WEBVTT - Bunny ears 🐰 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:12.360 Hello, it's me Art Simone. And aren't you one lucky 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.920 bugger to have your earholes growth by my dulcet tones. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.560 But it gets even better because I am introducing you 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:24.040 to some very exciting and interesting people who theme a 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:26.960 little dull and bland on the surface. Trust me, it's 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.720 worth finding out what this person is concealing. Well, I guess, 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:32.800 I mean I actually don't know what it is. We're 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:35.800 going to find that bit out together. This is concealed 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:41.200 with Art Simone. Let's get into it. Roll the shape. 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:43.520 Hi, I'm Peter. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.040 I'm sixty six and live alone in Sydney. Everybody who 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.560 knows me to find me for how fast I drive? 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:51.040 Hello? 0:00:51.159 --> 0:01:00.920 A very dry Marchini, Churchills and Vespers are my favorite. 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.240 Well, hello, Peter, how are you today? Oh? 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:06.000 Marvelous? 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:08.560 As always good to hear. 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.760 Now, all right, you've got your nice spectacles on? Are 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:12.880 they reading glasses? 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.120 They're multifolcure, Yes. 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:17.720 A bit of both. I have some of those when 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:19.920 I have to wear glasses, but for most of the 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.039 time I am a g amazon, so I wouldn't ever 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:23.959 be seen with a pair of glasses on. My lashes 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:24.479 wouldn't fit. 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:27.560 You could always go for contact. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:31.399 That's true, that's what's in at the moment. They're glued on. 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.080 See what your glasses. You're a nice warm jumper. Did 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:35.399 you knit that jumper yourself? 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:40.600 Yeah? Nights in front of the fire. Oh yes, stoking. 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:40.880 It with coal. 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:44.880 What's the most flammable thing you've put in a fire before? 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:47.440 Probably petrol? 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:53.040 That is quite logical. Actually, all right, So you drive fast? 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:57.360 Others say that. I say I drive appropriate to the conditions. 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.680 Oh okay, do you have a bit of a lead foot? 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:06.600 Some people have said that. In fact, almost everybody says that. 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:10.040 So you're right, not an uber driver? Then I don't 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.040 think list. 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:15.480 I'm very proud of the fact that I was sixty 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.440 five before I've ever lost my license for speeding. 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:20.600 Oops. That's right. You can play at home. You can 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:25.160 get Mario Karsh. That'd be good. Okay. So what I'm 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.200 going to be doing, Peter, is asking you three questions, 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:31.480 and from the answers to those three questions, I have 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:33.720 to try and work out what it is you are 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.320 concealing from me today. Are you ready? 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:37.160 I'm ready? 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:39.679 But there was so much I'm concealing from you. 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:45.240 Well, hopefully I get one of them. Right, but I'll 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:47.920 let you know now my track record is pretty bad. 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:53.080 So first question I have for you is where in 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.920 Australia would you never go to. 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.880 I try never to go north as the true driver. 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.160 North of the Tweed River. Okay, where's the Tweed River? 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.000 Like I see you had the same geography teacher with 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:06.840 my children. 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.839 I know the Yarra and I know the Murray. Maybe 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:14.760 I should take more road trips. I'm usually in the air. 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.120 They should do that. And sometimes you're flying and they go, 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.360 if you look out the window, here's the mountain. It's this. 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.519 I would like give me like a little set of headphones, 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.560 like when you go to the gallery and they do 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:26.280 a tour, give me one of those so I can 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.120 look out the window and they could be like, that's 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:31.000 a cloud and this year is another cloud. And if 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.960 you look to your left you can see a field. 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.520 That'll be good. North of the Tweed River. Okay, Well 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:39.160 I sort of know where that is, but that's all right. 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:41.360 Where is it? It's like up near Byron Bay. 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.000 It's kind of like right on the border just before 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:45.040 you get into Queensland. 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.560 Oh, okay, never north of the Tweed River. Not going 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.240 to Queensland. Question number two, What do you value most 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:53.800 in a TV show or film? 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:55.120 Authenticity? 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:59.800 Authenticity? Okay? All right, So you don't like SpongeBob square 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:01.640 pan it so I can imagine maybe not for. 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:02.720 You, not for me. 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.400 What about Bluie? Everyone loves blue at the moment. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:07.080 I love blue? 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:12.520 Oh good? Okay, all right. And the final question I 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.200 have for you is do you have any nicknames? 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:20.960 Yes, I have a nickname that is tied to something 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:21.960 I made famous. 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:26.800 Nickname tied to something you made famous? Well, what's the nickname? 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:27.680 Give me the nickname? 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:28.200 Rabbit? 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:35.120 Rabbit? Okay, rabbit? Okay, all right, so let's recap. Okay, 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.960 not going north of the tweed into queens Then do 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.839 you like authenticity? And do you have a nickname which 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.520 is rabbit? Okay? You like a martini, and you like 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:51.000 we not SpongeBob, and you drive really fast and you're 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:56.640 not a nuber driver. Okay, all right, okay, authenticity. My 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.440 brain went to like reality television then, but then reality 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:02.920 television is very authentic, so maybe not that, okay. And 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.360 north of the tweet, it's something about a river, river, 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:15.280 wet things, fish, irrigation, oh, irrigation, Okay, and rabbit rabbit. 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:22.279 My brain just says rabbit proof fence, and I don't 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:27.159 think that's about you, rabbit nickname, that's clue, bouncing rabbit, 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:37.520 rabbit proof fencing. What are rabbit's good breeding? Bouncing, borrowing, burrowing? 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.240 All the bees? Three bees? Okay, I was really going 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:42.919 to try and get it this time, but I'm really 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.279 it's just nothing. Can I put in no answer. 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.599 I don't write the rules. You can do whatever you like. 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:50.359 It's your show. 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:54.680 Okay. For the first time in history, I'm tapping out. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.920 I'm saying pass. I cannot join the dots today. I 0:05:57.960 --> 0:05:59.600 don't know if there's just the thing shewy of the 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.160 room not correct, but I can't. I can't join it. 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.440 I'm gonna tap it out. It's a first. Everyone here 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:08.280 is to tap it out. Oh, I give up. I surrender. 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.000 I was the original voice of Big Brother. I was 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:18.719 also executive produce for the first three seasons of Big Brother. 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:21.640 I was black clad. 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:27.559 No, yeah, I haven't in reality television. I went away 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:29.480 from it. I hate myself. 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.400 I don't get the rabbit, though seremary made Bunny ravity 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:36.440 is famous. 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.679 Peter is Big Brother, the Big Brother, the original Big brother. 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:50.920 I'm so close now. Well it's good though, because I 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:52.479 got a lot of questions with his big brother. 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.960 Okay, we are here with Peter, who is in fact 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.800 the original voice of Big Brother, the executive producer for 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.400 the first three seasons down under. 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:24.760 Oh my goodness. Now just to flashback, so first three seasons? 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:28.040 Can you name some of the memorable contestants from those 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:29.400 first three seasons. 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.800 Well as their notional father I have to love them 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:37.320 more equally. But people might remember Sarah Marie, people might 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.600 remember Reggie, people might remember Christy Swan. 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.520 Oh wow, oh wow, and look at them now. But 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.640 how did it happen? Did you see another country's version 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:49.520 and say, you know what, we have to have the 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:50.160 show down here. 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:53.760 I didn't do that. That was done by people higher 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:57.040 up the tree than I was. And then I was 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.600 asked for her to the show, and I said, well, 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.720 that's your decision. If I do the show, it'll be 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.000 done the way I do shows. You have to make 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.080 up your mind as to whether or not the way 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:11.200 I do shows is to show you want. 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.480 So your role as an executive producer, what kind of 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.720 fell under the umbrella of that? What were you kind 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:18.680 of in charge of. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:23.960 Well, you were responsible for everything, so I watched and 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:29.160 re edited everything, supervised the games department who did all 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:36.160 the activities. I was responsible, legally, morally, creatively responsible to 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:36.920 the network. 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.400 And their requests remind me how long does a season 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:42.600 of Big Brother last? In terms of how many weeks 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:47.960 are they filming for? Thirteen weeks thirteen, So that's pretty intense. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.880 That's almost what like twenty four seven thirteen weeks. Yeah, 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.719 you're on call, not even mentioning like pre production. 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:57.840 Not even mentioning pre production, but you do eighteen our days, 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:02.800 twenty our days. Times I went completely without sleep. I 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.400 had a bed in my office, and the orders to 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.080 the staff was you're more likely to get sacked for 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.760 not waking me up when you should have than waking 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:15.120 me up when you didn't need to. 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.800 Well, because you were the voice of Big Brother, So 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.560 that means if anyone wanted to talk to you, you 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.400 had to be on call to go and chat to them. Right. 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:29.520 If it was going to a air, yes, but if 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:33.320 it was just we're running out of toilet paper, other 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:34.280 people could do it. 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:36.800 Oh okay, So they might sit down in the diaryum 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:38.719 and be like I need two paper they go all right, 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:41.359 here it is. But if they go I'm really emotional, 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:42.840 they go all right, will you sit there for a bit? 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:44.360 We need to go and get Big Brother. 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:45.040 That's right. 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:47.200 In the process, when did they go, oh, you should 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.040 be the voice of Big Brother? When they're like, all right, 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:50.160 you're going to be the one that. 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:56.000 Was just me getting cranky. Series one, we found it 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.480 very hard to get production crew to think about moving 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:03.960 to Queen for twenty weeks, leaving their families all that. 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.840 So we ended up with a lot of what I 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:12.120 call backpacker employees, mostly Brits, and in the first week 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:17.560 Rome was burning the edits foaks for crashing, people getting hurt. 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.480 Nothing was working properly, nothing worked as well as had 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.280 had in rehearsals. And in the middle of all of that, 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:29.360 the network guy came up and said, there are too 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:33.040 many English voices on this show. This is Big Brother Australia. 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:36.920 And I just said, oh, that's ridiculous. I'm for generation 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:42.040 argue with that, and walked into the voiceover booth and discovered, 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:43.640 oh this is fun. 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:47.880 Oh I like this. 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:51.120 I like the power. 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:54.720 Obviously, when you set up a season of Big Brother, 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.720 you kind of know what you're going to be doing 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:01.080 in terms of like environment now or do you just 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:02.520 make that up? You to go along like you're like, 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.280 all right, we're going to chuck a dog in one day. 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:06.120 You know that's going to happen. Or were you just 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.480 kind of bouncing off what the housemates were doing? 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.080 A bit of both. There was a lot of making 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:13.160 it up on the spot. You have to have a 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.800 plane from which you then deviate. 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:17.719 How much deviation is that? 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:20.000 Well quite a lot. 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:25.000 Because I discovered the joy of being live on air 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:29.200 and changing my mind about how the healthmage could be 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:33.000 treated depending on their reaction to one thing. I could 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.400 then go, oh, okay, so you're going to be like that, 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:40.120 let me do this. In most foreign countries and I 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:44.920 think after me, there's often a voiceover person who does it, 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:50.480 and the producers have to handwrite notes to the voiceover person. 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.720 But I had the advantage of being in charge and 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.840 could just back up my mind and go, let's do this. 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:59.120 Was there anyone above you who could say no? Or 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:00.640 you were just like I'm the shots. 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.880 I were cast of thousands of people with more important titles, 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.359 but they didn't ever get involved deditorially. 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:10.920 Yeah, it's crazy. There must be a lot of stuff 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:12.960 that would just end up on the cutting room floor, 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.120 but you have to be rolling just in case something 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:15.640 does happen. 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:19.480 Well, we get ninety six hours of material a day. 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:21.280 That's a lot of material. 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.040 Yeah, and that turnaround is so quick. Everything is so 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.240 overly produced these days. I agree, where they film it 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.720 in advance, they make up storylines. I was in one 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:31.960 of the shows, so I know what it's like to 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:34.560 be produced by someone with them. You know, you've got 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.599 the whole thing planned out and it comes across like 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:38.920 that on camera most of the time. 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:39.640 The way I. 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:44.000 Shore, you don't manipulate the people. You maniprate the environment 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:48.920 and then the people reacting wise that you couldn't possibly script. 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.800 So while it's all filming all right, so you know, 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:55.720 they phrased it that you know, they don't see anyone else, 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.280 it's just them. They see each other, they speak to 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.680 this voice. But were there any you had to go 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:02.560 into the Big brother House off camera to try and 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.480 resolve something you couldn't do just as a voiceover. 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:09.680 Once and I can't discuss it because it's in contempt 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:10.240 of court. 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:11.440 Sallacious. 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:13.839 I used to do what I called the last rites 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.360 with them before they went into the house, and I said, 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.280 you have to tell me anything that might come up 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:23.280 in the press so I can protect you. Never occurred 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.920 to this person to tell me that she'd been involved 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.400 in a crime and she's scared of living daylights out 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.080 of the rest of the housemates. Once she had won 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.920 too many drinks and started making up stories that weren't 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:42.480 even true, so I sent out called the psychologists who 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.880 came down from Brisburne, and she and I went in 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:50.440 for a couple of hours and settled everything down. I 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.760 even went so far as to send someone to the 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.800 twenty four hour service station and got some hamburgers. 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.440 As long as someone's fed, they're usually happy. The last 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.319 thing you can do to someone is limit their nibbles, 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.480 and then they make it a bit stoppy. 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.800 It's so luxurious by comparison to their ordinary food. 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.760 Were there any days when you were there and you go, 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:19.520 there is nothing today, like these guys are boring. Were 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.400 there any times you're like, what are we going to do? Oh? 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:25.680 No, it bored me as your friend. Many days of 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:30.480 the week, the producer who was assigned to tomorrow's show would 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.120 come bursting into my office about eight o'clock at night 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:36.960 and say I don't have a show. I don't have 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:38.440 a show. I'm going to have to put it in 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:42.840 an activity. And I would watch my food for a 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:47.360 bit and say, no, just let them boil. And of 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:51.720 course something that you could never have imagined anyone would 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:56.400 do would happen when a girl called Turkan decided that 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.240 she was going to leave the house in the middle 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.760 of another wise I was highly structured show. We shut 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.520 off the rest of the story, and the story became 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:10.960 about Turkey and wanting to leave, and we stayed on 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:16.960 air with this drama until after eleven. We actually kept 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:18.360 Rove off air. 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.920 And not Rove Live. 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:25.160 Rove Live couldn't be live. And I came out of 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:29.480 the outside broadcast truck and someone walked up to me 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:33.960 and said that was fantastic television. And I said, well, 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:35.680 I only wish I'd thought of it. 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.320 I wish I could claim it is my idea. 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:44.920 Yeah, because people do things that you would never dare script. 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.120 I think the first three seasons were like the Golden Era, 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.680 They're amazing. So were you part of casting. 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:56.640 The first one? I cast almost by myself, and then 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.120 it was a huge hit and then I suddenly had 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.520 a retinue of people who wanted to be attached to 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:07.080 a hit, and the second series was cast. I thought 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.120 not as well because it was done as a committee. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.200 And at the end of series two, I said, I 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:16.440 don't care. It doesn't have to be me, but one 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:20.280 person has to cast this show, and the cast has 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.840 to make sense to them. A Series two cast it 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:27.680 didn't make sense. I couldn't make it do things because 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.360 the dynamics between the people weren't correct. 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.320 How hard was it to cast the first season when 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.040 in reality you didn't really know what the beast was 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:37.480 yet you were kind of making it up as you 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.520 go along. You could obviously look overseas, but yeah, how 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.000 did you pick what you were looking for? 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.240 Well, you just kind of know. 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.160 The main thing was we were making a show that, 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:52.000 unlike the overseas ones, we were running at seven o'clock, 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:56.440 So we had to be child friendly, family friendly in 0:16:56.480 --> 0:17:00.640 that seven o'clock show, and that effects who you cast. Effectively, 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.879 we were running against Home and Away, and so we 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:09.120 had to provide an alternative to Home and Away that 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.080 was as cheerful and engaging. 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:16.520 So what was the casting process like for the years 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:17.000 you were there. 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:25.160 Every potential contestant went to two different casting sorts whatever 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.600 else you want to call them, and I made them 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.280 rank them on a scale of one to five. And 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:35.879 I was really interested in the double, five, five, and zero. 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:40.159 I wasn't very interested in anyone that was two, three, 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:45.719 four maybe, But basically the most interesting characters were the 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.720 ones who got a zero from one and a five 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.640 from the other, the polarizing people. 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:54.840 And then when you get those characters, how do you 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:57.119 then interview them to find their stories. 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:01.680 They did quite detailed biographies of themselves and lots answered 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:02.680 lots of questions. 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.800 There was a lot of paperwork, and. 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.399 Then we would have casting days where forty or fifty 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.440 people would be invited to come along and play some 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.880 games and talk to each other and engage in activities. 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.119 And then as I saw people I thought you were interesting, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.040 I would drag them aside and give them an interview. 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:27.840 And it sounds terrible that I really knew i'd found somebody. 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:32.000 When they cried, well, it means they're willing to show 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:34.280 emotion around other people. 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:39.200 Well, I felt like I'd found there in a self, right. 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.439 I didn't do anything mean to make them cry, but 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.879 if you just keep asking people, and why say that yes, 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.719 eventually I'll get somewhere. Well, I'll cry. 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:54.000 Well, it's true. I've always wondered because I did drag Race, 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.080 and I always wondered if they had like a file 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:58.280 about me where they're like, all right, here's all the 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:01.600 information on this one. We can tap into this, tap 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:05.119 into that. Were there little you know, guardbooks on the housemates. 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.040 There was an approved biography that all the crew members 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:13.679 got and then everything else was withheld for privacy. But 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:18.000 I had their psyche reports, I had their application forms, 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:22.040 I had their application tapes. I had everything at my fingertips. 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:26.280 What was the process for kind of getting someone acclimatized 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:28.040 back into the world, you know, because there's a lot 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.080 of stuff to catch up on. They've obviously been broadcast 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.320 across the country and everyone knows who they are. Was 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:36.160 there kind of a process in there you just went off, 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:36.680 you go love? 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:41.960 Oh No, they had ongoing psychological support and our support 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:44.919 depending on their needs. I mean, some of them needed 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.960 security guards, some of them needed a lot of time 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:53.760 as a therapist. Because you know that phenomenon of when 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.240 you show someone a picture of themselves, they go I 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:57.720 didn't didn't. 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.399 That was me earlier today, Well. 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:05.200 The same thing happens. I didn't make them say any 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:08.040 of the words they said. I didn't make them do 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.240 any of the things they did, but they'd come out 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:15.600 and have a terrible reaction to seeing themselves as they 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.040 appear to others. We took good care of them. 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:21.560 Yeah, that would be wild. I guess for some of them, 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:23.680 you'd be like enemy number one. But they need to 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.440 blame someone, so they'd be like, oh, it's all your fault, Peter. 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.000 Well, it was we who invented the idea of blaming 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:34.960 the editor. Ah, because sometimes people do things that don't 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.440 come across very well because they're odd, very nice things 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:42.399 to do. Then they face exposure to the public. And 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.920 so the answer to that was to say, oh, I 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:47.120 was edited badly. 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:49.840 What's that RuPaul has released her own song, blame it 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:53.280 on the edit. Because so many people will comeup with 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.440 drag race and be like, it's the editing, it's the editing. 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:00.840 I'm not like that. I sway, well, no, you might 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:02.159 not be like that all the time, but in that 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:03.080 situation you were. 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.280 I don't know about RuPaul, but I don't think they 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:07.480 put words in your mouth. 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:12.360 No, oh, that be said. I've been in a situation 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.160 where I was coerced to say something like battered down 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:17.080 until the words came out of my mouth because they 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:17.920 wouldn't let me leave. 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:22.240 They're what I called god puppet shows where the producer 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:26.200 is so involved you can almost pick who the producer 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:28.680 was who got them to just say that. 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:31.720 I remember when I walked into drag Race when I 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:33.520 filmed it, I was like, I know how the how 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:35.679 this all works. I'm not going to fall for it. 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:37.879 I'm not going to lean into what they want me 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:39.240 to do. I'm just going to be myself and do 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:41.240 my own thing. But it got to the point where 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.119 I'd been fighting with them for so long that it 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:46.960 was just so tiring that the easiest way was just 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:48.480 to go along with it and be like, Okay, this 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:49.600 is what we're doing. Fine. 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:55.760 I don't admire that personally as a production method, the 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:59.040 less you have to do with what people say and 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:03.160 do more authentic the production becomes. 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:06.439 Out of those first three seasons, it'd big brother, what 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.080