaker 1: I'm not an actor, so I didn't know it. You're
Speaker 1: very good in the moment, Like there's something very convincing
Speaker 1: because you can see you thinking in the role, Like
Speaker 1: even you know through I know that this sounds you're
Speaker 1: you're an actor. You're like, you're an idiot, that's what
Speaker 1: this job is about.
Speaker 2: But no, no, I love it.
Speaker 1: But I can see it in that you're thinking and
Speaker 1: you're reacting like you're absorbing the performance in front of you.
Speaker 1: You're in character and you're consuming that. And I hadn't
Speaker 1: realized that that was the thing that was the magic
Speaker 1: between what I as an audience, like with actors, and
Speaker 1: that's been with you, you know, through all saints and
Speaker 1: winners and losers, Savage River, and I just think that
Speaker 1: that's sort of the magic with you, is that there's
Speaker 1: a very authentic interaction between your gaze, like the way
Speaker 1: in which you're watching what's in front of you.
Speaker 4: You really beautiful thing to say.
Speaker 2: I really appreciate that you that's the common I think
Speaker 2: I was talking to some kids that whopper the other
Speaker 2: day because I'm a whapper girl and I was over
Speaker 2: there doing syrh at the per festival, and I was taught.
Speaker 2: I went back to my school and I spoke to
Speaker 2: the kids there that I mean, they're not kids for
Speaker 2: young adults, you know the university study. Yeah, but I
Speaker 2: was talking about how actually, that's what an audience is
Speaker 2: paying to see, electricity between two people. And it doesn't
Speaker 2: matter what form that's in, whether it's love or whether
Speaker 2: it's you know, pay off, or whether it's a fight
Speaker 2: scene or whatever it is. But they're paying to see that.
Speaker 2: So as as authentically as you can find that and
Speaker 2: let that exist between two performers on stage, or if
Speaker 2: you're doing a direct address to an audience, or if
Speaker 2: you're in a one person show, the electricity between you
Speaker 2: and the audience, Like, that's what people are paying to experience.
Speaker 4: It's absolutely true.
Speaker 2: Like that's the that's the dynamics. And with them stand
Speaker 2: up to the moment.
Speaker 3: When we can dig here, not as a.
Speaker 2: Stand up but just doing some shows here with a
Speaker 2: lot of I'm like, yeah, that thing the thing that
Speaker 2: I do in a scene with an actor, you do
Speaker 2: directly to an audience with an audience, and you play
Speaker 2: with an audience like it's the other actor in the scene.
Speaker 2: And I found that quite exhilarating to watch and also
Speaker 2: to to just sort of unpack and be like, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's it, that's it, that's that's.
Speaker 4: What we're selling.
Speaker 1: But that's sort of the commodity. I mean, that's what
Speaker 1: connects with an audience. Because I remember even I was
Speaker 1: in New York and went along to this is going
Speaker 1: to be really random, so come with me. But I
Speaker 1: went to New York and a friend of mine, he
Speaker 1: works in the biz, said do you want to come
Speaker 1: along with the Lincoln Center and see Meryl Street being
Speaker 1: inducted into the Hall of Fame. And yes, of course
Speaker 1: we sat so far back that she was very small,
Speaker 1: but it was definitely worth it anyway, it was so amazing.
Speaker 1: And she talked about the acting that people have connected
Speaker 1: with her, and she said it always comes down to
Speaker 1: what she studied in people and then making that look
Speaker 1: real on camera. And she said, the key to that
Speaker 1: is the thinking in the moment. The key to that
Speaker 1: is happen you yourself are in character as that person,
Speaker 1: and you can do the things that we kind of
Speaker 1: see people do on the train, you know, when they're
Speaker 1: by themselves, nuances like once they're unlocked. That's what I
Speaker 1: think we connect to her, and I think that's something
Speaker 1: that from being in your audience that I've seen you
Speaker 1: do time and time again with so many different roles.
Speaker 3: So a lovely talk on a Friday morning.
Speaker 1: Up, I'll call you every Friday, Mate, I'll call you
Speaker 1: every Friday.
Speaker 2: We'll have a come on Friday talk.
Speaker 5: Here we go.
Speaker 1: But you know what, it's interesting when you see someone
Speaker 1: like you. When I heard you were doing Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Stars, I was very excited about it because I'm like,
Speaker 1: I love you as an actress. I think you're phenomenal.
Speaker 1: But then I wondered whether or not you've been asked
Speaker 1: to do these sorts of celebrity shows before, because there's
Speaker 1: so many of them in this country. I'm sure that
Speaker 1: they've been asking you. What made you say yes to
Speaker 1: this one?
Speaker 3: Yeah, great question. This is the only one that I
Speaker 3: would do.
Speaker 2: And the reason for that is twofold one is that
Speaker 2: I have always wanted to learn to dance.
Speaker 4: I have or it's just such a hunger in me.
Speaker 2: And I know that my little ADHD brain I would
Speaker 2: never learn unless I did it intensively for five or
Speaker 2: six hours a day for one stretch of time. You know,
Speaker 2: my brain doesn't work in any other way.
Speaker 4: It's called hyperfixation.
Speaker 2: But but also my schedule as a you know, as a
Speaker 2: gigging actor, means that every single week is different. Every
Speaker 2: you know, I'm in a different state. I'm currently in
Speaker 2: Melbourne and I will only be here for two days.
Speaker 2: So the idea of going to a Saturday morning dance
Speaker 2: class just would never work for me because I would
Speaker 2: never get enough routine enough to actually to get into it,
Speaker 2: you know what, I mean, to actually really enjoy and
Speaker 2: learn and grow. So that was the first reason. The
Speaker 2: second reason was that I called every single person who
Speaker 2: I knew who had done dancing for Stars, and I said,
Speaker 2: I need to be extremely clear about this. Is there
Speaker 2: anything that is nasty or mean or competitive about the format,
Speaker 2: about the like, about the setup? Yeah, for sure, exactly
Speaker 2: are you do you feel like do people get painted
Speaker 2: as villains? Do they like do all of that stuff?
Speaker 2: And every single person said absolutely not.
Speaker 4: That's all there for joy.
Speaker 2: It's it's a completely ridiculous, vulnerable thing to do, and
Speaker 2: it may need from joy and the vibe backstage is joyful.
Speaker 2: And that I was like, fantastic, and I'm in I
Speaker 2: have no interest in I mean, I said this before,
Speaker 2: I have no interest in anything that. Actually I didn't
Speaker 2: say this, I said this on a different interview. Like,
Speaker 2: I tried to think about this entire experience not as
Speaker 2: a competition.
Speaker 3: In fact, if I thought about it as a competition.
Speaker 2: At all, I could feel the joy leaching away from me.
Speaker 2: So the only job I meditated twice a day that
Speaker 2: was also a beautiful thing for me to just actually go,
Speaker 2: like just disconnect from your ego, to be just like
Speaker 2: just sit in the space and become still and quiet.
Speaker 2: I knew that if I thought about the marks or
Speaker 2: the comments, or even what people would think when they
Speaker 2: saw the show, when an audience was watching this, if
Speaker 2: I thought about that, I knew that I would lose
Speaker 2: the joy or And I wanted this experience to be
Speaker 2: joyful for me because it's mad and.
Speaker 4: Because it's vulnerable and exposing.
Speaker 2: So it happened to joy for me. And weirdly, as
Speaker 2: a result of that, I think I have been doing
Speaker 2: very well. Like I'm really I'm very surprised by that.
Speaker 2: I was really prepared to. I considered myself a very
Speaker 2: very bad mover, so I was really prepared to be like,
Speaker 2: do not spot at all basically.
Speaker 1: And perfect schools, which most people never get, never in
Speaker 1: their life.
Speaker 2: I know, and I think, like, I just picked that's
Speaker 2: because I wasn't pursuing a perfect score. I wasn't pursuing
Speaker 2: the numbers. I was pursuing joy in the act of dancing.
Speaker 3: That's it.
Speaker 1: It's funny that you say about calling people. I was
Speaker 1: in Ireland and got a call to do the show,
Speaker 1: like it was just an availability check. They never ended
Speaker 1: up offering me to do the show. I think it
Speaker 1: was in twenty fourteen. It was a while ago, about
Speaker 1: ten years ago. And I rang Brendan Vavola's what What's
Speaker 1: with the Stars? And so I rang Brendan Favola's wife,
Speaker 1: who she done the makeup for one of my really
Speaker 1: good friends for a wedding. So I had her number
Speaker 1: because I was there and we met whatever, and so
Speaker 1: I rank her and I said, look, I've just been
Speaker 1: asked to do Dancing with the Stars. What should I do?
Speaker 1: And she said, best experience of my entire life. She's like, honestly,
Speaker 1: I had so much fun. The people are so supportive.
Speaker 1: She's like, I do it again in a heartbeat. Can
Speaker 1: you please suggest an all star season? Because so I
Speaker 1: can do it again. I was like, now, and it's
Speaker 1: so good because you do often when you get usked
Speaker 1: to do, I get us to do the worst shows ever,
Speaker 1: like you're much more credible. You do get that fear
Speaker 1: when the call comes, because if the next reaction is no,
Speaker 1: am I going to look silly? Am I going to
Speaker 1: get something out of this?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: Or am I beings as some sort of entertainment of
Speaker 1: a mockery? You know? Like is that we all instinctively
Speaker 1: get that straight away? You know?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think there was something too about coping with
Speaker 2: the sas where I had to say, I will look silly,
Speaker 2: like I can't die, So I had to also be
Speaker 2: okay with that.
Speaker 1: You never did like you never do, not bless.
Speaker 2: But baby, you have not seen the rehearsals. Like the packages,
Speaker 2: the ninety second packages do not do justice to where
Speaker 2: I came from.
Speaker 3: In my Beautiful Dance partner occasionally.
Speaker 2: Would just say do you remember you in the first week,
Speaker 2: and I'd be like, yes, see, and I do because
Speaker 2: I've lived like that my entire life. The number of
Speaker 2: times you have to say to me, no, darling, your
Speaker 2: other last yep, sorry, sorry, yep, yep, got it, got it?
Speaker 1: Which dance was to learn? I mean they all look
Speaker 1: quite complicated. I mean it'd be easy to say that
Speaker 1: the favorite one is going to be you know what
Speaker 1: You've got your tens for? Which was the feeling good?
Speaker 1: I think it was the Fox trocke.
Speaker 5: Yes totally sucked right, Yeah, I think, I mean I do.
Speaker 2: I did love doing that because of the way you
Speaker 2: are required to move in that it's very much it's
Speaker 2: much more my style, very slow, very elegant rather than
Speaker 2: but powerful and dynamic as well too. And I loved
Speaker 2: the feeling that because of the place that it moved out,
Speaker 2: I had the chance to complete each stape that I
Speaker 2: wanted to make, if that makes sense, because it felt
Speaker 2: like there was time to do it. But I think
Speaker 2: the biggest challenge for me was the quick step and
Speaker 2: the fact that I actually got through the quick step,
Speaker 2: even while making a pretty significant spake and going off
Speaker 2: on the wrong foot at one point. I'm sorry, Ian,
Speaker 2: I will always, I will forever be apologizing to port
Speaker 2: Ian for that was that would that I just didn't
Speaker 2: think I would be able to do that, and so
Speaker 2: achieving that like two minutes dance, which as I said,
Speaker 2: is like sprinting for.
Speaker 5: Two minutes total, but then.
Speaker 1: You know you've got nines across the word. I mean,
Speaker 1: that was funny. You were either all eights or nines
Speaker 1: all tens. I just love that painted black and thought
Speaker 1: because it was the first time we saw you in
Speaker 1: the in the competition. I really, for some reason, that's
Speaker 1: my favorite performance of yours. So it just goes just
Speaker 1: I couldn't be a judge because that was the one
Speaker 1: that we got love score for. So I have no
Speaker 1: idea about dancing, but I was there for the theatrics
Speaker 1: of it, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean, wasn't that glorious?
Speaker 2: That's Tim Chappell, who's, you know, one of the most
Speaker 2: amazing designers in the world.
Speaker 5: How much do you have out this?
Speaker 1: I mean, I would expeact.
Speaker 3: Probably not enough enough.
Speaker 4: It's an enormous amount of work.
Speaker 1: I don't want them, but I'm just like, this man
Speaker 1: is incredible, Like these rooms are incredible. Yeah, did you
Speaker 1: You're doing the dance, enjoying the rehearsal, and they're measuring
Speaker 1: you up and there's all of that happening. Do you
Speaker 1: get any creative control over those outfits or do they
Speaker 1: just turn up? Thank you so much all the very best.
Speaker 2: You don't get any creative control that you can say
Speaker 2: this is pinching me here, or I can't move in this,
Speaker 2: or I need to pick my leg, I would love
Speaker 2: a swift here, or you can you know, you know,
Speaker 2: you can occasionally say I don't feel like there's something
Speaker 2: about this that sits in my body in a in
Speaker 2: a shape that doesn't make me feel super confident. That's
Speaker 2: a really good thing, and that's and certainly being able
Speaker 2: to articulate that is again part of the loving feelings.
Speaker 3: So they're not going to put you in.
Speaker 2: Stuff that you don't feel positive about and that you
Speaker 2: don't feel common them in.
Speaker 3: But it is like it's super exposing.
Speaker 2: Also because you know, none of I'm not a personally
Speaker 2: were sequence like, but I'm saying I essentially dressed like
Speaker 2: a farm girl most of the time, you know, flaid
Speaker 2: shirts and gum boots, like I'm auditioning from a cloud
Speaker 2: daughters right now constantly, constantly, So that sense to like
Speaker 2: hyper sam or like high power. Even the suits that
Speaker 2: we will for the quick step, it's still like not
Speaker 2: a style that I'm used to like wearing and selling.
Speaker 2: So that's also a thing where you.
Speaker 4: And they're also big.
Speaker 2: They've been made for spectacle, they're not made for fashion
Speaker 2: or for your own personal sort of life. So you
Speaker 2: put them on and feel larger than life. And you know,
Speaker 2: certainly that first outfit, the Evil Queen, I put it on.
Speaker 4: And I was like, well, fucking no acting required, Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: I'll just stand there and you know that in the
Speaker 2: corset and the headdress and the eye make up.
Speaker 4: I was like, okay, I see her.
Speaker 1: Holes wearing that.
Speaker 5: You know, No, I didn't.
Speaker 2: Thought about it, thought about it, just keeping out gut
Speaker 2: and I had a cigarette.
Speaker 3: Did anybody want to cut?
Speaker 1: I just also think you'd have PTSD for the rest
Speaker 1: of your life. Like you'd hear a tin a little
Speaker 1: bit of the music, you'd see the costume which hopefully
Speaker 1: you have a go and Ian walks past you on
Speaker 1: the streets at Sydney and you'd you know, obviously have
Speaker 1: a breakdown. Like I feel like the style of this show,
Speaker 1: because of how much you're giving yourself up mentally, mentally
Speaker 1: and physically, just just going to have a reaction with
Speaker 1: you for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and the level of adrenaline and cort assault that
Speaker 2: floods my system when I hear the opening bars of
Speaker 2: Paint It Black, or or any of the other songs
Speaker 2: that were done to It's just wild to me.
Speaker 3: I could still feel it.
Speaker 4: And also, I will tell you something super strange.
Speaker 2: I was watching it. I was watching the episode, whatever
Speaker 2: episode it was, maybe it was a foxtra. I was
Speaker 2: watching it with someone, and my body was to echoes
Speaker 2: of the movements on screen. My body was preparing, like
Speaker 2: I could feel my back muscles tense, preparing to lean
Speaker 2: back and make a shape. I could feel my I
Speaker 2: could I could feel my leg twitch as I knew
Speaker 2: I needed to take a big ship out.
Speaker 5: Which is wild.
Speaker 1: Wild. But do you know what's so funny? You're saying that?
Speaker 1: And this is going to people also think that I'm weird.
Speaker 1: This podcast is called When Ben was Weird with Virginia Game.
Speaker 1: I remember watching a show that I did for the ABC,
Speaker 1: and it's such an it's such a weird thing to
Speaker 1: watch yourself back. And you don't always watch your shows back,
Speaker 1: maybe for this reason. Yeah, but I was watching it
Speaker 1: back and I was shadowing. My face was shadowing what
Speaker 1: I was saying on this show. Because it's me. Oh
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean. Like I'm watching it
Speaker 1: back and it's me, Like that's just who I am.
Speaker 1: I'm being myself in that it was for you can't
Speaker 1: guess that to the ABC and very animated while I
Speaker 1: was telling all the stories and everything. But while I
Speaker 1: was watching it with people, people were looking at me
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, they're a weird because I was
Speaker 1: mimicking it back to myself because I was, oh, do
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like it was very strange.
Speaker 1: And then I was like, oh God, I can't watch anything.
Speaker 1: I can't watch anything of myself anymore because it's like
Speaker 1: it's like I'm shadowing myself or something. It's trying to
Speaker 1: reaffirm what I'm doing.
Speaker 5: So like it that is really interesting.
Speaker 2: We're just little monkeys, you know, We're just little monkeys
Speaker 2: with big brains and stupid problems, and we.
Speaker 1: Get big brains for me, not so much.
Speaker 5: It's big of.
Speaker 2: Brains and monkeys, is what I'm saying, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You know. But like that thing where if you're so
Speaker 2: an animal or mirror, it'll be like wait what wait
Speaker 2: wait what what? Maybe that's it. It's out it's that
Speaker 2: prehistoric part of our brains where you're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's okay. We're just we're just little mammals, little mammals,
Speaker 2: little confused mammals.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I think it's wild, like this whole business. Like,
Speaker 1: I think it's the reason why I've always been fascinated
Speaker 1: with it is there's a there's a human psychology. I'm
Speaker 1: now sending like Oprah or something. I'm making it sound
Speaker 1: more than it is. But you know, there's something very
Speaker 1: fascinating about the human condition of being able to explore
Speaker 1: it in different facets, even as far as dancing with
Speaker 1: the stars, you know what I mean, Like, it's it's fascinating, yeah,
Speaker 1: human watching, Yes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, agree.
Speaker 2: And that's again that's again when you when you watch
Speaker 2: a great scene, when you watch a great scene of
Speaker 2: the drama, you're you want to see people without their
Speaker 2: armor on, just connecting in some in some way. Right.
Speaker 2: And then this again, in a completely different way, you're
Speaker 2: sort of asking to see the same thing. You're asking
Speaker 2: to see people who you think you know without their
Speaker 2: armor on and just their little souls going dealing with accidents,
Speaker 2: dealing with trauma, dealing with fear, dealing with joy, like
Speaker 2: processing joy. One of My favorite responses was was watching
Speaker 2: Honalie Weir get like four tens for her contemporary piece.
Speaker 4: And the joy that flooded through her and Liu was just.
Speaker 2: Beautiful to w and I was like, that's that's it,
Speaker 2: that's what we want to see.
Speaker 3: We want to see that electricity.
Speaker 2: And it comes in. It has to not come easily.
Speaker 2: And again that's the same thing in a great scene.
Speaker 2: You don't want to nobody automatically just goes to the
Speaker 2: heart of the matter, the truth of the matter. You
Speaker 2: find ways through with your scene partner, and people put
Speaker 2: up walls and you've got to get around them in
Speaker 2: obstacles and objectives and all of that, and then you
Speaker 2: earn something crue in the scene. And that's I think
Speaker 2: that's what you are sort of seeing in a little
Speaker 2: version of Duncing with the Stars too. You're seeing obstacles, objectives,
Speaker 2: and then a reward or sometimes too a disappointment and
Speaker 2: you see people dealing with disappointment, and that's very beautiful too.
Speaker 1: It resonates, It resonates with us all. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: where those shows work best, is where we as an
Speaker 1: product can see ours alls on screen, we can feel
Speaker 1: that emotion we can relate.
Speaker 4: Yes, exactly, because we're just mammals.
Speaker 5: We're just mimics.
Speaker 2: We're just creatures looking for community and going. That feels
Speaker 2: real to me, That feels like what I feel like.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm not alone.
Speaker 5: It's so true.
Speaker 1: That's that's the best way of saying it. We are
Speaker 1: all looking for community. I think that's the best way
Speaker 1: I'm saying that we want to feel.
Speaker 5: A part of something totally. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh well, that's not what I thought.
Speaker 5: I was I very deep.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't even know. I had so
Speaker 1: many questions to ask you, but I'm just I'm running
Speaker 1: out of the time, so I just will quickly ask
Speaker 1: you about the judges because people always want to know
Speaker 1: about them. Did you have a particular judge that you
Speaker 1: were scared of? Did you think they were too mean?
Speaker 1: What was your relationship with them?
Speaker 2: And I think a really useful thing to remember is
Speaker 2: that it's all theater, including the judges, like it's there.
Speaker 4: Those people are all of them.
Speaker 2: Very nice people, and they're playing the roles of the
Speaker 2: main judge or the you know, they're providing a bit
Speaker 2: of friction and drama. Right, So Todd and Craig are
Speaker 2: both two of the nicest people you could ever meet, and.
Speaker 1: They are a few times and the first time I
Speaker 1: interviewed him was in person in a radio studio, and
Speaker 1: there was a small part of me that was scared,
Speaker 1: you know, I was like, oh yeah, And then he
Speaker 1: came in. He was so disarming and so kind, so
Speaker 1: generous as well, but not in the way that it
Speaker 1: probably sounds like he was generous in his conversation, like thoughtful, yes,
Speaker 1: and yeah, it was very quiet. And then I don't know,
Speaker 1: did you watch him in Significant Others as well last year?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're so good in that.
Speaker 5: He was so good, that good.
Speaker 1: In that, Like I don't know what was going on
Speaker 1: with him at the moment, whether he's going into more acting,
Speaker 1: but he is a very generous actor as well. Like
Speaker 1: his performance in Me.
Speaker 3: I loved him in Significant Others.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it was really really It was also such
Speaker 2: a great The flavor of him in that very heavy
Speaker 2: drama was so great because it was light and it
Speaker 2: was funny, you know, it was it was a really
Speaker 2: important flavor which allowed you to consume the drama.
Speaker 5: Better, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2: You gave you a little lightness, a little breathing point
Speaker 2: a little laugh, a little relief, and then back into
Speaker 2: loss and pain.
Speaker 3: And that was really smart.
Speaker 2: But again same with Craig, Like Craig has been employed
Speaker 2: to be the evil judge, the you know, the bad one,
Speaker 2: the main one, and here's a laughing, smiling, ridiculous human
Speaker 2: being in the best possible way in the real world.
Speaker 3: And it was so nice to spend some time with.
Speaker 2: And that's the other thing too that they actually, like
Speaker 2: they say, like they make sure that after the shows,
Speaker 2: especially when people are going home have been eliminated, that
Speaker 2: they make sure that there are these big group meetings
Speaker 2: with the judges. And you get this, you get this
Speaker 2: sense that again this is all this is a community,
Speaker 2: the whole thing is a community, and that these people
Speaker 2: are serving a function within the community and you know,
Speaker 2: serving the structure of the story that was their whole series.
Speaker 2: But it's like they were just so kind and so silly,
Speaker 2: and obviously Shana is actually like a radiant like beam
Speaker 2: of life at all times and so kind, so so kind.
Speaker 2: And Mark Wilson and I did It Takes two together
Speaker 2: seventeen years ago, fifteen years ago. So I knew Mark
Speaker 2: from that when he was a contestant isn't that wild?
Speaker 2: So I was like, but that was the thing, like
Speaker 2: watching the very first episode, and you know, the scores
Speaker 2: were really like really hard on the first episode, and
Speaker 2: the comments were you know, like they were not pulling
Speaker 2: any punches in the first episode. And because we weren't
Speaker 2: in the first episode, you know, we were there watching
Speaker 2: that we weren't performing. It was actually kind of useful
Speaker 2: to see it from the outside and go, oh, that's like,
Speaker 2: it's all theater. All of this is a performance. Possibly,
Speaker 2: and I say this with great love, none of this
Speaker 2: means anything. You know, it actually doesn't. If you didn't
Speaker 2: dance well, it does not actually reflect badly on you.
Speaker 3: As a person, you know that kind of thing. So
Speaker 3: it was great to see it.
Speaker 2: From the outside and be like, oh, yeah, we're all
Speaker 2: just telling one story, which is like, oh will it
Speaker 2: will they make it over and.
Speaker 1: Over again, And it comes down to like the shows
Speaker 1: that rate like this has done really well. Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Stars this season's been great in the ratings, and
Speaker 1: the seven are very happy with it. And an executive said,
Speaker 1: not this one. She didn't tell me it was. Another
Speaker 1: producer said to me, if you're making television, if you're
Speaker 1: making it with heart. It rates, and so he tries
Speaker 1: to make it with heart. So you can make content
Speaker 1: that sometimes can be confrontational, but if the essence behind
Speaker 1: it is hard and that you appreciate the time of
Speaker 1: everyone that's there and make everyone be the best versions
Speaker 1: of themselves, it does rate. And that's important.
Speaker 4: Isn't that great?
Speaker 2: I'm so pleased that it rates, because again, that's beyond
Speaker 2: the kind of that's beyond the kind of television that
Speaker 2: I'm interested in making.
Speaker 3: Expect week it's in the world of reality.
Speaker 2: Like honestly, I just I'm not there for it. I
Speaker 2: have no interest in anything that pits people against each other.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 2: I mean Pierre, who is again such a wonderful, warm,
Speaker 2: generous human.
Speaker 3: Being and a very fucking good dancer let's say that too, like.
Speaker 1: Good child and looks to well brilliant.
Speaker 4: She really really, it's wild to me. She has not aged,
Speaker 4: but he you know.
Speaker 3: He one survivor.
Speaker 1: I know, did you watch that season one?
Speaker 5: Mat No? It is the thing.
Speaker 2: I don't watch it because I cannot watch people being
Speaker 2: pitted against each other.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I don't, I don't want everybody did on
Speaker 3: and have a good job.
Speaker 2: So the fact that kind of vibe, I'm like, I
Speaker 2: couldn't do that. And to see that Pierre, who as
Speaker 2: I said, is just a big hearted, glorious human being,
Speaker 2: could do that, I'm like, it's very impressive, but it's
Speaker 2: not in my wheelhouse. But I will learn to dance
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 4: I would love to do that water thrill.
Speaker 1: Well. The last question I get for you is something
Speaker 1: I ask every single person who joins the podcast, and
Speaker 1: that is what is something from behind the scenes, something
Speaker 1: that we didn't see that we won't see that you
Speaker 1: can reveal as kind of a bit of a behind
Speaker 1: the scenes secret of your time on dancing with the style.
Speaker 4: Oh what a great question.
Speaker 1: It's hard, you know what. I asked one person once
Speaker 1: and he was like, oh, I don't know, and then
Speaker 1: he just something just came to mind, and then I looked,
Speaker 1: I don't I should have Google alerts on myself, but
Speaker 1: I don't. Anyway, it was a few days later I
Speaker 1: looked and there was there was like fifty stories right
Speaker 1: across the world about this one story that he told.
Speaker 1: And I rang him and I said, have you been
Speaker 1: and he's like yes, he's like your podcast. He was like,
Speaker 1: I thought it was just me echoing in down the
Speaker 1: phone to nobody, and I was like, yeah, sane, And
Speaker 1: it was literally went viral because that story, which he.
Speaker 2: Just love it.
Speaker 3: Will you tell me that story?
Speaker 2: So barked mine.
Speaker 1: Oh well it was. He's the executive producer of By
Speaker 1: a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here, and he's we
Speaker 1: were watching one of the contestants one day. He was
Speaker 1: just telling a story to one or the other. I
Speaker 1: don't know what they call them, camp mate, celebrit it
Speaker 1: is whatever, and you know, he revealed a story about
Speaker 1: how he met a very famous woman and they started
Speaker 1: a relationship. However, he ran off the set and through
Speaker 1: the trees to find a producer and said, you cannot
Speaker 1: put that on television because I said dates and times
Speaker 1: and I was still married at the time. And they
Speaker 1: were like, wow, get back to the jungle and firm
Speaker 1: who that celebrity was. And it went everywhere in the
Speaker 1: UK because people thought it was Shane Warn but it
Speaker 1: went viral.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: But like, you know, you can tell a story that's
Speaker 1: just even a funny anecdote, like you know, you fell
Speaker 1: over or I don't know, you know what, Ian one
Speaker 1: day I told you you were the worst dncer of
Speaker 1: all time or the best dancer. Oh, it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be that. It's fascinating.
Speaker 3: I know, I'm just going to think.
Speaker 4: I'm trying to think of something like truly thrilling.
Speaker 1: God you Gabrielle or Francis or one of your car
Speaker 1: the names by mistake.
Speaker 3: No, he was from England.
Speaker 2: He didn't know who I was. Blessing he was. He
Speaker 2: was starting to watch winners and losers though, as like
Speaker 2: on the plane on the way over and he was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: I know, I know, I know about Francis.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh yes, sure, sure, Like was he going, oh,
Speaker 1: well I'm dancing in this one? Well I should probably be.
Speaker 1: And then he could ask you, ye some questions like
Speaker 1: you know what what did happen to? Totally, that's a
Speaker 1: good enough secret to be honest with you. That's I'm
Speaker 1: happy to leave that in.
Speaker 5: The that he had no idea who I was, He
Speaker 5: had no idea who you wasn't hilarious And that's also.
Speaker 2: An extremely healthy place to come from. Imagine if you
Speaker 2: were like nervous or too tense about the person that
Speaker 2: you're working with. We did actually really get on and
Speaker 2: that is that is the absolute truth, which is a
Speaker 2: real treat because when you were also spending like six
Speaker 2: hours a day pressed up against someone, you know, it's
Speaker 2: a very particular level of intimacy. And so the fact
Speaker 2: that we just continue to boot with laughter constantly was
Speaker 2: so helpful. And again, I reckon probably is the reason
Speaker 2: that I was able to learn and retain so much
Speaker 2: because it was it was truly joyful.
Speaker 4: That's not a good secret, but it's true.
Speaker 1: No, that's a good secret. And it's interesting that you
Speaker 1: say that because I'll let you know that I've met
Speaker 1: any a celebrity who didn't get along with their dance partner,
Speaker 1: and that really says more about them. I think whenever
Speaker 1: I hear that story, I think that says more about
Speaker 1: you than it does about them.
Speaker 2: You know, when you go on dates with people and
Speaker 2: sometimes you feel like I can see you're a good.
Speaker 3: Person, but our chemistry isn't right. I think that's totally viable.
Speaker 2: Our pheromones are not speaking to each other, but yeah,
Speaker 2: on my pheromones would definitely be through another Ginia.
Speaker 1: I just want to say I absolutely adore you as
Speaker 1: a person that I watch on television, as a person
Speaker 1: in your audience. I have loved watching you on Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Stars. Thank you so much for saying yesterd
Speaker 1: doing it, and thank you for generosity with chatting with
Speaker 1: me this morning. It's it's a bit of a hope
Speaker 1: for it because it's been.
Speaker 3: A beautiful morning. Thank you so much, Thank you for
Speaker 3: having me