Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload, the podcast last week Their Life. Hey guys,
Speaker 1: welcome back to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Norris
Speaker 1: and I want to thank you for clicking on my
Speaker 1: podcast today where I go behind the scenes with the
Speaker 1: biggest players in Australian television. This week, I'm joined by
Speaker 1: the one and only Roger Corser, a name you would
Speaker 1: definitely recognize from say Doctor, Doctor, Underbelly and pretty much
Speaker 1: every major Australian drama that has been made over the
Speaker 1: last two decades. He is a powerhouse in scripted television,
Speaker 1: but more recently we have seen him take the leap
Speaker 1: into the world of TV hosting. You might remember him
Speaker 1: as the mysterious front man of The Traders, where let's
Speaker 1: be honest, he was playing more of a character than
Speaker 1: just being Roger Corser. But in Channel nine's new primetime
Speaker 1: game show The Floor, we're finally seeing the real Roger
Speaker 1: and it turns out that was a bit of a
Speaker 1: challenge for him. Now, if you're wondering how The Floor works,
Speaker 1: here's the gist. Eighty one contestants stand on a massive
Speaker 1: led grid, each occupying a square representing their area of
Speaker 1: trivial expertise. In each round, a contestant is randomly selected
Speaker 1: to challenge a neighbour's player in the neighbour's specialty. They
Speaker 1: face off in a rapid fire forty five second duel,
Speaker 1: answering visually based questions. The winner claims the losers square
Speaker 1: and category, expanding their territory, the ultimate goal being to
Speaker 1: conquer the entire floor and take home a grand prize
Speaker 1: of two hundred thousand dollars. In our chat today, Roger
Speaker 1: opens up about the shift from being an actor to
Speaker 1: a presenter and a very different way audiences seem to
Speaker 1: perceive you. In each of those roles. We'll also get
Speaker 1: the scoop on filming the Floor in Amsterdam, why they
Speaker 1: took so many Australians across the globe, and how the
Speaker 1: hell that even seemed to work logistically. Plus, we will
Speaker 1: hear Roger's thoughts on Roblow, who hosted the US version,
Speaker 1: and whether or not he felt the pressure of stepping
Speaker 1: into those very polished shoes. So guys, sit back and
Speaker 1: relax and enjoy as we dive into the wild, wonderful
Speaker 1: and slightly chaotic world of the Floor with Roger Corser.
Speaker 2: Benjamin, Hi, mate, how are you very good?
Speaker 3: I'm in my son's room and it's away from the
Speaker 3: school holidays, you see, so there's there's a ruckus downstairs.
Speaker 3: So I thought I'd find a corner of the house
Speaker 3: that might be a little bit more quiet.
Speaker 1: I remember once Hughesy was doing one of these chats
Speaker 1: and he had the kids home from school holidays. But
Speaker 1: he had to run away because there was an incident
Speaker 1: and it turned out one of his kids had put
Speaker 1: the toaster in the kitchen underneath like a shelf, which
Speaker 1: had basically set to his kitchen.
Speaker 2: And he continued to the interview.
Speaker 1: He stayed doing the interview because I mean, you've would
Speaker 1: have met Dave hughes over the years. I mean, he's committed.
Speaker 1: He will give you the content, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So he's he's sitting there rabbiting on about I don't
Speaker 1: know what shoul it was. It was Hughesy, we have
Speaker 1: a problem, yeah, rat choe, but yeah he was his house.
Speaker 1: Now he burned down, and he let it happen just
Speaker 1: to talk.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'd probably say can I call you back?
Speaker 2: That my kids, my kids might be slightly threatened. But
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what. He's committed to promoting a show,
Speaker 2: isn't he? Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm so excited to have this chat with you
Speaker 1: because I am so invested in this show. I watched
Speaker 1: it with my best friend and we became so competitive
Speaker 1: because this show is so interactive, like nothing we've ever
Speaker 1: seen before. Talk to me about how this came across
Speaker 1: your desk.
Speaker 3: I'd actually heard about it coming out through my publicist actually,
Speaker 3: and you know, she'd heard about the US version the
Speaker 3: robb Blow hosts, and she actually gave me a heads
Speaker 3: up and said, why didn't you see who's doing it?
Speaker 2: We didn't even know that Nima was doing it, so
Speaker 2: we made I made some inquiries through my agent and
Speaker 2: they asked me questions and we.
Speaker 3: Found out so we actually, I want to say it
Speaker 3: wasn't chasing, but it was just like, oh that could
Speaker 3: be interesting because I think after doing you know, doing
Speaker 3: The Traders, and I mean it was nine that first
Speaker 3: got me onto just a feeling today extra, which was
Speaker 3: sort of you know, sort of got me into oh, okay,
Speaker 3: maybe I can do something.
Speaker 2: It's different to acting on the Telly.
Speaker 3: So so yeah, it's just a bit more open to
Speaker 3: maybe presenting shows.
Speaker 2: You know, some of the acting work was getting a
Speaker 2: little slower.
Speaker 3: And still, I mean, I'm just in a different category
Speaker 3: now that I'm over fifty, so you know that work
Speaker 3: is in, you know, there's not as much of it
Speaker 3: right now for me at the moment, so you just
Speaker 3: sort of open up and look at look a different thing.
Speaker 3: So so, yeah, I'd heard about it and I was interested,
Speaker 3: and then you know, they had some other people in mind,
Speaker 3: and then we started chatting and eventually I think I
Speaker 3: went through a couple of meetings and we all sort
Speaker 3: of spoke about what, you know, where the show was sitting,
Speaker 3: and I kind of liked it. I'm a dad, and
Speaker 3: it's a good you know, it's it's broad in a
Speaker 3: great way. Sometimes people can use the word broad as
Speaker 3: it's too broad. It doesn't sort of hit one genre
Speaker 3: or anything. I think the fact that this is something
Speaker 3: your primary school kids can kick your butt in a category.
Speaker 3: Or you can have someone with four degrees, you know,
Speaker 3: university degrees, you know, excel in something, and then someone
Speaker 3: who just throlls their phone, you know, for all.
Speaker 2: Their information excel as well.
Speaker 3: Any any sort of walk of life can find their
Speaker 3: category that they're good at.
Speaker 1: But sometimes you hear oh, you see a category coming up,
Speaker 1: and you go, oh, I can't wait for eighties movies,
Speaker 1: and you think, yeah, that's what I'm going to be
Speaker 1: really good at. But I found that some of the
Speaker 1: categories that I thought I'd have absolutely no shot whatsoever,
Speaker 1: I would beat my best mate, who is the smartest
Speaker 1: person I know. She's a female engineer. I've never been
Speaker 1: smarter in a room with her ever, except some categories
Speaker 1: of the floor.
Speaker 2: You're welcome, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I thought we're here to boost people's ego, make them,
Speaker 3: you know, walk away from the show and go I
Speaker 3: feel a little better about myself, you know.
Speaker 2: But it's great. It's a great leveler. I've said this
Speaker 2: before about the show.
Speaker 3: We had the periodic table on as one of our categories,
Speaker 3: and people avoided it, like the play was so scared
Speaker 3: of it. And we were saying in production that, well,
Speaker 3: you know, we're not going to be asking really the
Speaker 3: super you know, in depth questions about period of table.
Speaker 3: I think, just go and basically learn learn the period
Speaker 3: of table, which is finite.
Speaker 2: It's finite. It's basically if you could just go in
Speaker 2: in one night or two nights kind of learn eighty
Speaker 2: percent of it.
Speaker 3: You probably do pretty well as opposed to the person
Speaker 3: who is very science based knowing nothing about pop culture.
Speaker 2: And then where do you start with the celebrity.
Speaker 3: Couples if you have no prior prior knowledge, I mean,
Speaker 3: where do you start?
Speaker 2: Where do you end?
Speaker 3: Like I think that's a harder thing if you have
Speaker 3: no sort of pop culture references. Where you start is
Speaker 3: harder learn than some of the other ones. And the
Speaker 3: one let's just go and do you know this for dummies?
Speaker 3: You know, you go and pick up the Geography for
Speaker 3: Dummies or something like that and go, well, I could
Speaker 3: probably do a lot. You do do a lot to
Speaker 3: do it at least help myself, you know, in one
Speaker 3: night with capital cities or something like that, because you're
Speaker 3: going to know a.
Speaker 2: Few just to sort of top up. Because the X
Speaker 2: factor here is that you.
Speaker 3: Could have two people that it isn't there that the
Speaker 3: category has been passed down because you know, someone lost it.
Speaker 3: You know it's been passed down, and so you've got
Speaker 3: two people it's not their number one choice.
Speaker 2: So you're equally got like novices at it. So a
Speaker 2: little bit of study. You know you can you can
Speaker 2: get on, you can get on quite well.
Speaker 1: I started screaming about like pick the ones that are
Speaker 1: left of center, like do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like pick the ones that are like babies, because they're
Speaker 1: really basic. Like you started off thinking I don't want
Speaker 1: to do babies. I don't even have any children, So
Speaker 1: I was like, I can't do that one. But then
Speaker 1: babies was a category that I could actually do. It
Speaker 1: was bizarre.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we at the kitchen draw was the one that
Speaker 3: when I saw that, I thought that was absolutely anything.
Speaker 2: You know, they just throw absolutely anything in there.
Speaker 3: I mean, and the pressure of having to do it
Speaker 3: up there, you know, under all the studio lights, and
Speaker 3: we've got you know, eighty one contestants.
Speaker 2: When we start, We've got a studio audience as well.
Speaker 3: Some people who you know probably spoke, you talked a
Speaker 3: good game, you know. I want to chat to everyone
Speaker 3: on the floor, you know, and not all that made
Speaker 3: that and made it. But I'm to the final cut,
Speaker 3: but I'm having the conversations in between and getting to
Speaker 3: know people, and they certain amounts of that. Some people
Speaker 3: were super confident, super cocky, I mean, perhaps to try
Speaker 3: and throw people off and intimidate other people and did
Speaker 3: they get up there?
Speaker 2: And you know, basically think about our game.
Speaker 3: If you don't know what passed straight away, you know
Speaker 3: and gone to something else. But people forget that one
Speaker 3: thing and well I'm and r for ten plus seconds
Speaker 3: just draining there.
Speaker 2: Why it's just doesn't matter how much you know you did.
Speaker 3: We've hit the one you know, the one spot, you know,
Speaker 3: blind spot in your knowledge of this category. And because
Speaker 3: you're desperate to get the right answer out, you won't
Speaker 3: pass quickly. And then some people let fifteen seconds go
Speaker 3: past and then they're shot.
Speaker 1: You like, why would you do that to yourself? Did
Speaker 1: you watch the Rob Low version? Because you know what
Speaker 1: I did was that I watched the Roger cors version first,
Speaker 1: and then I went to the Rob Low version, which
Speaker 1: I think will be strange for people to hear. But
Speaker 1: because I wasn't really that, I wasn't as drawn to
Speaker 1: this idea and this concept as much. When I liked
Speaker 1: this Australian version, I needed to go and see the
Speaker 1: Rob Loan version.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, you know, hit the job and I mean,
Speaker 3: I tell you what, he's a very attractive sixty year
Speaker 3: old man you got to say.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm tend almost a decade behind him, and.
Speaker 1: Roger, you sound a bit like him. This is going
Speaker 1: to sound strange because he's obviously a really accent, but
Speaker 1: there's times of your intonation of your voice where I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's kind of because Rob Low, you can't help a
Speaker 1: kind of you know, we've been watching him in movies
Speaker 1: for years. I'm forty five, so like he kind of
Speaker 1: has this way of talking. Anyway, I started looking at
Speaker 1: it and being like, I think Roger Corsa is one
Speaker 1: hundred percent the Australian version of Rob Low.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, you know, he's had a great career.
Speaker 2: I like that half of his career, but thank you,
Speaker 2: but he does a great job.
Speaker 3: We had we look, we had some We have one
Speaker 3: of the same producers on.
Speaker 2: The show can come over and help help us out.
Speaker 3: Just with the format, it's a pretty fast paced sort
Speaker 3: of show with lots of moving parts and lots of people.
Speaker 3: You know, there's a little bit of people wrangling and involved,
Speaker 3: and the jewels go past pretty quickly and obviously there's
Speaker 3: got to be someone there giving the tick all the
Speaker 3: cross so there's a lot of moving parts going on
Speaker 3: in the production you know, sort of in the with
Speaker 3: the production team, and it was a little bit of
Speaker 3: a learning curve for me to sort of get amongst
Speaker 3: this sort of crazy kind of live you know, shiny.
Speaker 2: Game show kind of format. But I enjoyed it.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed it in the end, and I definitely sort
Speaker 3: of warmed into feeling more comfortable on stage. I sort
Speaker 3: of just you know, by about halfway through is I
Speaker 3: started to just really sort of find my feet.
Speaker 1: I just love it when they get they can't guess
Speaker 1: the answers that you are the answer. It's always funny
Speaker 1: because I always think, you know, like under Belly, this
Speaker 1: is a promo, so like, forgive me channel nine. I'm
Speaker 1: not giving this away, but I think it's it's on
Speaker 1: TV at the moment. But someone under Belly wrong. Oh my,
Speaker 1: that show is so goddamn iconic. Like one that doesn't
Speaker 1: get that show needs to be immediately eliminated because that's.
Speaker 2: You just dropped your right.
Speaker 3: You're forty five and fifty two, and you know, I've
Speaker 3: got I've got a twenty two year old daughter and
Speaker 3: a fifteen year old son, and you know, at thirteen
Speaker 3: and down to nine, but you know, for the twenty
Speaker 3: two year old under it was eighteen years ago, there
Speaker 3: were four you know, so I mean for anyone between
Speaker 3: maybe twenty and thirty, a big chunk of television viewers
Speaker 3: or you know, people who were watching media in some form,
Speaker 3: it's an whole show. It's like me thinking about you know,
Speaker 3: a nineen sixties cop show that were like homicide or
Speaker 3: something like that.
Speaker 2: You know that we made so.
Speaker 3: Then and there would have been released reruns of that
Speaker 3: on a Telly where I don't know, you know, well,
Speaker 3: I suppose Underbelly is available to stream, but where the
Speaker 3: people are drawn to do that. But for a different
Speaker 3: generation like your own, it was big because it was
Speaker 3: an Underbelly was a time where I think we were
Speaker 3: used to watching a lot of overseas shows and someone
Speaker 3: swung back to some Aussie content. I think Underbelly was
Speaker 3: a big part of that.
Speaker 1: I know friends that had Underbelly parties during COVID and
Speaker 1: they would watch the first series. Oh wow, it was
Speaker 1: like it had a second coming, like hearing that with
Speaker 1: people were like they were ordering in Italian food like
Speaker 1: mobster style, and we're rewatching this show. And the weird
Speaker 1: thing about it was when I heard that. I went
Speaker 1: back to watch it as well, and it still stands
Speaker 1: up that show, do you know what I mean? Like
Speaker 1: it's such a bizarre time capsule, and it was like
Speaker 1: lightning in a bottle because it didn't matter how many
Speaker 1: times I tried to remake it.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it was. I mean everything about IP.
Speaker 3: You look a look at Hollywood and everyone, you know,
Speaker 3: the top of ten grossing films over the last couple
Speaker 3: of years, they're mounted them that.
Speaker 2: Have you know, pre existing IP.
Speaker 3: They're either a sequel so it's their own IP, or
Speaker 3: it's Barbie, or it's you know, it's based on something
Speaker 3: else where. So true true crime has a version of
Speaker 3: that because you're familiar with the people and the stories
Speaker 3: and the headlines, so the audience you're not sort of
Speaker 3: having to explain, you know, from ground zero, exactly what
Speaker 3: it is. And with Underbelly, in one way, it was
Speaker 3: a detriment for a sequel. We couldn't have a sequel
Speaker 3: all the all the pending court cases, they're all the
Speaker 3: pending court cases, and you couldn't continue the story where
Speaker 3: we'd finished it because it was locked up in court
Speaker 3: and you couldn't influence a jury so you can't you know,
Speaker 3: doing a dramatized version or something, you know, and that
Speaker 3: might influence a jury. But the good thing about about
Speaker 3: being in the zeitgeist, especially in Melbourne, I mean especially
Speaker 3: in Victoria where these people were front page news so often,
Speaker 3: so it became infamous because we got banned.
Speaker 2: I don't even remember what we were banned.
Speaker 1: My mum is a primary school teacher and she was
Speaker 1: making I shouldn't say this, my mom's going to come
Speaker 1: for me now, I copy. He was making pirated copies
Speaker 1: at school and handing them out to the teachers.
Speaker 3: People were driving up to the border, yes Aubury Ordonga,
Speaker 3: passing it.
Speaker 2: Over and passing it over, and like people going up
Speaker 2: and getting their DVD burnt copies.
Speaker 3: Which is the irony of someone different black market, you know,
Speaker 3: sort of on a bunch of show about gangsters.
Speaker 2: And your kids.
Speaker 1: Would think that he's so bizarre telling them about the
Speaker 1: floppy disk and the hard disk, you know what, they're like,
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Anyway, we're going off on a tangent.
Speaker 1: I need to ask you about the rationale as to
Speaker 1: why a show like this, because it would have been
Speaker 1: expensive to fly everyone overseas, so far away? Why are
Speaker 1: you shooting so far away? It certainly wasn't to keep
Speaker 1: it under wraps because most of the cast ended up
Speaker 1: blabbing about being on the show anyway, so we found
Speaker 1: out before time. But why be shooting over? It was Amsterdam,
Speaker 1: wasn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just in my contract. I just I just
Speaker 2: needed it to be in you know good. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Now, look, yes, it is expensive for a cast to
Speaker 3: come over, but a lot were sourced from Europe, so
Speaker 3: expats in the UK and the Netherlands and you know,
Speaker 3: adjoining European countries where you know, I suppose it's a
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty pounds easy jet flight and you
Speaker 3: know it's only we shot it in the weeks weeks
Speaker 3: accommodation and some people were flying from Australia because I
Speaker 3: did want the right mix of people. Yeah, so you know,
Speaker 3: you're going to have probably a lot of twenty and
Speaker 3: thirty somethings that are in Europe because it's kind of
Speaker 3: their time when they're traveling. Not all, but like that's
Speaker 3: you know, a good chunk of people you probably find
Speaker 3: that demographic touring and traveling in Europe, and then some
Speaker 3: other people you know, so we could make sure we
Speaker 3: sort of know, ticked the boxes and had people from
Speaker 3: different parts of Australia in rural as well, not just
Speaker 3: see people and you know, all backgrounds and all kind
Speaker 3: of vocations and different categories that were their expertise and age.
Speaker 2: Groups and everything.
Speaker 3: So some people were flown from Australia, but I think
Speaker 3: that was only probably ten to fifteen percent.
Speaker 2: Actually, okay, well that's because the set is huge.
Speaker 3: I mean, the things as big as a basketball court.
Speaker 3: That the screen, that the floor they're standing on. You know,
Speaker 3: that's not something you're just you know, putting you you know,
Speaker 3: in your ludgage and sent back over to Australia. It's
Speaker 3: a big bit of kit. And it's nine episodes. So look,
Speaker 3: if we were a five times a week game show,
Speaker 3: thirty five forty weeks the year, maybe that's worth building
Speaker 3: the studio for for nine episodes. And even we have
Speaker 3: a rope cam which is a bit like a spider cam,
Speaker 3: but just on the one access back and forth, like
Speaker 3: just to have the operator like he's just done the
Speaker 3: German version, just done the next second season of the
Speaker 3: Netherlands version, you know, just done some other European versions.
Speaker 3: He you know, they were a well oiled machine. So
Speaker 3: we got over there, we had two days tech and
Speaker 3: we're into it. You know, we've obviously done a lot
Speaker 3: of pre production back here in Australia and they had
Speaker 3: a great team doing that, screening all the testants and
Speaker 3: and you know, working at aly categories and everything.
Speaker 2: So we hit the ground running. So yes, I'm sure
Speaker 2: it's expensive.
Speaker 3: To do it over there, but the amount of time
Speaker 3: we spent there, it was a well oiled machine and
Speaker 3: we sort of get in and get out.
Speaker 1: It's something about the way in which the production of
Speaker 1: this show shows contestants on a game show that we've
Speaker 1: never seen before. Like I can't even explain this to you,
Speaker 1: and I don't know whether or not you and the
Speaker 1: accountless interviews you've done have been able to do it.
Speaker 1: But we get to know these people in a way
Speaker 1: that I don't think has ever been done. Like Deal
Speaker 1: or Nodeal Grant Dania. He might ask them one question,
Speaker 1: but for some reason we are connecting through to these
Speaker 1: personalities and wanting to follow them. We choose, oh, we
Speaker 1: want that person to lose. Like it's a really strange
Speaker 1: concept because we for these people in a way that
Speaker 1: I've never seen on a game show before. Why do
Speaker 1: you think that is the case?
Speaker 3: Well, that's the thing about you for and what why
Speaker 3: foremots some work and some don't. And it's a magic source,
Speaker 3: isn't it? And I think you know you've got some
Speaker 3: great elements put together.
Speaker 2: And the things you really like about a game.
Speaker 3: Show like Quick Essentially it's an easy to get battle
Speaker 3: when we have our duel, you know, to break it
Speaker 3: down to it, it's visual and it's a one on
Speaker 3: one take turns and basically you can just yell out
Speaker 3: at the screen. And that's why it's so great to
Speaker 3: play at home. Getting to know our contestants, our characters.
Speaker 3: Over nine episodes is a longer run than even a
Speaker 3: the classic carryover champ a thirteenth century or something. Five
Speaker 3: nights was at the top there. But we're also getting
Speaker 3: much more like a reality show. We're getting their opinion
Speaker 3: because we're asking their strategy out loud, so they're talking.
Speaker 3: There's a little bit of trash talk, which is kind
Speaker 3: of fun, and sometimes that's you can perceive that it's funny,
Speaker 3: and sometimes you might go, oh, I didn't like that
Speaker 3: person for saying that.
Speaker 2: So we can see.
Speaker 3: Their personality where you know, I mean hard PiZZ Sometimes
Speaker 3: there's a bit of trash talk, but mostly from the
Speaker 3: from the host, but you know, there's a little bit from.
Speaker 2: The contestants there.
Speaker 3: But we get our contestants, you know, they're interacting with
Speaker 3: each other as well, so we get a little bit
Speaker 3: of bravado and some other people keeping their cards close
Speaker 3: to their chest. Some people are just telling absolute untrues
Speaker 3: about themselves to try and throw people off about it.
Speaker 3: I love what they know or may not know about
Speaker 3: a category they want people they're sort of bluffing about. Oh,
Speaker 3: I'm so glad I inherited that category because I you know,
Speaker 3: I was once some nuclear scientist or something.
Speaker 2: There get opened. They're not, but they're I think, I
Speaker 2: think one.
Speaker 3: Person, I don't want to say much category, but there's
Speaker 3: a there's a category where someone is just bluffed the category.
Speaker 3: The absolutely nothing about it. Yeah, people stayed away from
Speaker 3: it for a long time.
Speaker 1: I just am excited to see people engage with something
Speaker 1: that's so new, you know what I mean. Like a
Speaker 1: lot of these TV shows, like it was almost like
Speaker 1: what you were saying about films, where we're like we
Speaker 1: only get sequels and Marvel and Barbie and brands, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's like we're not stepping outside of the circle
Speaker 1: and looking at taking a chance on something that's completely new.
Speaker 1: So when you see Channel nine say we're going to
Speaker 1: put this sort of a game show for nine episodes,
Speaker 1: it's seven thirty at nine. It's a ballsy move and
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see how it lands. I kind
Speaker 1: of feel like it could easily be huge.
Speaker 2: I think that's what you know.
Speaker 3: I feel that nine are really back, and you can
Speaker 3: tell when you can a network really supports the show.
Speaker 3: You can see it on screen. I'm worried about people
Speaker 3: could be sick in my face before they even see
Speaker 3: the show because I'm like, oh, there's so many primos.
Speaker 1: Think about it, like Rob Low, You're the attractive bloke
Speaker 1: that we get to see. And what's so smart about
Speaker 1: this decision with you this time is Roger, we do
Speaker 1: get to know you a little bit better because with
Speaker 1: the Traders, I felt like they gave you a caricature
Speaker 1: to sort of play, which worked and it didn't work
Speaker 1: at times. Where with this show, you know, I've met
Speaker 1: you in the flesh a number of times. I've gotten
Speaker 1: a sense over time meeting you in real life about
Speaker 1: who you are as a person, and I feel like
Speaker 1: that comes across in this.
Speaker 3: That was probably my I think I pushed the character
Speaker 3: in the Trader is a bit too much problem, probably
Speaker 3: because I was scared of being because I'm used to
Speaker 3: keeping a little bit separate like you in interviews. I
Speaker 3: don't try and sort of hide too much. But you know,
Speaker 3: if people someone doesn't like show you do, you can go, well,
Speaker 3: that's that's a character, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: You put yourself out there as yourself and I just
Speaker 2: I don't like that. Host No, there's no other version
Speaker 2: of yourself is there?
Speaker 1: So well that's the life, isn't it. The actor can
Speaker 1: say that, you know, like when you are doing that,
Speaker 1: and I guess it is taking away a net from
Speaker 1: underneath you. I remember sitting next to you at a
Speaker 1: film premiere once years ago. It was The Square I
Speaker 1: think was the name of the film, was a Joel
Speaker 1: Legit in film they did at the Nova, and I
Speaker 1: remember thinking, wow, Roger Cours is really shy compared to
Speaker 1: what I thought you were going to be. I was
Speaker 1: really taken aback by your shyness. I would have thought
Speaker 1: I think a lot.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people in who actors or
Speaker 3: have you know you got you get one or two
Speaker 3: gigs under your But this is what I say to
Speaker 3: other actors.
Speaker 2: We laugh at you know, we'll go to an award
Speaker 2: ceremony and they'll be.
Speaker 3: This year's in a reality TV contestants I mean from
Speaker 3: a certain type of show, usually not not all of them,
Speaker 3: And how confident they are strutting down a red carpet
Speaker 3: when they've you know, I don't know that it's because
Speaker 3: of social media now and people are out there and
Speaker 3: more confident where it took a long time, and I'm
Speaker 3: sure for.
Speaker 2: A lot of other actors.
Speaker 3: Until you get what you feel like is a body
Speaker 3: of work under your belt, that you feel that you're accepted,
Speaker 3: or that you deserve to be at a premiere or
Speaker 3: a red carpet or at an industry event or anything
Speaker 3: like that, you know, it takes a while. Man.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's just my generation that you have so to
Speaker 2: had to earn your strips.
Speaker 3: Where I think anyone that suddenly gets you know, name
Speaker 3: the number of followers, what you know.
Speaker 2: You see is making fifty one hundred and ten thousand.
Speaker 2: I don't know that all of a sudden, there's.
Speaker 3: A I'm here, I've arrived, and it's a it's just
Speaker 3: a different.
Speaker 2: But everyone's out there, everyone's presenting themselves in a way
Speaker 2: that only people in music and entertainment had to do.
Speaker 3: Twenty years ago. You know, your local tradesmen didn't have
Speaker 3: to turn a camera around on them and look good
Speaker 3: and present and go, you know, this is what I do,
Speaker 3: and you know, tell themselves yeah with me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you know I have to tell you that
Speaker 1: those people that now are drawn to reality this is
Speaker 1: now a different podcast. But I'm very fascinated by unpacking
Speaker 1: a little bit of this. But like I think people
Speaker 1: who want to go on reality TV are drawn to
Speaker 1: the fame of it, of the red carpet. They've been
Speaker 1: preparing that for that their whole life. Where I know
Speaker 1: my friends who actors, and there's this sort of nature
Speaker 1: of the work, you know, and wanting to be good
Speaker 1: at the work. When you're an actor, you're not drawn
Speaker 1: to that industry to be walking the red carpets and
Speaker 1: talking about yourself. And an actual fact, most of the
Speaker 1: best actors in this world hate talking about themselves.
Speaker 2: Yeah, You've got a difference between loving the craft that
Speaker 2: you're doing.
Speaker 3: Whether you're a musician, you just love playing the guitar,
Speaker 3: the piano or whatever that is.
Speaker 2: And you know, people have ambition. I'm going to say that.
Speaker 3: You know there is a healthy ego either that comes
Speaker 3: along along with that. But it's not just the desire
Speaker 3: to be the under the lights for the applause. I
Speaker 3: mean it's a good it's a nice rush with you.
Speaker 3: You know, you do a stage show or back when
Speaker 3: I was some rock bands and you know, you get
Speaker 3: a big crowd and they're.
Speaker 2: Applauding and going off is a great rush.
Speaker 3: So the adulation in a crowd sense is great, but
Speaker 3: purely just being recognized or that kind of thing is
Speaker 3: purely being that being the motivation. It just seems a
Speaker 3: bit foreign to me, you know, multiple time the reality
Speaker 3: of stars. Do they love the craft of getting on
Speaker 3: a show and being the bitchy one or like, like
Speaker 3: is that what they enjoy?
Speaker 1: I think there is a bit of that, to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, because like it's now so many years
Speaker 1: gone from doing Big Brother, but I did enjoy I
Speaker 1: could have done that show as a social experiment, if
Speaker 1: that makes any sense, without cameras and it ever being
Speaker 1: played on TV. I was fascinated by the idea of
Speaker 1: Big Brother, and I really was there for ninety seven
Speaker 1: days with no phone, and it was a life changing experience,
Speaker 1: just the social experiment side of things, what it does
Speaker 1: to you as a person. But then I knew there
Speaker 1: was a lot of people in that show that were
Speaker 1: just there because they talked about it all the time.
Speaker 1: When we get out of this show, everyone's going to
Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to have this and I'm going
Speaker 1: to have Instagram followers. That to me was really like, oh, so,
Speaker 1: I think that there are people like me who were
Speaker 1: drawn to being on these reality TV shows for the experience, the.
Speaker 3: Actual experience, as opposed to always having that yeah, this
Speaker 3: is a publicity tool for me.
Speaker 1: So I didn't do anything on Instagram for three months
Speaker 1: basically after I did Big Brother because I was scared
Speaker 1: of it. You know, I didn't like the people. I
Speaker 1: actually found it really uncomfortable. My whole life, I used
Speaker 1: to pretend to walking down the streets, what would be
Speaker 1: like to be PAPARAZZI thought that would be fun, and
Speaker 1: then I found that when I was in that experience,
Speaker 1: I found it extremely intrusive and uncontrollable. And when I
Speaker 1: got my notoriety back because now that show's so old,
Speaker 1: I was like, I'd never do that again.
Speaker 2: You know, I've never had to really worry about any
Speaker 2: of that sort of thing.
Speaker 3: And I think if you're a boring, relatively boring as in
Speaker 3: like nothing controversial. I mean, I'm married with you know,
Speaker 3: four kids of three kids that live at home with me.
Speaker 3: We often go out to things. It's not like you
Speaker 3: know who's he dating or who's you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So no, one really don't have to worry about any
Speaker 1: of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, is because there's no juice there. It's kind of boring,
Speaker 2: So so I don't. I'm out in the suburbs as
Speaker 2: well in Sydney.
Speaker 3: I'm not in the inner city where you know, all
Speaker 3: the things are happening, so just it's just never. The
Speaker 3: only time I've been packed in my own suburb is
Speaker 3: because of other people. I mean, there was a controversial
Speaker 3: football figure around here that had.
Speaker 2: Done it was, you know, in the courts for something,
Speaker 2: and I.
Speaker 3: Went past the cafe and now I was sort of
Speaker 3: stalking his home, and they got me because I walked
Speaker 3: past and there was another another TV personality that was
Speaker 3: stalking them who look quite quite close to me, and
Speaker 3: try to trying to wait for them to, you know,
Speaker 3: to appear at home because they were in the media
Speaker 3: for various reasons. I happened to again walk past, so
Speaker 3: I think, like, oh, I suppose we've got to be option,
Speaker 3: you know, and.
Speaker 2: That's the only two times that's it, because they was
Speaker 2: talking other people.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to the original thing, which
Speaker 1: is that Roger, where we started this was about you
Speaker 1: worrying about, you know, letting us, letting a guide down,
Speaker 1: not being a character and showing us Roger Courser. It
Speaker 1: seemed to me like you were trying to say that
Speaker 1: you thought you were boring, where in actual fact, you know,
Speaker 1: that's your take on it. I think people are fascinated
Speaker 1: by you, and I watched them watching the floor, and
Speaker 1: I think what you bring to that show is the
Speaker 1: right level of personality and doing the job, doing the
Speaker 1: doing the role, you know. And I think if this
Speaker 1: show continues on and we continue to see more seasons
Speaker 1: of it, I think you need to lean more into
Speaker 1: the vulnerability of just being Roger Krser and allowing us
Speaker 1: to see a little bit seeing a little bit more.
Speaker 3: You know what. I warmed into this, and I was
Speaker 3: pushed by by our producers, you know that the voices
Speaker 3: in my head, in my ear and my sort of
Speaker 3: going ask the more like and I realized I was
Speaker 3: worried about getting this very correct live performance down, and
Speaker 3: they sort of said.
Speaker 2: Look, yes, it's got a live feeld, but we can
Speaker 2: go back at any time. So you stuff something up,
Speaker 2: don't worry. It's don't be so worried.
Speaker 3: Like, take some chances and you know, and if it's
Speaker 3: too much, it doesn't work, we will cut it out.
Speaker 2: It's not live, live live, you know, it's heavily edited.
Speaker 2: Now all the.
Speaker 3: Games aren't obviously they're they're run from start fities, but
Speaker 3: all the pattern in between, you know, because they I realized,
Speaker 3: they want four times the amount of powder with the
Speaker 3: contestants and then they'll pick and choose the best bit,
Speaker 3: you know. So as soon as I kind of understood that,
Speaker 3: then I relax. And when I try and crack a
Speaker 3: joke and it doesn't work, just don't hang me. Just
Speaker 3: don't use it, you know, because and then I realized
Speaker 3: that that's my job is My job is to introduce
Speaker 3: a lot of people, you know, these characters which is
Speaker 3: a high attrition rate. So after a couple of episodes,
Speaker 3: we'll lose some people and you'll start to see the
Speaker 3: same faces crop up, and then you'll start to bond
Speaker 3: and so I'll you know, have more of a chat
Speaker 3: with that person and ask them more and you know,
Speaker 3: encourage them to interact between and so, you know, if
Speaker 3: it's the second season fingers fingers crossed, you know, I
Speaker 3: sort of know going in from episode one what my
Speaker 3: role is, and yes, it's to show a bit of
Speaker 3: my personality, but it is within for the purpose of
Speaker 3: you know, if I can give a bit to get
Speaker 3: a bit, that's the reason, you know, because we want.
Speaker 2: To see these people shine up there. We want to
Speaker 2: see all those fun moments.
Speaker 3: We want people that you can identify with, and we
Speaker 3: want people to have a gag and a laugh and
Speaker 3: and you know, give us some great light moments.
Speaker 1: They'll follow you as well, you know, to finish off
Speaker 1: the chat, thank you for opening up and talking to
Speaker 1: me about And sometimes I feel like I start asking
Speaker 1: people questions and you're like, this is why really famous
Speaker 1: people don't do podcasts, because then they get one like
Speaker 1: me asking them questions that they.
Speaker 2: Were very disarming like what Andrew Dentlem was, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe you can have your.
Speaker 1: Own show, Like, Yeah, I sat next to him once
Speaker 1: on a plane and I couldn't speak to him because
Speaker 1: I just loved him on I loved his ability to
Speaker 1: unearthed conversation. Yeah, it's very incredible because he's the best questions.
Speaker 1: We're always something that came off, like the third question.
Speaker 2: It was very disarming and an incredible, incredible show.
Speaker 1: So good, and that's what people want at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, is they want to listen to conversation.
Speaker 3: It's a hard job interviewing because I have to do
Speaker 3: it in small ways on the show. But I think
Speaker 3: if people are doing a lot of these things and
Speaker 3: they hear and it's the same and you think, oh right,
Speaker 3: well they're going to get that same question seventeen times,
Speaker 3: I'm probably going to get a very similar response to
Speaker 3: the prepared response as opposed to that question that's a
Speaker 3: little bit left us center.
Speaker 1: I'd love to know. I always finished the podcast with
Speaker 1: what is something from behind the scenes? And it always
Speaker 1: stresses people actually think, fuck, I haven't had a chance
Speaker 1: to think about what's behind the scenes or a good
Speaker 1: answer to this question. But I was wondering if and
Speaker 1: if you feel comfortable answering this, because The Traders are
Speaker 1: so big around the world and people keep talking about it.
Speaker 1: If Australia decides to do this show again and you're
Speaker 1: now this superstar on the floor and you can't do it,
Speaker 1: have you ever thought about who would be a good
Speaker 1: replacement on that show?
Speaker 2: Plenty of people who could do it, of course.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking about you. I was thinking you
Speaker 1: must have thought at some point, because The Traders is
Speaker 1: huge around the world, like it's so in the UK,
Speaker 1: like it's actually succeeded in every environment except Australia. At
Speaker 1: New Zealand it was huge, and so the idea that
Speaker 1: it didn't really work here means that people are going
Speaker 1: to circle around that idea. And I think the floor
Speaker 1: is your better if that's not too rude to say, Like,
Speaker 1: I think it's more you're laying So I thought at nighttime,
Speaker 1: you must be thinking it's gonna Who would be the
Speaker 1: right person to do that?
Speaker 3: I've got to say I probably I'm not thinking who
Speaker 3: should take that job that I lost?
Speaker 4: Probably how would I get that job back? More than
Speaker 4: I wonder who ask could do a better job than me?
Speaker 4: You know, like a Ctelia Piccola or something like that
Speaker 4: would smash it. I think, you know, should be great
Speaker 4: something something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'd be interesting to know whether it comes back.
Speaker 1: I loved it, by the way, like I loved the
Speaker 1: Australian version. And you know what's really a really strange
Speaker 1: tidbit is Sam who I think one. I think he
Speaker 1: was the guy that was from Queensland. He was very
Speaker 1: attractive and more a cowboy hat. You know, it's a
Speaker 1: couple of years.
Speaker 2: Well spoiler alert, he didn't win. I mean spoiler alert,
Speaker 2: but you.
Speaker 3: Know, you know, we haven't one second series that was
Speaker 3: that was a twist, but he was kind of he
Speaker 3: was the puppet master all the way through and until
Speaker 3: it bit him.
Speaker 2: On the bump.
Speaker 1: That's right. He was the antagonist. But so I just
Speaker 1: wanted to tell you this that episode of my podcast,
Speaker 1: and this is episode five hundred and fifty. So, like
Speaker 1: I've done a lot of these, but I remember me
Speaker 1: chatting to him is my most downloaded podcast ever. Really,
Speaker 1: how weird is that is.
Speaker 2: That because he's got a lot of it, because he's
Speaker 2: got a big social media following, isn't it.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think that people were you
Speaker 1: know how sometimes people's personalities polarize and sort of penetrate
Speaker 1: an audience in a way that.
Speaker 3: I saw some of the chat about about and people
Speaker 3: were infuriated by him.
Speaker 2: But he should playing the game, you know to a point.
Speaker 3: I think people were just up in arms that there
Speaker 3: was how dishonest he was.
Speaker 2: And I was like, you know what the game's called, right,
Speaker 2: he just lets him to the brand being treacherous. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's what he's that's what he's doing. But I suppose it's.
Speaker 3: Sometimes people I would say, oh, it's the worst season ever,
Speaker 3: and people say it's the best season ever. I think
Speaker 3: because you were so frustrated by it, by the whole thing,
Speaker 3: because you wanted the Traders to be voted out and
Speaker 3: you know, for the facebo to get a win here
Speaker 3: and there. But they went totally against script and people
Speaker 3: were you know, pulling their hair out over it.
Speaker 2: But also they couldn't look away to tune in the
Speaker 2: next week. You know, obviously not enough people because we
Speaker 2: were canned, but we go about behind the scenes or
Speaker 2: something different.
Speaker 3: There was a little bit of tension when we finished
Speaker 3: that final night shoot. We had you know, we had
Speaker 3: the crew was packing up, but we you know, produce
Speaker 3: as an iron sort of final three contestants.
Speaker 2: There was a few drinks.
Speaker 3: That came out, you know, as people are sort of
Speaker 3: packing up and you know we clocked off.
Speaker 2: There was definitely still a little bit of tension.
Speaker 3: There's money involved, isn't there And people had already sort
Speaker 3: of been there in their own mind, spent that money,
Speaker 3: had it in the bank, and then it ripped away
Speaker 3: from him.
Speaker 2: That wasn't like, oh, well, you know, it's the where
Speaker 2: it goes.
Speaker 3: There was a little tens I think that then that dissipated,
Speaker 3: and you know, there was an initial kind of initial hour.
Speaker 2: Or two I think after the after that result, they were.
Speaker 1: Think we need to pitch the show back to Channel Line.
Speaker 1: You can stay there at nine. It's a great role
Speaker 1: to pay.
Speaker 2: Look, I'm happy to have a second gig. That more money.
Speaker 1: We'll set the traders, not in Australia, somewhere else. Do
Speaker 1: you want to go well, I mean the.
Speaker 2: Show shot answerdam I remember the course.
Speaker 3: I'm happy to you know, they shoot the American and
Speaker 3: the European version of that Scottish castle.
Speaker 2: Why don't we just go and go and steal their set.
Speaker 1: That's absolutely what we need to do. But for people
Speaker 1: listening to this podcast and who have been watching the
Speaker 1: ads of the Floor, I really need you to give
Speaker 1: the show a chance and bring your friends, bring your
Speaker 1: family in to watch it because it is something so
Speaker 1: fun which we rarely get to do. It kind of
Speaker 1: feels like appointment television, which we rarely can create anymore.
Speaker 1: And have a good time watching this show because watch.
Speaker 2: It with people, watch it with people more people better.
Speaker 3: You're all watching the same screen, which which is so
Speaker 3: foreign to anyone.
Speaker 2: Kind of under twenty one, I know, but even under
Speaker 2: twenty five.
Speaker 3: I think they ones use their own screens, their own
Speaker 3: ear pods and everything. Yeah, you can sit down and
Speaker 3: you get to have a collective experience.
Speaker 2: Right you should want. Roger.
Speaker 1: I have to say thank you so much for being
Speaker 1: so generous with your time and chatting with me today
Speaker 1: about the show I'd like to see. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see what people's read.
Speaker 2: Actually, Benjamin jeeus amazing